A supplier includes free units: reconcile the receipt before calculating unit cost

A supplier invoice can charge for fewer units than arrive without containing an error. The additional goods may be a negotiated purchase promotion. Establish the arrangement before the receiving team records an overdelivery or accounts payable changes the invoice. The purchasing record should explain what the business ordered, which units attract a charge, which units are promised without a separate charge, and when those promised units become due.

Two offers described as ten percent free can produce different results. SAP distinguishes an inclusive bonus, where some of the requested quantity is supplied without charge, from an exclusive bonus, where additional goods accompany the paid order. Its documentation also notes that additional goods can be a different material. Those distinctions are useful purchasing questions even when the business uses another system. Preserve the supplier's actual wording and the agreed quantity calculation.

For a hypothetical order referring to 1,000 identical units at $10 per charged unit, an inclusive arrangement giving 100 of those units free produces 1,000 delivered units and $9,000 of charges. An additional-bonus arrangement giving 100 extra units produces 1,100 delivered units and $10,000 of charges. Neither interpretation can be selected from the phrase ten percent free alone. Have purchasing confirm the intended offer before matching the receipt.

Record the paid and bonus quantities on connected order lines or another supported structure that preserves the agreement. Include the product identifier, unit of measure, qualifying quantity, offer dates and any delivery condition. A note buried in a sales representative's email is difficult to reconcile when the warehouse receives the goods in several shipments. The receiver needs a specific expected quantity without being asked to interpret the commercial offer.

Suppose the second hypothetical arrangement arrives as 1,000 paid units and 80 bonus units, with 20 bonus units promised later. Record the 1,080 units actually received and keep the remaining 20 on an open entitlement record. Do not receive 1,100 merely to make the promotion calculation agree. Equally, do not close the order on the assumption that a zero-price remainder has no value to the business. Purchasing still needs to obtain or resolve the missing goods.

Check whether the bonus depends on individual deliveries, cumulative purchases or a completed payment. Preserve evidence that the stated condition was met. A future contingent offer is different from goods already owed under an accepted order. If the supplier disputes the entitlement, record the dispute and its owner rather than presenting the quantity as immediately available stock. The accountant can then assess any financial consequence from the actual evidence.

The warehouse should count every received item, including a zero-price line. Match the physical receipt to the packing record and retain lot, condition and location information where needed. Free units can be damaged, short dated or the wrong specification. Their lack of a separate invoice price does not establish that they are usable or that they satisfy the promotion. Send those exceptions to purchasing with the same clarity as a short paid delivery.

Accounts payable should match the agreed charged quantity, price and other invoice amounts without inventing an additional supplier liability for the bonus. In the full 1,100-unit example, the stated purchase charge remains $10,000 before any separately applicable costs or taxes. Posting 1,100 units at the invoice's $10 charged-unit rate would create $11,000, a $1,000 overstatement of that purchase charge. A receipt and invoice can legitimately have different quantity presentations while their relationship remains documented.

Check how the software represents a receipt that has no invoice amount. A zero-price order line, linked bonus line and separate receipt type can affect matching and costing differently. Test the supported process with the accounting owner. Do not choose an adjustment code simply because it lets the transaction post. The resulting stock, supplier balance and exception queue all need to reflect the same purchase arrangement.

A useful commercial calculation divides the reviewed purchase cost by the goods that cost relates to. If all 1,100 identical units have arrived and the approved cost pool consists only of the $10,000 purchase charge, the average purchase cost is about $9.09 per unit. That calculation explains the offer's economics. It does not determine how every inventory system should post the receipt or how a reporting framework treats a different product supplied as a bonus.

The software's valuation method matters. SAP's training for free deliveries without a prior purchase order describes different quantity and value effects under moving-average and standard-price control. That is a specific software example, not an instruction to use its receipt procedure for this purchase order. It demonstrates why zero billed amount alone does not establish the ledger entries. Ask the implementer and accountant to show the treatment for the company's configured method and transaction type.

Keep a bonus containing a different SKU visible as a different product. A pallet of the purchased goods and an unrelated demonstration item do not become equivalent units because they traveled together. Ask the accounting reviewer how consideration and relevant costs should be attributed under the applicable policy. Retain the allocation rationale and any separate usage restriction. Avoid silently spreading the invoice value across dissimilar items by counting pieces.

When the outstanding 20 units arrive, connect the receipt to the original entitlement. Review whether the cost calculation or prior cost-of-sales record needs an update under the approved method. Do not create a second purchase charge merely because a new packing slip accompanies the delivery. If the supplier instead cancels the bonus and grants a credit, record the revised commercial settlement and let accounting determine its effect on the relevant goods.

Returns can change promotion eligibility. A supplier may require bonus units to be returned with the paid goods or may calculate the credit using a specific allocation. Read the accepted terms and obtain the supplier's return authorization. Record which physical units leave, which charged amount is credited and what remains unresolved. The inventory value removed under the company's method can differ from the supplier's credit calculation; the reviewer needs that difference explained.

Do not assume that all units described as free are part of a purchase discount. Replacement goods, samples, promotional services and disputed-damage settlements can have different facts. Keep the supplier's explanation with the transaction and escalate unclear classifications before combining them into one bonus account. That preserves the distinction between a purchasing benefit and another business event using a zero-price delivery document.

At the end of the offer, reconcile qualifying purchases, promised bonus quantities, received quantities, approved substitutions and unresolved shortages. Name the date and evidence behind each change. A supplier statement usually focuses on money owed and may not reveal a missing bonus delivery. The purchasing register therefore remains necessary even when accounts payable has settled every invoice.

Give the next buyer a verified comparison of total consideration and usable goods received. State any unresolved entitlement separately instead of allowing an anticipated quantity to lower the reported cost of today's stock. The completed record should let a reviewer trace the offer from its agreed terms through receipt and accounting treatment, and let purchasing decide whether the promotion delivered the benefit used to approve the order.