Establish Starting Balances

❑Once you have entered the (1) Vendor Classification codes, (2) identified your Company's Vendors, (3) defined the Purchase Categories that will be used, and (4) entered the Recurring Purchases your Company is obligated to pay, it's time to establish each Vendor's Starting Balance.

❑Establish Starting Balances: The first step in establishing the current amount owed to a Vendor is to enter those Outstanding Balances.

•Enter each Vendor's outstanding Bills.

✓Although you can simply enter a single Bill for the total balance currently owed to each Vendor, don't.

✓Why?

▪You may want to pay some, but not all of that Bill.

▪You may have a dispute arise with one of those outstanding Bills making up the "Total Balance Due Bill" you created.

▪You may want to return something for a Credit to be used later, and properly track the type of expense that was credited.

▪There are other reasons, but they all relate to not having the DETAIL of the related transactions when they're needed.

•Enter any Credit Memo's that are outstanding (waiting to be applied to a Bill).

•Enter any Deposits (which are simply Payments that have not been applied to a Bill) that your Company has provided to a Vendor.

➢Note: Some users prefer to enter all of the Accounts Payable related Financial Transactions for the month or quarter prior to the current month to have some "history" of each Vendor's previous transaction types.

❑Let's get started: The links below will direct you to the Forms provided to enter the detailed information that's needed to complete each of these steps.

•It's probably better to complete this process for one Vendor at a time.

✓Gather the paperwork which substantiates what is owed to the Vendor including Bills, any Statements with Interest charges, and any Credit Memos and/or Deposits (i.e., Payments) not yet applied to a Bill.

✓Calculate the gross amount due on all un-paid and/or partially paid Bills, being sure to include Deposits and Credit Memos that have not yet been taken against any Bills.

✓Enter Purchases, creating a matching Bill - including the detail of what was Purchased, Shipping fees, and the Sales Tax billed - for each Vendor's outstanding Invoices (Bills).

➢Note: If there are any outstanding Credit Memos or Deposits (un-applied Payments), these will have to be entered, as well.

•When you're finished entering all the transactions for a Vendor, compare the Vendor's Balance field (on the Vendors Form) with the calculated total gross amount due.

✓If the Balance is not correct, print a Vendor Ledger Card, compare it to the paperwork you assembled: then add to, delete, and/or correct the transactions as needed.