How to Record Past Supplier Debit Notes

Overview:

Recording past supplier debit notes allows businesses to establish historical Accounts Payable (AP) transactions that increase supplier balances before the accounting start date. This process is commonly performed during system migration, opening balance setup, or when transferring records from a legacy accounting system.

Past supplier debit notes are typically recorded to reflect additional supplier charges, purchase adjustments, or other historical transactions that increase outstanding supplier balances before migration to the new system.

Depending on business requirements, past transactions may be recorded either as:

• Consolidated balances per supplier, or

• Itemized historical documents based on original debit note references

When recording historical transactions, ensure that:

• The transaction date is earlier than the cut-off date or accounting start date

• Outstanding supplier debit note balances are verified against prior accounting records

• Related historical bills, payments, or credit notes are also considered to maintain accurate supplier balances

The Accounts Payable opening balance is derived from the net effect of:

• Past Supplier Bills

• Past Supplier Debit Notes

• Past Pay Bills

• Past Supplier Credit Notes

Only outstanding balances as of the accounting start date should be recorded.

Scenario:

Your company is migrating from a legacy accounting system to N3 AI Accounting for the January to December 2026 financial year. As part of the migration, the company needs to record all outstanding supplier debit notes dated before January 1, 2026, so that supplier balances and Accounts Payable reports remain accurate in the new system.

Some suppliers have a single outstanding debit note balance, while others require individual historical debit notes to be recorded separately for tracking and reconciliation purposes.

Prerequisites:

• Supplier master records must already exist in the system.

• The financial year and opening balance period must already be configured.

• Outstanding supplier debit note balances must be verified against the previous accounting records before migration.

Procedure:

1. Prepare the list of outstanding supplier debit notes from the legacy records or prior accounting system.

2. Verify that the debit note balances represent outstanding supplier debit note amounts as of the accounting start date.

3. Review whether the debit notes will be recorded as:

• Consolidated balances per supplier, or

• Individual historical debit note transactions

4. Confirm that the transaction dates of the past debit notes are earlier than the accounting start date.

5. In the navigation pane, go to Account Payable > Debit Notes.

6. Click Add to create a new past supplier debit note entry for each required supplier record.

7. Enter the document date first (must be earlier than the accounting start date). The system automatically classifies the document as a past supplier debit note.

8. Select the supplier and applicable historical debit note details, such as:

• Document Number

• Ref No.

• Description

• Balance

• Tax Code

Note:

If Tax/VAT details are entered for historical reference purposes, the VAT portion does not generate a separate posting to the VAT General Ledger account because only the outstanding supplier debit note balance contributes to the Accounts Payable opening balance.

9. Review the entered amounts carefully and Save the transaction.

10. Repeat the process for all remaining outstanding supplier bills.

11. After all entries are completed, review the reflected opening Accounts Payable balance in General Ledger > Opening Balances to verify that the recorded balances match the historical records.

Application (General Use Cases):

• Establish opening Accounts Payable balances involving historical supplier charges during system migration

• Transfer outstanding supplier debit note balances from a legacy accounting system

• Maintain continuity of supplier balance records after migration

• Support historical balance reconciliation

• Help maintain continuity and accuracy of Accounts Payable reporting

• Retain reference to historical supplier debit note records for audit and tracking purposes

System Scope: QNE AI Cloud Accounting / N3 AI Accounting