Document Sequences
Every invoice, bill, payment and journal needs a unique reference number — the kind you quote when a customer calls about "invoice SI-2026-000123." A Document Sequence is the rule that builds those numbers automatically: it sets the prefix, the running counter and the format. You configure them once per company, and from then on REDA numbers every document for you the moment it's created, with no duplicates. This matters more than it first appears — in many countries, clean sequential numbering is a legal requirement.
Access you'll need. Creating and editing document sequences requires the Accounting Admin v2 or Accounting Controller v2 permission set. The Accounts Payable v2, Accounts Receivable v2, and Read Only v2 sets can view them but not change them.
One sequence per company, per document type
Each entity keeps its own separate counters, and a separate counter for each kind of document.
So Sales Invoice SI-2026-000123 in Meridian Properties UK Ltd counts completely
independently from the same series in Meridian Properties US LLC — their numbers never
collide. Sequences can be set up for nine document types: Sales Invoice, Purchase Invoice,
Cash Receipt, Cash Disbursement, Journal Entry, Credit Memo, Vendor Memo, Purchase Order
and Cash Disbursement Batch — each with its own running number.
One rule keeps this unambiguous: a company can have only one active sequence per document type. Try to add a second and REDA refuses — "An active Document Sequence already exists for this Entity and Document Type. Deactivate the existing sequence before creating a new one." Two live counters for the same series would make "the next number" meaningless.
How a number is built
The rendered number comes from a small template made of four building blocks (called tokens). You arrange them however your country or business prefers:
| Token | Becomes | Comes from |
|---|---|---|
{PREFIX} | a leading label, e.g. SI- | the Prefix field |
{YEAR} | the 4-digit current year (only rendered when Include Year is on) | the year the number is issued in |
{SEQ} / {SEQ:N} | the running counter, zero-padded — {SEQ:4} pads to 4 digits; plain {SEQ} pads to 6 | the Next Number |
{SUFFIX} | a trailing label, e.g. -UK | the Suffix field |
So the template {PREFIX}{YEAR}-{SEQ:6} with prefix SI- produces SI-2026-000123. (The :6 means "pad the counter to 6 digits," which is why it reads 000123 rather than 123.) Leave Number Format blank and REDA uses the standard template {PREFIX}{YEAR}{SEQ:6}{SUFFIX} — which is why a sequence with just a prefix "MSI" produces numbers like MSI001001 out of the box.
Typos can't sneak through: the template is validated the moment you save. The three checks, verbatim:
| The message | What went wrong |
|---|---|
| "Number Format must include the {SEQ} token (e.g. {SEQ} or {SEQ:6}). Without it, every generated document number would be identical." | The template has no counter — add a {SEQ} token. |
| "{SEQ:N} pad width must be between 1 and 10. Found: …" | The pad width is out of range — pick 1–10. |
| "Unknown token in Number Format: …. Allowed tokens: {PREFIX}, {YEAR}, {SEQ}, {SEQ:N}, {SUFFIX}." | A typo like {YR} — only the four tokens above exist. |
Setting one up
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Entity | The company that owns this sequence. |
| Document Type | Which document it numbers (Sales Invoice, Journal Entry, …). |
| Prefix / Suffix | Leading / trailing text (SI-, -UK). |
| Number Format | The token template — must include a {SEQ} token. |
| Starting Number | The first number to assign (and the value the counter resets to at year rollover, if that's on). |
| Next Number | The next value to be used — the system increments this for you. Don't edit it by hand on a live sequence. |
| Include Year | When on, embeds the year in the number and resets the counter when a new year begins. |
| Last Used Year | System-maintained — the year the sequence last issued a number. This is how REDA notices a new year has started. |
| Is Active | When off, this sequence stops issuing numbers. Documents of that type then need a number typed by hand (or a new active sequence). Remember: only one sequence per entity and type can be active at a time. |
Year rollover — restart or keep counting?
Two common styles, and you pick whichever your jurisdiction expects:
| Include Year | Behaviour | Looks like |
|---|---|---|
| On | When the first document of a new year is created, the counter resets to the Starting Number (REDA compares the current year to Last Used Year). | SI-2026-000001, then in 2027 SI-2027-000001 |
| Off | The counter runs continuously across years, and no year appears in the number. | SI-000123, SI-000124, … |
Why numbers never collide
Numbers are issued the moment a document is created — the generated number becomes the document's name — and three safeguards keep the series trustworthy:
- One-at-a-time counting. The counter is locked while a number is handed out, so even when many people (or a bulk import) create documents at the same instant, no two documents can grab the same number. The mechanism is bulk-safe — a thousand imported invoices are numbered as efficiently as one.
- Format validation at save. A broken template (no
{SEQ}, a bad pad width, an unknown token) is rejected when you save the sequence, not discovered later on a live document. - Manual numbers are policed too. Where no sequence exists and a number is typed by hand, REDA still blocks duplicates — "A document with this number already exists for this entity. Document numbers must be unique per entity." And where a sequence does exist, the number can't be tampered with: "Document number is auto-assigned by the configured sequence and cannot be changed."
What happens with no sequence at all?
Sequences are a convenience, not a gate — but the fallback is explicit. If an entity has no active sequence for a document type, REDA either accepts a number you type by hand or, where a number is indispensable, stops with: "Document number is required. Enter a number manually, or configure a Document Sequence for this entity and document type." In practice you'll set up sequences for every document type a company actually uses during entity setup, and never see that message again. One subtlety worth knowing: a Sales Invoice document draws on the Credit Memo sequence when it's a credit memo — each record numbers from the series that matches what it really is.
Meridian's numbering plan
As a concrete pattern, here's how the example group numbers its US company's documents. Every sequence belongs to Meridian Properties US LLC; the leading "M" letters come from the Prefix field:
| Document Type | Prefix | Produces |
|---|---|---|
| Sales Invoice | MSI | MSI001001, MSI001002, … |
| Cash Receipt | MCR | MCR001001, MCR001002, … |
| Purchase Invoice | MPI | MPI001001, MPI001002, … |
| Journal Entry | MJE | MJE001001, MJE001002, … |
Simple, readable, and unambiguous at a glance — you'll recognise these numbers on the screenshots throughout this Help Center. A group that prefers year-stamped numbers would switch Include Year on and use a format like {PREFIX}-{YEAR}-{SEQ:6} instead.
Where to go next
- Creating an Entity — where sequences fit into setup.
- Entity Fields Reference — the sequence-related fields on the entity.
- Entity-Level Policy Settings — other org policies you set per entity.
- REDA Setup (CMDT) — org-wide switches that affect numbering.
Frequently asked questions
You'll want one for each document type a company actually uses (Sales Invoices, Purchase Invoices, Journal Entries, payments). Where one is missing, REDA asks for a manual number instead — workable, but not what you want for a busy document type.
They can, because each company's counter is independent — but most groups make prefixes company-specific (or add a suffix like -UK, -US) so a number instantly tells you which company it came from.
Yes — set the Starting Number to carry on from where your old system left off, and match the format. New documents then continue the same series.
Deactivate the existing sequence for that document type, then create a new active one with the new format (and a Starting Number that continues, or restarts, the series as your rules require). REDA won't let both be active at once.
No — a number, once issued, is never handed out again. That's a feature: reusing numbers is exactly what auditors don't want to see. If your jurisdiction requires accounting for every issued number, void documents rather than deleting drafts.
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