Draft and approved documents
Most documents in Zhmara X (invoices, bills, credit and debit notes, expenses, asset bills, journals, budgets, receipts, payments made, expense and asset payments, bank transactions, advances, bonuses / deductions, monthly and daily salary vouchers, stock adjustments and transfers) can be saved in two ways: as a draft, which changes nothing in your books, or as approved, which posts it to the accounts and stock.
Draft
Save as Draft stores the document so you can finish it later.
- It does not post any accounting entries.
- It does not move stock.
- It does not count in balances, aging or most reports (receivables and payables summaries leave drafts out).
- You can edit or delete it freely.
Use drafts for documents you are still preparing, waiting to check, or need someone else to approve.
Approved
Save as Approve (or Approve on a draft) makes the document final:
- The accounting entries are posted, for example Accounts Receivable debit and Sales credit for an invoice. See What each document posts.
- Stock goes in or out of the warehouses on each line, at weighted average cost.
- The document shows in balances, statements and reports.
Approving needs the Approve permission for that document type, so a clerk can prepare drafts and a manager approves them. This applies to every way a document becomes approved or posted: Approve on a draft, Save as Approve / Save and Post on a new document, a POS sale, and an import saved as Approved. Without it, those buttons are hidden or disabled and only Save as Draft is available. See Roles and permissions.
The document remembers who approved it and when, and shows this as Approved by (or Posted by) at the bottom of the document, next to Created by and Last modified by. It stays with the document for as long as it exists, even after older activity log entries are removed. See Who created and changed a document.
Manual journals, income / outcome vouchers, receipts, payments made, expense and asset payments, bank transactions, advances, salary vouchers, stock adjustments and transfers use Save and Post / Posted for the same idea (bonuses / deductions post nothing, so they use Save and Approve / Approved), and journal adjustments use Post / Unpost. A draft receipt or payment takes nothing off the invoices or bills it pays: they keep their balance until it is posted, and the amounts are checked again then. Record Payment on an invoice, bill, expense or asset bill, and the receipt of a POS sale, are posted at once (the money is already taken). Actions that post straight away also need the approve permission: a depreciation run, Complete count on a stock count, Finish Reconciliation and Undo on a bank reconciliation, and a bank revaluation.
Document numbers
The number (for example a sales invoice number) is given automatically when you save; the add page shows that the final number is assigned on save. Numbers are unique per document type within your company and stay the same when you edit the document. Prefixes and suffixes are set in Numbering.
Editing an approved document
You can edit an approved (or posted) document if you have both the Edit and the Approve permission, because saving it posts it again. With Edit only, you can change drafts but not approved documents. Its entries and stock movements are replaced by the new ones. Editing is refused when:
| Reason | What to do |
|---|---|
| The date, or the new date, is in a closed month or year | Reopen the period, or record a correction in an open period. See Financial years. |
| An item on it has later stock movements (it was sold, transferred or adjusted afterwards) | Use a return (credit or debit note) or a stock adjustment instead. See Stock rules. |
| It is part of a completed bank reconciliation | Undo that reconciliation first. See Bank reconciliation. |
| It is linked to other documents (for example an invoice with payments, a quotation already invoiced) | Change or delete the linked documents first. |
Deleting
Deleting removes the document and everything it posted. The same rules as editing apply. In addition, records that are used elsewhere can't be deleted. You will see a message such as "This ... cannot be deleted as it is associated either with some transactions or documents" or "It is used on ... Make it inactive instead.". For customers, suppliers, items, accounts and bank accounts, set them inactive instead: they keep their history but can't be chosen on new documents.
Statuses you will see
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Saved, not posted |
| Approved | Final. Invoices, bills, credit and debit notes, expenses and asset bills are posted; quotations and budgets are confirmed (they post nothing) |
| Posted | Journals, income / outcome vouchers, receipts, payments and bank transactions: posted to the ledger. Journal adjustments show Posted or Unposted |
| Paid / Partially Paid / Overdue by N days | For invoices, bills, expenses and asset bills: what is still due, and whether the due date has passed (credit and debit notes are only Approved or Paid) |
| Invoiced | For quotations: converted into an invoice |
| Completed | For stock counts and bank reconciliations: finished and locked |
| Closed | For budgets: no longer in use |