Accounts Payable Payment Types and the Company Information Window - Accounting Payment Tab

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In accrual accounting, upon recording a bill from a Vendor, the amount of the bill is maintained in the Accounts Payable Liability Account until a check (or other form of payment) has been generated.  Processing payables in this manner allows the expense or cost of the bill to be recorded into a different period than the actual payment.  Though all such accounting transactions are accumulated into a single account, Design Manager allows the user to categorize unpaid invoices and deposits prior to payment.  Common uses for doing so include grouping bills that will be paid through a commercial banking institution's online bill payment system or via a credit card at a later date or to departmentalize invoices for various divisions (i.e, Commercial Design, Residential Design, Showroom, etc.) within a company.

 

Creating Accounts Payable Payment Types is done from the A/P Payment Tab of the Company Information Window shown below.

 

company info - ap payment

 

When Design Manager is first installed, a single Accounts Payable Payment Type for "A Check" is displayed on the Accounts Payable Payment Types Grid.  Until additional Payment Types are created, all expenses, bills, and deposits from Vendors not being paid immediately via a credit card will be associated with this default Payment Type.  Using credit cards for payment to Vendors will be discussed at length in Using Credit Cards for Payments.

 

To create a new Accounts Payable Payment Type, click the Add button which will display the A/P Payment Type Window. Existing Payment Types can be modified or removed by clicking the Edit and Delete buttons, respectively.

A/P Payment Type Window

ap - pay type - example

Type Description:  The Type Description is the phrase used to identify the Payment Type on the Pay With menu on the Vendor Deposit, Invoice, or Operating Expense and the Checking Window - Pay/Print Tab.  The Type Description should be expressive enough to make each A/P Payment Type easily distinguished from each other.  Examples include "Pay Online" for bills that will have payment sent electronically from a banking institution online payment service or "Pay Later with US Bank VISA" for payables that will be ultimately paid via a particular company credit card.  The Type Description can be up to 40 characters.

 

Default Payment Account: Select the General Ledger Checking or Credit Card Account that will be used to record payment for payables associated with the Payment Type.  Note that this is only the default Account to be used for payment.  Upon paying the bill or invoice with a check, wire transfer, or credit card, however, a different Account may be selected.

 

Payments Types are added to the Accounts Payable Payment Type grid in the order they are created and will be displayed in the Pay With menu on the Vendor Deposit, Invoice, or Operating Expense Window in the same order.  The order can, however, be changed to conveniently move the most common methods of payment towards the top of the list.  Simply select the desired Payment Type on the Accounts Payable Payment Type grid and click the Up and Down buttons to move the Payment Type towards the top or bottom of the list, respectively.

 

The A/P Payment Tab is also used to determine the order in which Checks are physically printed.  By default, Checks are printed in ascending Vendor Code order.  However, by selecting the Checks are numbered (print) in order tagged (instead of vendor code order), the Checks will be numbered in the order they are physically "tagged" for printing by the user.