About Payment Entry

You use the A/P Payment Entry screen to:

• Create new batches of payments.
• Enter payment information for checks you have already issued or for checks you want to print using Accounts Payable.
• Apply existing documents, such as prepayments, to invoices.
• Edit system-generated payment batches.
• Print checks.
• Enter adjustments to invoices you are paying in the A/P Payment Entry screen, instead of using the Adjustment Entry screen.

Types of Payment Transactions

In most cases, a payment transaction is the information that Accounts Payable needs to print one check for a vendor and update the vendor account with the check information.

You can enter four types of transactions using the Payment Entry screen:

• Payment. Records a check, cash, or other type of payment of outstanding transactions.
• Prepayment. Records a check or other type of payment to prepay an invoice.
• Apply Document. Lets you apply one posted document against another, such as a prepayment against an invoice.
• Miscellaneous Payment. Lets you enter an invoice at the same time as you enter the payment for an Accounts Payable vendors or for a one-time vendor.

For each type of transaction (except Apply Document transactions), you can print checks immediately after entry, or you can print them when you post the payment batch.

For more information about payment types, see About Payment Types.

Restrictions on Batch Entries

The main restrictions on the entries in a single payment batch are as follows:

• All checks in the batch must use the same bank account. (You specify the bank when you create the payment batch.)
• All checks in the batch must be in the same currency and use the same rate of exchange between the bank currency and the functional (home) currency (if they are different).

  As with the bank, you specify the batch currency and rate when you create the batch. (You can change the bank rate later, but not the check currency.)

  The currency you specify for a payment batch is the check currency, not the currency of the vendors paid in the batch.

  Accounts Payable lets you pay vendors in any currency you choose. For example, you can have a functional currency of Canadian dollars, but create a payment batch using US dollars to pay vendors in Mexico (whose source currency is the peso).

Information Entered with Payments

For each payment batch, you enter:

• Batch Number (supplied by the program).
• Batch Date.
• Batch Description (optional).
• Bank Code.
• Bank Rate (set by the rate date and type, or overridden by the user).
• Currency (of the payment batch in multicurrency ledgers).
• Rate Date (date for establishing the rate of exchange between the payment currency and the functional currency if you have a multicurrency ledger).
• Rate Type (such as spot rate, average rate, or weekly rate).

You enter the following general information for payments on the Payment Entry screen:

• Entry number (select only if editing; otherwise, Accounts Payable supplies the number).
• Payment Transaction Type (Payment, Prepayment, Apply Document, or Miscellaneous Payment).
• Entry Description.
• Vendor Number (do not enter for one-time vendors).
• Remit-To Location (a primary remit-to location code will appear by default if the vendor has one; enter the payee name for miscellaneous payments).
• Check Date (or Apply Date if applying a document).
• Fiscal Year and Period (to which transaction posted).
• Print Check (select if you want program to print it).
• Check Number (if a payment or prepayment, you must enter a number if not printing the check from Accounts Payable).
• Check Language (unless you are applying a document).
• Apply Method (for job‑related payments).
• Optional Fields.

You also enter the following payment details:

• Document(s) to which you are applying the transaction. How you do this depends on the type of transaction:

  • For Payment-type transactions, you select documents using one of two selection modes (Select mode or Direct mode).
  • For Prepayment-type transactions, you specify a document number, purchase order number, or sales order number.
• If you are applying a payment or credit note you entered before, select the payment or credit note and the document to which it applies.
• For miscellaneous payments, you enter the distribution accounts.

• Check amount. How you do this depends on the type of transaction:

  • For Payment-type transactions, you enter the total applied to documents.
  • For Prepayment-type transactions, you enter a single amount.
  • For Miscellaneous Payment-type transactions, you enter the total of all distributions.
• Activation date for prepayments—usually the date you expect the invoice.

  Note: A prepayment is not considered a credit to the vendor's account until the activation date. So, if you generate payments using Create Payment Batch before the activation date, the prepayment does not offset vendor invoices or debit notes.

Exchange Rates

If either the bank currency or the vendor currency differs from the functional currency, you enter exchange rate information for multicurrency payments on a separate A/P Rate Override screen.

Click the Rates button to display the Rate Override screen.

There are two sets of rate information:

• Bank Rate. This is the rate of exchange between the check currency and the functional currency.
• Vendor Rate. This is the rate of exchange between the vendor's source currency and the functional currency.

You can also override the check amount if the bank currency differs from the vendor's. This will, in turn, change the exchange rate.