"What is that CM account for?"

who says accounts don't have a sense of humor ...

If you HAVE received the goods, you just owe the guy money and you just book the entry using existing accounts.   

dr Purchases Received (inventory or Supplies)
   cr Accounts Payable
-to recognize goods received but not yet paid for.

If you HAVE received the goods but haven't credited your supplier yet (I suppose to examine the receipt first) then you could

dr Purchases Received (inventory or Supplies)
   cr Clearing Account
-to recognize goods received but not yet paid for.

and then...

dr Clearing Account
   cr A/C Payable
to reflect a liability for goods received.

One could certainly do this, but this isn't really "standard" for most business' that I'm aware of and making this a Standard COA account is not recommended.  Simplicity is always better.  I would argue that ERP (like FA) systems especially don't need this, as Purchase Orders Outstanding are tracked.  If they aren't using a PO to place their order, then they aren't using the tools they have properly.  Right? 

Perhaps I'm not understanding your argument fully.  If so, I apologize.

This kind of reminds me of a Story my old accounting professor told us.  He went into a company and the bookkeeper had a "CM" account.  He inquired, "What is that CM account for?  The bookkeeper replied, "Well, we have a cat."   My professor said, "so?".  The bookkeeper said, "Well, we debit that for the cat meat we purchased. Cat Meat, CM."  His lesson to us.  Don't ever set up a Cat Meat account.  Use miscellaneous.

Thanks for finding this. Fixed and Committed to stable repo.

Joe

OR name='grn_clearing_act'