Working the Price Variances List
Purchases → Price Variances is the list of purchases that came in above the rate you agreed, or above what you last paid.
Nothing was blocked when the document was saved. This is the list somebody works through afterwards, so a supplier gets chased instead of nobody.
What a row tells you
| Column | Read it as |
|---|---|
| Date | The document's own date. |
| Document | The purchase order or goods receipt. Click through to it. |
| Supplier, Item | Who and what. |
| Expected | The rate the console expected, and a tag saying where that came from — Agreement, Last paid, or Cost list. |
| Actual | What the document was keyed at. |
| Difference, % | How much more, in money and as a percentage. |
The tag on Expected matters more than it looks. "You agreed 100" and "you paid 100 last time" are two different conversations to have with a supplier.
Every figure on the row is frozen as it was when the document was saved. What you last paid moves as you keep buying, so a list that recalculated itself would stop being usable as evidence of anything.
Clearing a row
You need Manage variances.
- Open the row's ⋮ menu → Note and dismiss.
- Read the three figures the panel shows you.
- Type why the difference is acceptable — "freight was included this time", "agreed verbally with Ali on the 12th", "short-dated stock".
- Note and dismiss.
The button stays off until you type something. A cleared row with no reason reads exactly the same as one nobody ever opened.
The row moves to the Dismissed tab carrying its figures and your note. Nothing is deleted.
Stopping a supplier nagging you
Some suppliers move their prices weekly, and flagging every one of them is noise.
- The row's ⋮ menu → Stop flagging this pairing.
- The Tolerance panel opens with that supplier and item already filled in and the tick already set.
- Save.
The rates are still remembered. Turning the mute off later brings the history back with it — it only stops the rows appearing.
What counts as worth flagging
Click Tolerance (needs Manage variances).
A row appears only when both thresholds are exceeded: the percentage and the amount per unit. Requiring both keeps rounding off the list — five per cent of a forty-fils item is two fils, and nobody wants a work item for that. The trade-off is real and worth knowing: a large percentage swing on a very cheap item will not reach the list.
You can set a threshold for everyone (your default), for one supplier, or for one supplier and item. The most specific rule wins: supplier and item, then supplier, then your default.
Nothing here posts to your accounts
A difference against a remembered rate is an expectation, not a valuation. The rate you actually paid is already in your stock value, through the document that carried it. Booking the gap somewhere would fill an account with figures nobody could ever clear.