Entering a Payment
To open the Payment register, click the [Payments] button in the Master Control panel or use the Ctrl-4 (Windows and Linux) or ⌘-4 (Macintosh) keyboard shortcuts.
The 'Payments: Browse' window is opened, showing Payments already entered.
Payments are numbered consecutively. In the list, the Payment Number is followed by check marks if the Payment has been Ordered or approved, by the Transaction Date, the bank account number from which the Payment was issued and the total amount of the Payment.
To enter a new Payment, click [New] in the Button Bar or use the Ctrl-N (Windows) or ⌘-N (Macintosh) keyboard shortcut. Alternatively, select a Payment similar to the one you want to enter and click [Duplicate] on the Button Bar.
The 'Payment: New' window is opened, empty if you clicked [New] or with a copy of the copied Payment. Complete the Payment record as described below, then save it using the [Save] button and close the window by clicking the close box. Then, close the browse window using the close box again.
The principle for entering a Payment is that you know the following:
- How much has actually been withdrawn; and
- any extra fees charged by the bank.
FirstOffice provides several shortcuts to simplify your work entering Payments. You can for example bring a date into a date field using the
'Paste Special' function (Windows users should press Ctrl-Enter, Macintosh users ⌘-Enter). You can also use this function to simplify the entering of Supplier Numbers, Payment Modes etc. When a transaction window is open for data entry, you also have the Operations menu available. This menu is explained
here.
First, a run-through of the fields.
- No.
- The Serial Number of a new Payment is provided automatically by FirstOffice following on from the Number of the last Payment entered.
- When you start using FirstOffice, the Serial Number sequence will start at 1 and continue consecutively. If you want the sequence to start from another number, change the Number of the first Payment: FirstOffice will then continue the sequence from there. You can then change the Number of any subsequent Payment if you want to use another number sequence. Note that you must change the Serial Number before you save the Payment: it cannot be changed afterwards.
- Pay Date
- Paste Special
Choose date
- The date when you want the Payment to be executed.
- After you have Ordered a Payment, you can still change the Payment Date. After approval, however, no further changes are possible.
- Trans. Date
- The date of the Nominal Ledger Transaction resulting from this Payment. This date is always the same as the Payment Date and cannot be changed independently.
- Pay Mode
- Paste Special
Payment Modes setting
- The Payment Mode is the method of payment (e.g. cheque, credit card or cash). It determines the Nominal Ledger Account that will be credited by the Payment.
- On a single Payment record it is possible to enter payments to different Suppliers against different Invoices. However, it is not possible to enter payments across Payment Modes.
- Own Bank A/C
- The number for the bank account you want to use for the Payment. This information will be brought in from the Payment Mode record.
Use the grid area that takes up most of the screen to list the Purchase Invoices being paid by this Payment. A single Payment can be allocated to several Invoices, but all payments must use the same Payment Mode. The Payment Mode reflects not only the payment method (i.e. cheque, cash or credit card) but also the Bank Account credited. So, all payments issued in a single day from a particular Bank Account can be entered using a single Payment record.
Each record in the Payment register results in one Nominal Ledger Transaction, with bank or other institution as credit Account (taken from the Payment Mode).
You can also bring Purchase Invoices into a Payment by opening the 'Purchase Invoices: Browse' window, selecting a range of Invoices by clicking while holding down the Shift key, and then dragging them to the Invoice No field in the first empty Payment row. You can also copy a list of Invoice Numbers from a spreadsheet or word processor and paste them in the Invoice No field in the first empty row.
Flip A
- No.
- Paste Special
Open, approved Purchase Invoices, Purchase Invoice register
- The number of the Purchase Invoice being paid.
- Note that when you use 'Paste Special', only unpaid Purchase Invoices will appear in the selection list. Purchase Invoices against which an unapproved Payment has been entered are treated as paid and thus will not be listed. Sorting the 'Paste Special' selection by Supplier will allow you to find the Invoice that is being paid quickly and easily.
- If the Payment is an On Account Payment to a Supplier with whom you have an account (marked using the On Account box on the 'Terms' card of the Customer record for the Supplier) for which an Invoice has not yet been received, leave this field blank. This is fully described on the On Account Payments page.
- Supplier
- Paste Special
Suppliers in Customer
- Default taken from Purchase Invoice
- Entered by FirstOffice when you enter an Invoice Number.
- Text
- The Supplier's Name is entered by FirstOffice, from the Customer register. You may change this if you wish. It will appear in the Text field of the Nominal Ledger Transaction.
- To Bank A/C
- The number of the Supplier's bank account receiving the Payment is brought in from the Purchase Invoice or from the 'Account' card of the Customer record for the Supplier.
- Open Inv. Value
- The outstanding amount of the Invoice being paid. This field cannot be changed.
- Sent Val
- Default taken from
Outstanding amount on Invoice
- The amount paid against the Purchase Invoice. You can change the default figure, in the event of partial payments or overpayments.
Flip B
- VAT Code, VAT Value
- These fields are provided to satisfy a requirement of users in Latvia, where it can be necessary to post VAT on Payment. This is also the case for users of the Cash VAT scheme in the UK and for some users in Poland. If you are using the Post Payment VAT option in the Account Usage P/L setting, the VAT Code and VAT Amount will be brought in to these fields automatically when you enter a Purchase Invoice Number on flip A (the VAT Code comes from the first row of the Invoice). When you approve and save the Payment, the VAT amount will be moved from the temporary VAT Input Account to the final one (the I/P Account), as specified in the VAT Codes setting.
- The Post Payment VAT option also adds a VAT element to On Account Payments. Once again, the I/P Account for the VAT Code is debited and the Input Account for the VAT Code is credited with the VAT amount.
- Take care with these fields when entering On Account Payments. As On Account Payments do not have an Invoice Number, you must enter a VAT Code manually if you are using the Cash VAT scheme (i.e. if you are using the Post Payment VAT option). The VAT Value will then be calculated from the Sent Value. The Nominal Ledger Transaction resulting from the Payment will not have a VAT element if the VAT Code or VAT Value is blank.
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- Ordered
- The Ordered and OK check boxes are provided to allow for the delay between the issuing of a Payment and the clearing of the funds from your company's bank account. Checking the Ordered box indicates that you have issued a Payment, while checking the OK box indicates that the funds have been cleared. You must therefore check the Ordered box before the OK box.
- When you save a Payment with its Ordered box checked, the Invoice being paid is no longer treated as open, even if the OK box is not checked.
- If, once a Payment has been issued, it transpires that the funds are not cleared from your company's bank account (perhaps because the cheque bounced or was lost), highlight each row in the Payment in turn by clicking the row number. Then, press the Backspace key. A red line will be drawn through the row, re-opening the Purchase Invoice.
- OK
- Approve a Payment by clicking this check box. On clicking [Save] to save the Payment, a Transaction will be generated crediting the Bank Account specified for the Payment Mode and debiting the Creditor Control Account of the Invoice being paid.
- References in these web pages to approved Payments are to Payments whose OK check box has been switched on.
- Withdrawn
- The sum of the Payment Amounts: the total for this Payment.
