Accounts payable-checks

[raylaurenza]

I have a lot of vendors where I pay an invoice(which is in Accounts payable) online which usually comes off from a debit card.
When I go to reconcile and pay my accounts payable, it always seems to want me to input a check number and then it prints out like I was actually printing a check.

is there a way to not have to do that. I imagine I am doing something incorrect.

Thanks for help

[tborgal]

Use the "Maintain Manual Checks" option instead of "Maintain Open Invoices". You can use alpha characters in the check number field and the transaction does not print a check. Otherwise the account information is just the same as the Invoice option.

[LizAA]

Is this what I should? Currently i get a bill and use A/P to create an invoice and then print a computer generated check. We want to move to online bill pay... So do I pay the bills online via our online banking facility. Then, use the bank statement to create A/P transactions and select to create manual checks? OR can I just create General Journal entries under Accounting->Fund Accounting??? Which is best practice??

[NeilZ]

Is this what I should? Currently i get a bill and use A/P to create an invoice and then print a computer generated check. We want to move to online bill pay... So do I pay the bills online via our online banking facility. Then, use the bank statement to create A/P transactions and select to create manual checks? OR can I just create General Journal entries under Accounting->Fund Accounting??? Which is best practice??

You should not create an Invoice, just create the manual check for the amount on the bill. They pay the bills according to the procedures used by your bank. DO NOT just pay the bill, DO NOT wait until the bank statement. You should create the manual check at the same time you enter the online bill payment as the bank is going to withdraw the money from the account on the day you enter that payment.

You want to show that the money is no longer available.

Lastly, DO NOT create general journal entries, as you then lose all audit trail to the vendor you're paying. The system maintains how much the vendor was paid as well as connect to the manual check transaction showing the accounts used.

As far as the 'number' you should use for the manual check. Many just use EFT, but I'm leaning toward that being too generic. I'm starting to use the date in YYMMDD format plus a dash and then a 2 digit sequence. So the first check for today would be 170208-01, the next 170208-02, and so on.

[LizAA]

Thanks!
So... i get the bill, create my transaction to pay the bill online at the bank, then use A/P to just 'Maintain Manual Check"?

The online bank transactions will need to be checked and 'approved' by someone else so the payment date will usually be at least three days in the future so that they can be checked before 'release' (in the online banking system.) So the bank will withdraw the money on the payment date.
I've not used 'manual checks' before, so hopefully I will get through the posting process correctly...

BTW I inherited what is currently in Powerchurch and we have an EFT withdrawal every month from a vendor. The way it's handled now is by adding a GE entry when I get the bank statement... should I just keep it as is? If I need to switch it over to a manual check process, what do I do with the past years' entries???

[NeilZ]

Thanks!
So... i get the bill, create my transaction to pay the bill online at the bank, then use A/P to just 'Maintain Manual Check"?

The online bank transactions will need to be checked and 'approved' by someone else so the payment date will usually be at least three days in the future so that they can be checked before 'release' (in the online banking system.) So the bank will withdraw the money on the payment date.
I've not used 'manual checks' before, so hopefully I will get through the posting process correctly...

Nothing to it, just like filling in a check

BTW I inherited what is currently in Powerchurch and we have an EFT withdrawal every month from a vendor. The way it's handled now is by adding a GE entry when I get the bank statement... should I just keep it as is? If I need to switch it over to a manual check process, what do I do with the past years' entries???

That was a bad way to do this, as all you have is an expense account amount debit, a checking account credit, and any notes that may have been put in the Transaction Notes field. By creating a Manual Check, you connect the payment with the vendor in the system, and have that record. If in future you need to track to see if the vendor was paid, you just go to the vendor record, rather than try to view information online, or in the Posted Transactions file.

[LizAA]

So, should I start generating manual checks for the EFT as of now? What would that do?

Is this the same process for payroll? We have three people on payroll. So I was considering just making them into bill pays to their accounts. But I don't know how to sort out the taxes and deductions.... and how to make the payroll info tie in with a bill pay transaction....
Any ideas?

[NeilZ]

So, should I start generating manual checks for the EFT as of now? What would that do?

Provide the proper vendor audit trail from now on. Simple as that.

Is this the same process for payroll? We have three people on payroll. So I was considering just making them into bill pays to their accounts. But I don't know how to sort out the taxes and deductions.... and how to make the payroll info tie in with a bill pay transaction....
Any ideas?

My answer to this is in the topic where you asked this question originally.

[LizAA]

Sorry about the duplicate Payroll question... my bad.

Do I need to figure out how to 'marry' the general journal entries for this vendor (the gas co. that currently does a auto bill pay from our checking account) with my new practice of processing a manual check for this vendor?

Or just start maintaining manual checks for the vendor as of this month and add a note indicating that old bills were processed in the Journal Entry side?

[As an aside: With my limited knowledge of bookkeeping: wouldn't the general journal entries along with the paper bill and bank statement provide adequate audit trail? granted it's not all in one place (i.e. not all shown via a report in PowerC). I believe we have a good seven years worth of bank statements and general journal entry request forms (our old bookkeeper used a number of paper forms and used that to add info into PowerC)]

[NeilZ]

Sorry about the duplicate Payroll question... my bad.

Do I need to figure out how to 'marry' the general journal entries for this vendor (the gas co. that currently does a auto bill pay from our checking account) with my new practice of processing a manual check for this vendor?

Or just start maintaining manual checks for the vendor as of this month and add a note indicating that old bills were processed in the Journal Entry side?

I

Just add a note to the Vendor Record on the NOTES tab.

[As an aside: With my limited knowledge of bookkeeping: wouldn't the general journal entries along with the paper bill and bank statement provide adequate audit trail? granted it's not all in one place (i.e. not all shown via a report in PowerC). I believe we have a good seven years worth of bank statements and general journal entry request forms (our old bookkeeper used a number of paper forms and used that to add info into PowerC)]

FWIW .. you really only need to keep 4 years of income & expense records per the IRS. However, you pointed out the problem with having such a 'paper trail', having to go through 7 years of papers to find the information, whereas all you would have to do is print a report in Powerchurch.

Which is the better use of your time ??