HANDY TIPS BEFORE STARTING
• Are you using the Purchase Order Invoicing option in the Purchase Order menu? If so once Invoiced PO’s have been posted in option #25 in PO Daily Work, those transactions will be found in the AP transaction file as described below.
• Make sure that your vendor master files have a default GL account number assigned to them as well as Payment Terms to simplify payment.
• Most clients process all AP transactions as held “H” & manually release invoices from a report or inquiry based on the amount of funds they have available for payment. If you do not hold items & usually pay all items due at on a particular date, there is an automatic function for this.
• Many clients don’t print journals in AP. They will send them to pdf. Some archive them, some don’t.
• Checks will be posted to the bank GL account in detail (check # date, payee) & date order for easy comparison to your bank statement.
• Only checks created through A/P Check Run go to the check rec file.
• We have a document on “How to handle bank transaction & bank reconciliation in the SSI system.
• For BUYING GROUP clients, you can assign various vendors to a “Pay to” of the Buying Group vendor (eg ACCO vendor has a pay to of CIS). As well, often you have multiple invoices that have been paid through bank transfer & therefore you are assigning the prepay of these multiple invoices with a check number similar to the bank transaction number. To SIMPLIFY this process release all these items in one batch & prepare a check against the batch. Once you have the check amount exactly as was taken out of your bank account, run the Prepare Check function & assign the check number. Print the check to PDF & post it through. This is a quick way to prepay a large number of invoices.
AP Check Run
1. Ensure all of your invoices that you wish to pay have been entered in AP Purchase Entry and posted.
2. List Invoices by Due Date
• Are you using the Purchase Order Invoicing option in the Purchase Order menu? If so once Invoiced PO’s have been posted in option #25 in PO Daily Work, those transactions will be found in the AP transaction file as described below.
• Make sure that your vendor master files have a default GL account number assigned to them as well as Payment Terms to simplify payment.
• Most clients process all AP transactions as held “H” & manually release invoices from a report or inquiry based on the amount of funds they have available for payment. If you do not hold items & usually pay all items due at on a particular date, there is an automatic function for this.
• Many clients don’t print journals in AP. They will send them to pdf. Some archive them, some don’t.
• Checks will be posted to the bank GL account in detail (check # date, payee) & date order for easy comparison to your bank statement.
• Only checks created through A/P Check Run go to the check rec file.
• We have a document on “How to handle bank transaction & bank reconciliation in the SSI system.
• For BUYING GROUP clients, you can assign various vendors to a “Pay to” of the Buying Group vendor (eg ACCO vendor has a pay to of CIS). As well, often you have multiple invoices that have been paid through bank transfer & therefore you are assigning the prepay of these multiple invoices with a check number similar to the bank transaction number. To SIMPLIFY this process release all these items in one batch & prepare a check against the batch. Once you have the check amount exactly as was taken out of your bank account, run the Prepare Check function & assign the check number. Print the check to PDF & post it through. This is a quick way to prepay a large number of invoices.
AP Check Run
1. Ensure all of your invoices that you wish to pay have been entered in AP Purchase Entry and posted.
2. List Invoices by Due Date
Select #2 Pay Invoices Menu, #20 List Invoices by Due Date report.
- select ranges on due date and/or vendor number, if required
- this will give you a listing of all vendors with invoices to pay and sorted by due date.
- review this report and highlight those invoices that you wish to release for payment
NOTE: You may want to print this report a second time ranging on discount date.
3. Hold/Release Invoices
-Use this function to alter the hold/release status or individual unrelated invoices
Hold or Release Selective Invoices
Reference Number enter the invoice number
Due Date allows you to enter a new due date if desired
Discount Amount is automatically calculated from the discount
percentage entered at A/P Purchase entry.
However, the system allows you to enter a fixed number when modifying this invoice to reflect any changes in the cash discount amount.
Status H-Hold no payment will be issued
O-Pay released for payment, a check will be issued automatically by the system during the next check run
P-Prepaid identifies invoices that have already been prepaid by credit card, direct payment or manual check
S-Split invoices splits into 2 payments with user specified amounts and due dates for each payment
N-Next the system will select the next transaction with the same invoice number and if no transaction exist, the system clears the screen entries an allows you to enter another invoice number
R-Retain (not used in distribution) the payment amount withheld from a subcontractor pending job completion
(used in the construction industry only)
D-Disputed to add a disputed hold code to the invoice. Note – when releasing a disputed hold invoice you will require a password. To create/maintain Disputed Code and passwords go to Disputed Code Maintenance found in the A/P Misc Maintenance Menu
Hold/Release Invoices for Vendors or Job
- Using this option you can change all invoices associated with a given job and/or vendor as a group.
Vendor Number enter vendor number
Job Number enter specific jobs (used in the construction industry only)
Change all invoices with a Due Date on or before: Hold or release all invoices dated up to and including this due date
Change all invoice with a Discount Date on or before: Since an invoice must be paid prior to the discount date to take advantage of the cash discount, entering a date will hold or release all invoices dated up to and including the discount date.
Change Invoice to a Status of: H-Hold no payment will be issued
O-Pay released for payment, a check will be issued automatically by the system during the next check run.
Release Retainage? When you enter “N”, the system releases all open invoices for payment but deducts and holds the retainage for the vendor and job specified. (used in the construction industry only)
Change Status for? If you wish to release open invoices for payment to suppliers or subcontractor as separate groups the enter the appropriate number 1- Suppliers, 2- Subcontractor, or 3- Both (used in the construction industry only)
Hold/Release Invoices by Scrolling
-Using this option you can change all invoices associated with a given job and/or vendor can be displayed by scrolling, and the status of each invoice can be altered without entering each invoice individually
Vendor Number enter exact vendor number or enter for all
Job Number enter specific jobs (used in the construction industry only)
Change all invoices with a Due Date on or before: hold or release all invoices dated up to and including this due date
Change all invoice with a Discount Date on or before: Since an invoice must be paid prior to the discount date to take advantage of the cash discount, entering a date will hold or release all invoices dated up to and including the discount date.
Selection M- More display successive invoice listing screens
S-Status positions the cursor fro the first displayed invoice in the “Status” column.
H-Hold no payment will be issued
R-Retain the payment amount withheld from a subcontractor pending job completion
(used in the construction industry only)
P-Prepaid identifies invoices that have already been prepaid by credit card, direct payment or manual check
<Space Bar> released for payment, a check will be processed automatically by the system during the next check run
B-Backup moves cursor back to previous invoice
D-Disputed to add a disputed hold code to the invoice. Note – when releasing a disputed hold invoice you will require a password. To create/maintain Disputed Code and passwords go to Disputed Code Maintenance found in the A/P Misc Maintenance Menu
E-End to end and save all changes to the invoices displayed
4. Prepare Checks
Select #24 Prepare Checks:
Have you held all open invoices? Yes
Enter date to be printed on checks enter the date as MMDDYY
Enter latest date due of invoices enter a later date to ensure you catch all invoices that have been released, for ex 123108
Take discounts on past due invoices? Y/N
Are you ready to prepare checks? Yes
- this will print out a total of all invoices to be paid
- if you wish to hold back some invoices from being paid OR wish to release some more invoices, then repeat steps 3 & 4 until you have the correct payment total
5. Print Check Register
Select #26 Print Check Register
- (often printed before actual check print to ensure accuracy) this will give you a preview of the checks that will get produced and the invoices being paid
6. Print Checks
Ensure your checks are loaded into your printer.
Select #25 Print Checks
Printer#: (example) 10
Alignment test? No
First Check#? Enter the number of the first check in the printer
Last good check#? <enter> past (used if printer ran out of checks & must restart to finish batch)
7. Print Check Register
Select #26 Print Check Register
- this will give you the same register as in step 5 but will now show the check numbers accordingly
8. Print Remittances
Select #27 Print Remittances
- select “1” for summary remittance vendors only or “2” for all vendors
- this will give you remittance stmts for any vendors that you were paying more than 12 invoices on one check and could not fit the information on the check stub
- you should attach these to the vendor’s check prior to mailing
9. Post Payments to Invoices
Select #29 Post Payments to Invoices
- enter the GL period to post to, ex “2” for February
- enter the GL fiscal year to post to, ex “8” for 2008
- answer “Y”es to prompts
NOTE: This step must be completed before you attempt to start another check run!
NOTE: There is an option to send check detail in check date order to you bank GL account.
NOTE: If you have multiple bank accounts that you pay from ask support to set appropriate flag & send supplementary procedure document.