Selecting Invoices for Payment
Accounts Payable Register records (invoices), store an invoice date, a due date, and a pay date, (these are described fully in the accounts payable application overview). The pay date is used to schedule and manage accounts payable check printing. The Vendor Type field and other options in the system such as the Autopay field in the Vendor Manager File can also be used to control, manage, and prevent automatic check printing. The pay date field generally defaults during invoice entry based on a parameter and the invoice due date, (which is automatically calculated using the payments terms information), but it can be also set by the operator. The Pay Date can also be adjusted after the invoice has been entered into the system using several different programs including the AP Paydate Management Screen, the Vendor Invoice Inquiry program and other programs which are described fully in the Program Reference section of this documentation. The AP Check Printing and Wire Transfer programs use a Pay Date cutoff, in combination with other selections such as Vendor, Vendor Type, and other selections to determine the amounts of the checks or wire transfers to process. The Proposed Disbursements report and several other reports in the system allow you to also select a pay date cutoff and other criteria in order to preview the check runs automatically set up by the system. The information on these reports can be used for cash management and forecasting purposes and they can also be used to identify the adjustments you need to make in order to print the desired checks for the correct amounts. To select the invoices to be processed during a check run you should follow the following steps.
• Make sure that invoice pay dates are defaulting correctly during invoice entry based on current company policy. It is easier to set the system up to automatically set the proper pay date for you than it is to adjust each invoice when you want to pay it. If you can reasonably predict the actual payment cycle (i.e. a few days prior to due date, 15 days after the due date) then the system can be set up to automatically set the pay date using the terms information. This sets the bulk of the invoices up for payment ahead of time and allows you to adjust as few invoices as possible, reducing required labor to a minimum. If you cannot predict when invoices will be paid then you may also default the pay date on each invoice to 01/01/99, which prevents it from being processed until the pay date is edited or brought forward for payment (until the invoice pay date is set prior to or equal to the pay date cut-off you are using). Please see your System Administrator or the Accounts Payable Configuration Guide for more information about setting the system pay date default.
• Print a Proposed Disbursements or other open accounts payable report. Select the current cutoff date, and enter any other appropriate selections such as vendor, vendor type, etc. Note: The selections used on the report should normally be restricted to the same selections which are available in the Create Checks or Wire Transfers program as the purpose of this procedures is to simulate and refine the check run before processing it.
• Review the report. Identify invoices which you do not want to include in the check run so the pay dates of the invoices can be modified to a date later than the cutoff date. Determine the pay dates you will assign to these undesirable invoices and note it on the report. (This step can also be done interactively in some of the programs.)
• Run another open accounts payable report without the cutoff selection and use it to identify the invoices which need to be paid that were not listed on the first report. These are desirables for the purpose of this discussion.
• Use one of the several accounts payable pay date manipulation programs which are available in the system to set the pay dates of the invoices identified in the previous step to be prior to or equal to the cutoff pay date to be used for the check run.
• Use one of the several accounts payable pay date manipulation programs which are available in the system to set the pay dates of the undesirable invoices to be greater than the cutoff pay date to be used for the check run. You should actually attempt to set the pay date for these invoices as closely to the actual cutoff date which will be used for them, as this will reduce the amount of work you will need to do at a later date.
• Rerun the Proposed Disbursements or other preferred open accounts payable report. Select the current cutoff date, and enter any other appropriate selections such as vendor, vendor type, etc.
• Review the report, note any changes that need to be made and repeat previous steps as needed.
Once the report is correct and shows the exact vendors, invoices, and amounts which should be paid, you should retain the report for future use and then process the check run or wire transfer.
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Cash Disbursements - Computer
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