Application Features

Accounts Payable provides the accounting information required for analysis and control of your company’s disbursements. Invoices, Adjustments, and Checks which are entered through an on-line user workstation, and detail or summary transactions generated from other applications, provide the input to Accounts Payable. All transactions entering the system are controlled and processed against individual accounts. Account validation, and other validation such as vendor number and item code, occurs at entry time and does not allow invalid or out-of-balance data to post to master files. Accounts Payable can transfer information to the General Ledger and /or Inventory Control applications.

Accounts Payable can support either twelve or thirteen financial periods per fiscal year. The fiscal year may be synchronized with or independent of the calendar year. Other applications may coincide with the Accounts Payable accounting period, or may be ahead of or behind that used by Accounts Payable. Transaction entry functions allow the user to specify the month and year to which a transaction is posted.

The Close Month function within Accounts Payable deletes historical data older than the number of months of history you decide to keep and prepares the files for the next accounting month.

Vendor Type

Vendors can be categorized using Vendor Types. Many of the Accounts Payable reports and updating functions can be sorted and selected by using this Vendor Type. For example, vendors who are company employees that receive reimbursement for travel expenses could be given a Vendor Type of “EMP”. Then, sometime during the month, expense checks could be printed during a check run for only vendors with type “EMP”.

Transaction Control

On the Accounts Payable Parameters file, there are two entries which allow you to define the level of transaction control detail that is appropriate for your business., These fields are labeled “Ask for Operator ID?” and “Use Transaction Control?.” Every transaction file is keyed by Operator ID and a sequential Control Number that is a part of your audit trail. If you enter ‘N’ (No) for “Ask for Operator ID?,” the system will automatically assign the Operator ID and Control Number for each group of transactions, but the control number can be changed. The system will not allow any operator to edit another operator’s transactions. No control or hash totals are kept, and no data is posted to the Transaction Control file.

If you enter ‘Y’ (Yes) to “Ask of Operator ID?” and ‘N’ (No) for “Use Transaction Control?,” the system will assign the Operator ID and Control Number for each group of transactions, but the Control Number can be changed. Additionally, any operator is allowed to edit another operator’s transactions. No control or hash totals are kept, and no data is posted to the Transaction Control file.

If you enter ‘Y’ (Yes) to “Ask for Operator ID?” and ‘Y’(Yes) to “Use Transaction Control?, “ The system will assign the Operator ID and Control number to each group of transactions, but the Control Number can be changed. In addition, control and hash totals can be entered and are balanced against the sum of the transactions. Each control group can have a unique description. An “Operator Exclusive?” option allows any operator to restrict access to his or her transactions. One record is written to the Transaction Control File for each group of transactions posted, detailing the Operator ID, Control Number, Description, Number of Transactions and Last Transaction Posted, Total Amount Posted, Number of Errors, and Number of Warnings. This information can be printed on reports and viewed through an inquiry.

Check Processing

Each check processing cycle begins with a Cash Requirements report. For this report you enter the check date for the current cycle, the date of the next check cycle and the maximum check amount to be printed. The Cash Requirements report lists all unpaid invoices by vendor and extends only those that are due before the next check cycle or those that must be paid in the current check run to earn available discounts. Invoices with due dates or discount dates after the next check processing cycle date are listed, but excluded from the cash required extension.

If the proposed disbursements require changes before the checks are actually created, use the Edit Pay Status function to change the disbursements. Disbursements may be edited by vendor or by invoice. Pay status options include Normal (take discount if paid within the discount period), Take Discount (even if payment does not fall within the discount period), and Hold or Dispute the invoice.

After the checks are created, the Preview Checks List shows each check that will be printed. Once checks are created, if some records are incorrect you can use the ‘Checks Approval/Revision’ function to delete or renumber ranges of check records prior to printing the checks. The entire check cycle can be cleared and restarted using the ‘Clear All Checks and Restart’ function and then rerunning Checks Creation. After checks are printed, the ‘Checks Approval/Revision’ function allows you to approve, delete, renumber, or void and cancel one or more checks. This can be done on multiple ranges of checks any number of times during a processing cycle. The ‘Clear All Checks and Restart’ function can also be used to restart the cycle after checks are printed, or any other time before the checks are posted.

The Checks Journal provides a detailed audit trail of the checks printed during this cycle and is required before posting.

The Checks Register report lists the checks that were printed by check number and shows the vendor receiving the check as well as the check amount and date. The final step in the check processing cycle is to post the checks, which updates your master files.

Cancelled checks are entered from your bank statements and then listed on a Check Reconciliation report. If Accounts Receivable is part of your system, the Checks Reconciliation report lists your cash deposits in addition to cancelled and outstanding checks. This report is extremely useful when reconciling your bank accounts.

Cash Flow

For Cash Flow forecasting purposes, Accounts Payable provides a Cash Requirements Projection report. This report projects payment amounts, based on either the invoice due date or the discount due date, for time intervals you designate. Besides total dollar amounts required, the total number of invoices is provided for each time period, as well as the total number of vendors to which the invoices are owed.

Historical Data

Accounts payable allows you to determine the number of months of history to keep for several types of data. Vendor History shows the total purchases, disbursements, and discounts for each vendor by month. You may choose to keep Vendor History in either calendar or fiscal year format. Processed Invoices history retains information such as date, apply to, amount, and amount paid for each invoice processed. This information is used to prevent duplicate payments for a single invoice. Transaction History saves invoice, payment and adjustment information for each vendor. Transaction Control history records Operator ID, Journal Code, Number of Transactions, Total Amount Posted, and other information about each transaction control group posted.

The advantage of saving data for an extended period of time is that it allows you on-line access to more information. The disadvantage of saving historical data is that it requires more disk space and may possibly have a negative impact on system performance.

1099 Information

Payments reportable to the Internal Revenue Service on Form 1099-MISC (non-employee compensation) are tracked by Accounts Payable for all vendors with a non-blank Tax Identifying number. This information can be printed on standard 1099-MISC forms, and can also be transferred to magnetic media for filing with the IRS if required. A detailed 1099 Audit Report is also provided.

Freight Options

The freight charges attributed to a purchase can be entered in four different ways in Accounts Payable. First, freight can be entered on the Invoice screen during invoice entry and then be optionally prorated over the line items of the invoice. The prorated is optional on each line item must accept the freight amount.

Secondly, the freight amount can be entered as a separate line item on the invoice and will be posted to the expense account entered on that line item.

The third freight option, Estimated Freight, requires Inventory Control as part of your accounting system. In this case, each inventory item that is purchased can be given an estimated freight percentage. Before inventory cost records are updated, the percentage is applied to each invoice line item containing the inventory item or product. The added cost is posted to the estimated freight account identified on the inventory item’s Product Class record. Inventory costs will also reflect the estimated freight amount.

Additionally, a separate freight invoice can be entered.