Agribusiness Client Ideas Portal
Currently, when vendor invoices contain price changes from the original Purchase Order, inventory staff must manually leave the AP Enter Unpaid → AP Enter Invoice Quantities screen, return to the Purchase Order, update the unit cost, then return to the invoice to continue processing to avoid missed cost updates and unnecessary GL entries.
This process becomes especially time-consuming in industries where prices fluctuate frequently between the time a Purchase Order is created and when the vendor invoice is received. In agriculture, for example, commodities such as feed ingredients, fertilizer, and other supply products can change price daily or weekly.
In addition, freight, SAC, or other charges are often applied at the invoice level and must be distributed across the items in the PO to determine the true landed cost of each inventory item. Currently this requires additional manual calculations and PO edits before completing the invoice.
Allowing the AP Enter Invoice Quantities screen to update the item Unit Cost on the PO during invoice entry would significantly streamline this workflow. Ideally, the screen could also allow freight or SAC charges entered on the invoice to be distributed by value or weight across the items on that PO to automatically calculate the final Unit Landed Cost.
Since the system already links invoices to Purchase Orders, enabling cost updates from the invoice screen would remove unnecessary steps and reduce the need to navigate between modules during the invoicing process.
It is also worth noting that the AP Enter Invoice Quantities screen already contains functionality that aligns well with this process. The screen allows users to enter Quantity with either Unit Cost or Extended Cost, which is extremely helpful when working from vendor invoices where extended totals are often easier to verify than unit pricing.
Because this functionality already exists, expanding the screen to include SAC/Freight allocation and the ability to update PO item costs directly during invoicing would appear to be a natural extension of the current workflow rather than a completely new feature.
| Date Submitted | Mar 4, 2026 |
| MerchantAg Modules | Inventory, Purchase Orders, Setup |
| MerchantFIN Modules | Accounts Payable, General Ledger |
| Product | MerchantFIN |
| Who will benefit from this idea? (Department and/or Job Title) | inventory managers, inventory personal, purchasing staff, and accounting management |
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What problem does this Idea solve?
The current workflow creates inefficiencies and increases the likelihood of errors when invoice pricing differs from the Purchase Order. Inventory personnel must repeatedly move between the invoice entry screen and the PO screen to correct costs before completing the invoice. This slows down invoice processing and introduces opportunities for mistakes, including missed cost updates or incorrect landed cost calculations. If unit cost changes are not caught during this process, it can result in incorrect inventory valuation and additional correcting GL entries later to reconcile costs. By allowing unit cost adjustments and freight/SAC distribution directly during invoice entry, the system would:
This improvement would primarily benefit inventory managers, purchasing staff, and accounting teams who process vendor invoices tied to Purchase Orders. Businesses dealing with frequently changing supplier pricing, such as agricultural supply dealers, feed mills, fertilizer retailers, and other inventory-based operations, would see the greatest benefit through faster invoice entry, more accurate landed cost tracking, and fewer costing errors.. |
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