Accounts Receivable Invoice field guide

An Accounts Receivable (AR) Invoice records an approved charge to a customer. It should be traceable to an order, delivery, service, contract, meter run, claim, or other source. It is not a payment and does not prove the customer has accepted the amount.

Header fields

Open Accounting → Receivable Invoices → New.

Field	Example	Purpose and impact
Invoice number	AR-2026-004281	Immutable legal and audit key
Company	Demo Retail Group LLC	Ledger and tax boundary
Branch	DXB-MAIN	Reporting and responsibility
Customer	Al Noor Hospital	Receivable and statement
Source type	Delivery	Operational drill-down
Source ID	DN-2026-00811	Evidence of charge
Invoice date	2026-09-17	Commercial date
Tax date	2026-09-17	Statutory reporting
Due date	2026-11-01	Ageing and collection
Currency	AED	Transaction settlement
Exchange rate	1.0000	Functional value
Payment term	Net 45	Due-date rule
Price list/contract	Hospital 2026	Price provenance
Bill-to	Hospital Finance	Printed address
Tax category	Standard UAE	Tax defaults
Status	Draft / posted / paid	Lifecycle gate

Header also stores customer PO, salesperson, project, channel, payment method, bank instructions, notes, attachments, and external reference. A posted invoice retains the address and tax values used at posting.

Detail fields

Field	Example	Purpose and impact
Line number	10	Stable detail reference
Item/service	MED-INS-100	Charge identity
Description	Insulin Pen 5-pack	Printed explanation
Quantity	120	Billed quantity
UoM	PACK	Quantity interpretation
Unit price	AED 85.00	Gross value
Discount	5%	Net value and approval
Tax code	STANDARD	Tax calculation
Warehouse/source	DXB-COLD	Stock or delivery trace
Revenue account	411200	Journal mapping
Cost centre	Hospital channel	Margin reporting
Project/WBS	HOSP-2026	Contract reporting
Delivered quantity	120	Source reconciliation
Tax base	AED 9,690	Statutory evidence

Show gross, discount, taxable base, tax, rounding, net, paid, credited, disputed, and open amounts. A partial delivery or milestone invoice must not bill quantities not approved by its source rule.

Totals, tax, and currency

For 120 packs at AED 85 with 5% discount, net product value is AED 9,690 before tax. Totals include freight, service charges, tax by code, withholding if applicable, rounding, deposits, credits, and grand total. Tax uses company, transaction date, customer status, ship-to jurisdiction, item category, and approved override.

For a USD invoice of 1,000 at 3.6725, functional value is AED 3,672.50. Store rate source and date. Settlement at another rate posts realised FX; month-end revaluation posts unrealised FX on open receivable. Never change the original invoice rate after posting.

Posting and account impact

Posting debits customer receivable and credits revenue, freight, service, and output-tax accounts by line and dimension. A source delivery also relieves inventory and debits COGS separately. A service or project invoice may use WIP or deferred-revenue release according to policy.

The invoice must pass customer active status, source status, tax, currency, period open, duplicate external reference, account mappings, and permission checks. A balanced journal can still be incorrect if source or dimension is wrong.

Credit notes and adjustments

A credit note references original invoice, lines, quantity/amount, reason, tax, approval, and effective date. Reasons include return, pricing error, service-level credit, disputed tax, or cancellation. It reverses the relevant receivable, revenue, and tax; it does not edit the original invoice.

For a return of 10 packs at AED 85 with the original discount, the credit must use the original price and tax basis unless a documented policy says otherwise. Inventory return and credit note remain linked but are separate controlled events.

Receipts and allocations

A receipt records bank/cash account, customer, value date, currency, amount, reference, method, payer, and status. Allocate it to invoices by ID, amount, and currency. A receipt of AED 5,000 against a AED 9,690 invoice leaves AED 4,690 open; do not force a full match.

Unapplied receipts retain owner, reason, due date, and follow-up. A customer refund requires original receipt, reason, approval, bank validation, and accounting treatment. Allocation changes record old/new invoice, user, time, and reason.

Collections and disputes

Ageing groups open balance by due date, customer, branch, currency, salesperson, contract, dispute, and risk. A dispute records invoice line, reason, evidence, owner, expected resolution, and status. Disputed amount remains visible in receivable and forecast unless policy reclassifies it.

Credit hold or service suspension uses credit limit, overdue days, customer class, notice, approver, and release condition. Changing a customer’s credit limit is not a collection action and requires its own approval.

Recurring, milestone, and deferred revenue

Recurring invoices store schedule, source contract, period, quantity, amount, tax, currency, and idempotency key. A rerun of a successful period must not create a duplicate. Milestone invoices require approved completion evidence.

If a subscription or service is billed in advance, the invoice may credit deferred revenue. Release schedules record start/end, method, amount, currency, contract, and adjustment. Cancellation creates a controlled catch-up or credit according to policy.

API mapping and audit

API payloads use invoice ID, external reference, company, customer, source, currency, tax, lines, and idempotency key. Return invoice number, status, totals, journal ID, and correlation ID. Webhooks such as invoice.posted, receipt.allocated, and credit.created are signature-verified and deduplicated.

{"companyId":"company_uae","customerId":"cus_alnoor","source":{"type":"DELIVERY","id":"dn_00811"},
 "currency":"AED","invoiceDate":"2026-09-17","paymentTerm":"NET45",
 "lines":[{"itemId":"med_ins_100","quantity":"120","unitPrice":"85.00","discountPercent":"5","taxCode":"STANDARD"}]}

Audit evidence includes creator, approver, poster, source, request ID, tax override, allocation, credit, reversal, and status timestamps. Redact payment credentials and personal data in support logs.

Practice checklist

Create an invoice from a delivery, calculate discount and tax, post a USD invoice, apply a partial receipt, create an unapplied balance, open a dispute, issue a credit note, revalue FX, and reconcile AR to the GL. Explain every header/detail field, precision, owner, permission, status, source, journal, tax, currency, API ID, and audit event. Then attempt to invoice an unapproved delivery and allocate a receipt twice; prove both controls reject the action.

Related: Sales Order field guide, Business Partner field guide, Journal Entry field guide, Multi-currency settlement, and API cookbook.

AR invoice implementation worksheet

Use the source event as the starting point. The invoice operator should be able to answer what was delivered or earned, who legally owes it, which tax rule applies, when it is due, and which account and dimensions receive the result.

Area	Required field	Demo value	Acceptance question
Legal	Company/branch	DGV UAE / Dubai	Is the issuer and tax registration correct?
Party	Customer/bill-to/ship-to	Al Noor Hospital	Is the legal debtor and jurisdiction correct?
Source	Type and ID	Delivery / DN-00811	Can finance drill to proof of charge?
Dates	Invoice, tax, posting, due	17 Sep / 1 Nov	Does each report use the intended date?
Money	Currency, rate, precision	AED / 1.0000	Is the source and rounding reproducible?
Tax	Category, code, override	Standard / STANDARD	Is evidence attached for any override?
Lines	Item, UoM, quantity, price	120 packs × AED 85	Does line quantity agree with source?
Dimensions	Cost centre/project/segment	Hospital / HOSP-2026	Who owns the margin?
Terms	Payment term, method	Net 45 / bank	Does due date and collection route agree?
Controls	Approval, duplicate, period	Approved / unique / open	Can posting occur safely?

Tax and total reconstruction

Recalculate a sample invoice independently. One hundred twenty packs at AED 85 is AED 10,200 gross. A 5% discount is AED 510, leaving AED 9,690 taxable base. At 5% tax, tax is AED 484.50 and total is AED 10,174.50. If the screen shows a different total, inspect whether price is tax-inclusive, whether discount is before tax, and whether a rounding or freight line exists. Do not “correct” the total by changing quantity.

For a foreign-currency invoice, retain both document and functional amounts. A USD 1,000 invoice at 3.6725 is AED 3,672.50. A later receipt at 3.7000 creates a realised FX difference; month-end revaluation creates unrealised FX only for the remaining open amount. The invoice’s original rate and tax date remain unchanged.

Credit, dispute, and allocation controls

A credit note must identify original invoice, affected line or amount, reason, tax basis, quantity, warehouse impact where applicable, and approval. A dispute must identify the disputed amount and leave undisputed balance collectible. A partial receipt must allocate by explicit invoice IDs and amounts. Never allow a user to resolve an allocation ambiguity by selecting “oldest” without seeing the resulting documents and currencies.

Test these negative cases: credit above original open amount, credit without a source, receipt allocated twice, receipt currency mismatch, refund to an unverified bank, invoice from an unapproved delivery, invoice in a locked period, and tax override without evidence. Each must fail atomically and create a useful audit event.

Close and reconciliation pack

At close, reconcile invoice count and total by company, branch, currency, tax code, source, and posting period. Reconcile AR sub-ledger to GL, open invoices to ageing, receipts to bank, credits to source invoices, disputes to case register, deferred revenue to schedules, and FX revaluation to the approved rate file. Save report IDs, filter dates, currency, version, reviewer, and sign-off. A balanced trial balance is necessary but not sufficient: source completeness and tax classification must also pass.