Processing Invoices that have been paid prior to entry
This procedure allows you to record invoice payment (check) information at the same time that you are processing an invoice. It is used to record invoices which are paid with handwritten checks (such as C.O.D. shipments). When a prepaid invoice is processed, the system creates a record in the AP Register file for the invoice. The system also updates the AP Register record with the information from the check and it creates a record in the Bank file to record the check. All of the appropriate general ledger accounts are also updated to reflect both the invoice and the payment against the invoice. Note: This procedure is NOT used to process a vendor prepayment. It posts both the invoice and the payment (check) information to the General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Bank, Vendor and other appropriate files and it should only be used if the invoice and payment transaction occur in the same general ledger accounting period. If you need to record a handwritten check for an invoice that has already been posted you should use the Manual Payment feature (described in the next section) to record the check. To post a prepaid invoice you should complete the following steps.
• Verify the invoice documentation (hopefully this was done before check was written), and attach a copy of the check to the invoice. Determine the general ledger account of the cash (bank) account used to pay the invoice, and the general ledger account(s) the invoice amount(s) will be charged to.
• Verify the system date and posting period. Confirm that the system date shows the current date and that the default general ledger period and year shown on the menu are correct. You should not post any accounts payable transactions unless the date, accounting period and accounting year shown on the menu are correct. If any of these values are incorrect, you should determine and correct the cause of the problem before continuing. Posting invoices to the wrong period or date or to prior accounting periods can vastly complicate the daily balancing and audit procedures and is strongly discouraged.
• Process the prepaid invoice. Select the Accounts Payable Invoice Entry program from the menu and process the invoice and manual payment using the procedure outlined in the Program Reference documentation for the program. The procedure for posting a prepaid invoice is very similar to the procedure for posting a new unpaid invoice. The major difference is that you will need to use the Enter Check feature in the program to record the check information once you have entered the invoice information and have distributed it to the proper accounts.
• Temporarily file the prepaid invoices processed during the day. The prepaid invoices which are processed during the day should be filed together until the daily reconciliation and balancing procedures have been successfully performed. If the accounts payable sub ledger and general ledger activity for the day do not agree, then the cause of the problem must be determined and this may require you to check each of the invoices processed during the day. The temporary file of all invoices processed since the last successful balancing can help speed up this process if it becomes necessary.
• Run the Accounts Payable Entry Register report for the current day and review it. This report will audit all of the invoices entered during the day and it will print an error message if any of the invoices did not properly post to the general ledger. Note: If this report does output any errors, you should immediately bring them to your system administrators’ attention so that the transactions can be corrected. This will also allow him or her to find and correct the source of the problem so it does not reoccur.
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