How to record an expense in the general ledger in Infor M3

Record an expense (two common routes)

1. 1Decide the route first. A bill from a vendor goes through Accounts Payable as a supplier invoice. A non-vendor item (accrual, reclass, petty cash, correction) goes through a General Ledger journal voucher.
2. 2Supplier invoice route: open the supplier invoice entry program (APS450 supplier invoice batch/entry), select the division, supplier, invoice number, invoice date, currency and total amount.
3. 3On the invoice lines enter the expense account in the accounting string, plus whichever dimensions your chart requires (cost centre, project, department and so on). Add tax codes if the line is taxable.
4. 4Journal voucher route: open GLS040, choose the voucher number series, accounting date and journal type, then add lines with account, dimensions, debit or credit and text.
5. 5Check that debits equal credits for the voucher. M3 will not let you update an unbalanced voucher.
6. 6Update the voucher or the batch so that it moves from open to the ledger. In AP this is the invoice update/approval step; in GL it is the voucher update.
7. 7Verify the posting in the general ledger inquiry programs (account balance or voucher display) filtered by voucher number and period.
8. 8If the posting is wrong, reverse with a correcting voucher or a reversal function rather than editing posted data.

Supplier invoice versus journal voucher

Approval, period and currency checks

-- illustrative reconciliation idea (read-only reporting copy, not the live M3 database)
-- Expense for one account and period, grouped by voucher
SELECT voucher_no, accounting_date, SUM(amount) AS total
FROM gl_postings_reporting
WHERE account = '6100' AND period = 202610
GROUP BY voucher_no, accounting_date;

Common pitfalls

• !Booking vendor bills as journal vouchers, which skips the supplier ledger and payment run.
• !Entering the expense in the wrong division, then not finding it in the ledger inquiry.
• !Missing a mandatory dimension such as cost centre, so the line is rejected or lands in a suspense account.
• !Posting to a closed period or a period with no exchange rate for the date.
• !Editing control objects to fix one posting and changing every future posting of that type.
• !Leaving the voucher open in a batch and assuming it reached the ledger.