Invoices, Credit notes, charges, allowances, oh my!

["G. Ken Holman" <gkholman@CraneSoftwrights.com>]

Here is a question I've received from a user, apologies in advance 
for my mangling of any terminology.  The wording is mine, so I might mess up.

As I understand it, charges on an invoice increase the amount of the 
invoice, and allowances on an invoice decrease the amount of the invoice.

When a credit note is issued against the invoice, are charges on the 
credit note increasing the amount of the credit note (and allowances 
decreasing the amount of the credit note), or because it is a credit 
note should the use of the two concepts be reversed?

The issue is that cac:AllowanceCharge is context free, and the 
definitions are not biasing one way or the other:

   "An association to Allowances and Charges that apply to the Credit Note
    as a whole."
   "An association to Allowances and Charges that apply to the Invoice as
    a whole."

My answer was "it can be either way because a community gets to 
define which way the allowances and charges are expected for any of 
the documents".

Is there a "best practice" for which way to go on credit notes?

Thanks!

. . . . . . . . . Ken

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