Purchase Credit Note (Internal) Applet

Purpose and overview

In purchasing, a credit note (also called a supplier credit or purchase credit note) is a formal record that reduces what your company owes a supplier, or corrects what you already recorded, when something changes after a purchase or invoice. Typical reasons include returned goods, wrong quantities or prices, agreed rebates, or duplicate billing. In plain terms: a supplier invoice says you should pay more; a purchase credit note says you should pay less or take an amount off the account.

In BigLedger, the Purchase Credit Note (Internal) Applet is where you create and maintain that record inside the ERP, with the same overall shape as other purchase documents: header details, supplier account, and lines so procurement and finance stay aligned.

Every credit note ties together who you are crediting (supplier on Account), which document you are editing (header on Main Details), and what is credited on each line (Line Items on create, Lines on edit). Optional tabs add payment, department, knock-off from GRN/PO/supplier DO (KO For), e-invoice, settlement, and evidence when your tenant shows them.

Before you begin

• Agree internally who proposes credit amounts (procurement) and who approves them for posting (finance), so totals and reasons are clear before you use FINAL.
• The supplier must exist in master data before you can complete the Account tab on a new credit note.
• Whether you must tie a credit to an existing posted invoice depends on your process. When KO For is visible on create, it is for knock-off from Purchase GRN, Purchase Order, or Supplier Delivery Order (see KO For tab); linking or settlement against a posted purchase invoice may use Doc Link, ARAP, or other steps your finance team defines.
• For statutory e-invoice steps after posting, your organisation may also use My E-Invoice Admin Applet—see that guide for queues and status, not this page.

Who benefits and problems solved

Without a structured credit-note process, teams often rely on email and spreadsheets, which makes it hard to prove what was agreed, match credits to invoices or receipts, and keep procurement and finance on the same numbers. This applet gives one official list, header plus supplier plus lines in one place, optional links to e-invoice and settlement when your tenant enables them, and bulk paths through the Line Items workspace and File Import.

Key features overview

Quick start

The layout may show the same areas as tabs across the top or as expansion panels you open one at a time—that is a display choice only; the underlying data and steps are the same. Users can switch layout with CHANGE VIEW (see Settings).

For procurement: record a credit and get it ready for finance

1. Open Purchase Credit Note (Internal) from the sidebar and use the list search or filters to find an existing document, or start Create / + for a new one.
2. On Create Purchase Credit Note, work through Main Details, then Account, then Line Items. Treat optional tabs only when your process requires them (Payment, Department Hdr, KO For—see below).

Main Details — what to fill in

• Required vs optional fields are controlled by Field settings for your tenant. On the form, anything your company marks as mandatory usually shows as required (for example asterisk or red highlight when empty). If you are unsure about a blank field, ask procurement lead or admin rather than guessing.
• Reference numbers: Use the field your policy names for each purpose. A practical pattern many teams use: put the supplier’s own credit note reference (if they issued one) in the supplier or external reference field your form exposes; put your internal case or return ID in an internal reference; put the original purchase invoice or PO number wherever finance asked you to trace the credit (sometimes a dedicated reference, sometimes remarks). If your form only has one reference line, agree one convention with finance and stick to it.
• Dates: Use the document date and any due/posting-related dates your form shows the way finance trained you (often “today” for the credit note date unless policy says otherwise).

Account

• Pick the same supplier the credit is for, and bill-to / ship-to that match the agreement or the original transaction.

Line Items — quantities and prices

• Enter the credit you are recording now: item, quantity being credited, and unit price for this credit (the amount that should reduce payables after posting—not “extra” fields for history unless your form has them).
• Price to use: If finance agreed to credit at the same unit price as the original invoice, use that price on the line. If they agreed a different credit price (promotional credit, partial write-down, negotiated return value), enter that agreed price—not the old invoice price. When in doubt, confirm with finance before posting.
• Example (returned goods): Finance agrees to credit 10 returned units at MYR 50.00 each. On Line Items, choose the same item code as the original purchase (or the return line item your policy uses), enter Qty 10, Unit price 50.00 (or your form’s equivalent labels), and a clear line remark such as “Return RMA-123”. Totals on the header should match what was approved.

Optional tabs when visible:

• Payment — only if your process records payment lines on the credit note.
• Department Hdr — department or segment on the header when your company allocates credits that way.
• KO For — see KO For tab; use it when you should build lines from open quantities on a Purchase GRN, Purchase Order, or Supplier Delivery Order instead of typing every line by hand.

3. Click CREATE to save a new document (use RESET only if you intend to clear the draft form). After the document exists, continue editing with SAVE; optional tabs on the saved document are described under Edit screen tabs.

For finance: approve posting and follow your close-out steps

1. Open the document from the list and confirm supplier, totals, and lines against your approval rules.
2. Use SAVE while changes are still in progress. When the credit is ready for generic document posting, use FINAL (header button on the edit screen).
3. On Main Details, DISCARD removes a draft (no posting status yet, or status DRAFT). VOID appears after the document is FINAL (posted), when your settings and permissions allow. Either action can be hidden or blocked while the document is locked—ask finance or admin if a button is missing.
4. Complete E-Invoice, ARAP, Contra, Doc Link, or other tabs only as your training describes. Deep e-invoice submission and My E-Invoice workflows are covered in My E-Invoice Admin Applet and, where relevant, Purchase Invoice (Internal) Applet.

For operations: bulk lines and evidence

1. Use File Import for CSV uploads; fix errors shown on Checking, then re-import or continue per your admin’s procedure.
2. Use Line Items workspace to find and correct specific lines after import or when working across many documents.
3. On an open document, use Attachment or Export when those tabs are visible and your process requires files or extracts.

Field reference

This section explains what each part of the credit note form is for. Which fields are required depends on your company’s Field settings—the tables below describe purpose, not whether every tenant marks them mandatory.

For shared concepts (currency, GL segments, e-invoice supplier fields), see also Purchase Invoice (Internal) Applet where similar fields are documented for invoices.

Main Details (document header)

Account (supplier)

The Account tab has subtabs Entity Details, Bill To, and Ship To when your admin shows them.

Video walkthrough: selecting the supplier and updating billing details on a purchase credit note.

Line Items / Lines (credit lines)

On Create Purchase Credit Note the tab is Line Items; on an open document it is Lines—same data, different screen title.

Record a supplier credit

This is the day-to-day workflow inside the applet: one list, one document, supplier account, and credit lines.

Main list: Purchase Credit Note (Internal)

From the sidebar, open the main list to search, filter, and open documents. Create / + starts a new credit note when you have permission. Columns may include document number, dates, amounts, Self Billed ? (reflects the header/supplier self-billed flag when present), and status—exact columns depend on configuration.

Create a new credit note

Video walkthrough: creating a purchase credit note from the listing through Main Details, Account, Line Items, and CREATE.

1. From the list, click Create / +. The screen title is Create Purchase Credit Note.
2. Main Details — dates, references, and other header fields your company requires (see Field reference).
3. Account — select the supplier and billing/shipping details as required.

4. Line Items — add lines (items, quantities, amounts) for what is being credited.

5. Optional tabs (only if shown): Payment, Department Hdr, KO For — complete when your process says so. See KO For tab.
6. Click CREATE to persist the document. Use RESET to clear the unsaved create form.

KO For tab (create)

The KO For tab is optional and only appears when your administrator enables it. It exists so you can import knock-off lines from an existing purchase document instead of re-typing item codes, quantities, and baseline amounts.

Inside the tab you get subtabs such as KO For Purchase GRN, KO For Purchase Order, and KO For Supplier Delivery Order (exact titles match your screen). Typical flow: open the subtab that matches the document you are crediting against, search and select that document, then use the knock-off action your training describes. The system brings open quantities and linked line data from that document into this credit note so you start from what was already received or ordered. Review and adjust lines afterward if the credit quantity or price differs from what was pulled (for example partial return or negotiated credit).

If you skip KO For, you can still enter lines manually on Line Items; finance may later match the credit to invoices or payables using Doc Link, ARAP, or other tools on the saved document. Whether knock-off is required is a company rule, not something the applet decides for you.

For invoice-centric knock-off, settlement, and ARAP behaviour, continue with Purchase Invoice (Internal) Applet after the credit note exists if that is how your tenant is set up.

Edit an existing credit note

Open a row from the list. The header shows SAVE and, when allowed, FINAL.

For tab-by-tab guidance on the saved document, see Edit screen tabs.

Edit screen tabs

After you CREATE a credit note, the edit screen shows a set of tabs (or vertical panels if CHANGE VIEW is set that way). Tabs appear only when your administrator has not hidden them. Work through them in the order below when your process requires each step.

Main Details

When to use: Always—the document header.

What you do here: Review or update branch, location, dates, references, currency, and remarks. DISCARD (draft) and VOID (posted) appear here when permitted. Confirm Posting Status before you assume the credit is live in payables.

Typical scenario: Procurement corrects the supplier reference number before finance runs FINAL.

E-Invoice

When to use: When e-invoice is enabled for your tenant—usually after FINAL.

What you do here: View or trigger e-invoice actions (submission, cancellation) per country rules. Self-billed suppliers may see different subtabs than standard suppliers.

Typical scenario: Finance posts the credit, then completes e-invoice submission from this tab or follows up in My E-Invoice Admin Applet.

Account

When to use: Always—supplier identity and addresses.

What you do here: Confirm Entity Details, Bill To, and Ship To match the supplier and addresses on the original purchase or return agreement.

Typical scenario: Credit for a return—the ship-to address is the supplier’s return warehouse.

Lines

When to use: Always—what is being credited.

What you do here: Add, edit, or remove credit lines (item, qty, unit price, tax, remarks). Same grid as Line Items on create.

Typical scenario: Partial return—reduce qty on one line and add a remark with the RMA number.

ARAP

When to use: When the tab is visible and finance uses payables settlement on the document.

What you do here: View or manage accounts receivable/payable settlement—offset this credit against open supplier invoices or balances.

Typical scenario: Posted credit note reduces amount owed on a specific purchase invoice.

Payment

When to use: When your process records payment lines directly on the credit document (uncommon for standard supplier credits—confirm with finance).

What you do here: Enter or review payment allocation lines tied to this document.

Typical scenario: Refund or settlement recorded on the same document per company policy.

Department Hdr

When to use: When your company allocates credits by department, segment, or project at header level.

What you do here: Set segment, dimension, profit centre, or project on the document header for GL reporting.

Typical scenario: Credit for a department’s mistaken order—segment code routes the credit to the correct cost centre.

Trace Document

When to use: When audit or finance needs posting trace on the generic document.

What you do here: Review system posting trace and linked posting events (read-only for most users).

Typical scenario: Support investigates why a credit did not appear in a report—trace shows posting history.

Contra

When to use: When finance offsets this credit against another payable or document.

What you do here: Create or review contra entries that net this credit against an invoice, debit note, or other balance.

Typical scenario: Supplier sends a credit note that nets against an unpaid invoice—finance records contra here.

Doc Link

When to use: When you must formally link this credit to related documents (PO, GRN, invoice, etc.).

What you do here: Add or view document links for traceability and matching—not the same as KO For on create, which pulls lines from GRN/PO/SDO.

Typical scenario: Link posted credit to the original purchase invoice number for three-way matching audit.

Attachment

When to use: When you need evidence on file (supplier PDF credit note, email approval, photos of returned goods).

What you do here: Upload, view, or download attachments stored against this document.

Typical scenario: Attach the supplier’s signed credit note PDF before FINAL.

Export

When to use: When you need a data extract of this document for hand-off or external review.

What you do here: Run export in the format your administrator configured.

Typical scenario: Export credit note details for a supplier dispute file.

Line Items workspace

The Line Items item in the left menu is not the same as the Line Items tab on Create Purchase Credit Note or the Lines tab on an open document. The menu opens a separate search grid so you can work across many documents and jump straight into editing one line.

1. Open Line Items from the sidebar.
2. Use search and filters to narrow the list.
3. Open a row to edit (screen title Edit Item).
4. Use the subtabs as shown—for example Item Details, Costing Details, and Issue Link; serial, batch, or bin subtabs appear when your item setup requires them. Click SAVE on the line editor when done.
5. Use Delete on a line when available and your policy allows it (confirm prompts if shown).

File Import

Use File Import when your company loads credit note data from CSV instead of typing each document or line manually.

Step-by-step upload

1. Open File Import from the sidebar and start a new import with Create / +.
2. The upload screen title is Upload The Data. Set Delimeter (the on-screen spelling) to match your CSV:
   • COMMA — fields separated by , (most common)
   • PIPE — fields separated by |
3. Add a .csv file with Upload File or drag and drop into the drop zone.
4. Open Sample Format to open the column-picker dialog and download the template CSV (Purchase_Credit_Note_Master_Data_Template.csv). Target fields (mandatory) are always included; you can add source fields (optional) from the left list.

5. Click SUBMIT to run the import.
6. Open the import record (File Details). Review Details for file-level status, and Checking for row-level validation.

Sample Format: target fields (mandatory)

These columns are always required in your CSV header and must be populated on every data row you expect to import. They cannot be removed from the Sample Format download.

Sample Format: source fields (optional)

Select these in the Sample Format dialog when your CSV needs extra header, supplier, line, tax, GL, or e-invoice data. Add only the columns you will populate—empty optional columns are usually fine.

Header and document

Supplier (entity)

Billing and shipping address

Line item detail

E-invoice (when applicable)

Example CSV rows

Minimal row (mandatory columns only):

Row with supplier and reference (optional columns added):

Import rules (read before SUBMIT)

• Mandatory columns: All eight target columns must appear in the header row and be filled on each data row; empty required cells produce errors on Checking.
• Column names: Match the Sample Format spelling and case exactly.
• Delimiter: Must match the Delimeter you select on Upload The Data—a comma file with PIPE selected (or vice versa) will fail or mis-parse rows.
• Failed rows: Treat Checking as the source of truth after each run. Fix the CSV and start a new import (or follow your admin’s recycle procedure).

Import listing and File Details

After SUBMIT, the File Import Listing shows each upload:

Open a row to see File Details with two tabs:

Checking tab (helper table)

The Checking tab is your main tool for troubleshooting CSV uploads.

Self-service correction workflow

1. SUBMIT the file.
2. Open the import record → Checking tab.
3. Filter or scan for Processed = false and read Validation Error on each failed row.
4. Fix those rows in your CSV (delimiter, mandatory columns, valid codes, date format).
5. Upload again with Create / + and SUBMIT a corrected file.

If File Import is missing from the menu, feature visibility or role permissions may hide it.

Personalization

Personalization is a separate menu (footer or sidebar link) for individual user preferences—it does not change company-wide settings in Settings.

Use Personalization when you always work from the same branch or warehouse and want faster document creation without asking an admin to change tenant defaults.

Company-wide defaults remain under Settings → Default Selection (administrators only).

E-invoice and related flows

On an open document, the E-Invoice tab appears when e-invoice is enabled for your tenant. After FINAL, panels such as submission or cancellation follow your country and company rules. The document and supplier self-billed flag drives self-billed behaviour in the UI (for example, which e-invoice subtabs show after posting). Configure or interpret self-billed with your finance team and with Purchase Invoice (Internal) Applet where supplier e-invoice settings are documented.

Day-to-day monitoring of submissions, failures, and cancellations belongs in My E-Invoice Admin Applet—use that user guide for queue-based work, not a second copy of those steps here.

Choosing other purchase documents

Related purchase flow guides:

• Purchase Order (Internal) Applet
• Purchase GRN Stock In (Internal) Applet
• Purchase Invoice (Internal) Applet
• Supplier Delivery Order Applet

Settings (for administrators)

These live under Settings in the applet. Names match what users usually see in the sidebar.

System configuration

Application Settings tabs

Open Settings → Application Settings. Use the top tabs to configure behaviour by screen area:

Change View

On many settings and document screens, CHANGE VIEW (top right) toggles between horizontal tabs and vertical expansion panels. Same fields and data—only layout changes. Train users on whichever mode your tenant sets as default under Gen Doc Listing.

Server-side permissions

Video walkthrough for permission setup:

Other settings areas

Configure these according to your organisation’s procurement, finance, and approval policies.

If something is wrong

Still stuck? Note your user name, document number (if any), and what you clicked, then contact your BigLedger administrator or internal help desk.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a purchase credit note and a supplier invoice?
An invoice from the supplier normally increases what you owe. A purchase credit note reduces that balance or corrects an earlier posting—see Purpose and overview.

When should I use a credit note instead of a debit note?
Use a credit note when the outcome is “we pay less” or “take this off our account.” Use a debit note when policy says you must charge the supplier more. See Choosing other purchase documents.

How do I link a credit note to an existing purchase invoice?
On create, KO For pulls from Purchase GRN, Purchase Order, or Supplier Delivery Order, not directly from a purchase invoice screen—see KO For tab. For invoice-level linking or settlement, use Doc Link or ARAP when visible, or follow Purchase Invoice (Internal) Applet.

File import failed—what should I check first?
Open the import record and read the Checking tab; fix Delimeter and column layout to match Sample Format. See Checking tab.

What is the Line Items menu versus the Line Items tab or Lines tab?
The Line Items menu searches across documents. On Create Purchase Credit Note the tab is Line Items; on an existing document the tab is Lines—same line list, different screen.

What does Self Billed mean on the list?
The list column Self Billed ? reflects the document/supplier self-billed flag used for e-invoice. Supplier-side setup is described with purchase invoice and e-invoice training.

What is Personalization versus Default Selection in Settings?
Personalization sets your default branch/location and layout. Settings → Default Selection sets company-wide defaults for all users (admin only).

Related documentation

• Purchase Invoice (Internal) Applet — invoice, knock-off, ARAP, file import templates, self-billed context.
• My E-Invoice Admin Applet — submission status and operational follow-up.
• Purchase Order (Internal) Applet
• Purchase GRN Stock In (Internal) Applet
• Purchase Debit Note (Internal) Applet
• Purchase Return (Internal) Applet
• Purchase Refund Note (Internal) Applet
• Supplier Delivery Order Applet

Glossary