Did you know Acumatica has built-in functionality to handle vendor payments made by credit cards?
In many other ERP systems, add-on software is required to keep track of vendor payments that are paid by credit cards. Reconciling credit card statement can become a time consuming task if the transaction volume is large. Typically, transactions processed by credit card require purchases to be recorded to the credit card vendor such as AMEX; therefore, the system does not capture payment history to the original vendor.
In Acumatica, this challenging scenario is solved right Out-of-the-Box. I will explain how to set-up Acumatica to handle these payments and how to process them.
Setting up Acumatica to Handle Vendor Payments by Credit Cards:
- Set up an accrued liability account in the general ledger. This unique GL account is required for each credit card used to purchase goods and services.
In this example, I created an accrued liability account 2102 & sub-account 9999 and AMEX as the vendor.
- Create a CORP CC payment method.
- Create cash accounts in cash management for all credit cards that are used to purchase goods and services. Example: AMEX, VISA, MC, etc.
- Then, associate the CORP CC payment method to the cash account.
Acumatica will create the necessary GL entries when AP documents from the original and credit card vendors are released.
Optionally, you can select to Require Reconciliation when setting up the cash account. This will allow reconciliation of cash payments and disbursements on the credit card. This feature is a big time saver if the transaction volume on the credit card statement is large.
How to process the invoice from the vendor:
In this example, I am using an invoice from the vendor AT&T.
You have entered the invoice in the AP Bills screen. Next, either go to:
- Directly record purchases, or
- Apply to receipts processed in purchase receipt screen
- Follow routine process to enter the bill from the original vendor AT&T. Enter the normal accounts and subaccounts used for your vendor.
- Navigate to the Financial details tab and confirm the payment method is CORP CC.
- Release the document
- Repeat this process to enter other vendor bills that are paid using the corporate credit cards.
- Follow your routine process when entering AP bills for receipts that originate from purchasing. Make sure to confirm the payment method is CORP CC.
Note: The default payment method of CORP CC can be set up in the vendor record if all invoices are paid by credit card
Payment Processing
- Navigate to the AP > Process > Payment Processing > Prepare Payment screen and select the CORP CC payment method.
- Follow your routine process to print checks and release the payments; however, the CORP CC payment method is configured to NOT PRINT checks.Note: In this process, NO checks will be printed. This step is required to close open payable documents and to generate the necessary accounting entries. The check processing is setup to be NOT REQUIRED for the CORP CC payment method.
Invoice Entry from American Express
The detail in the AMEX statement can include two types of purchases:
- Entries for which vendor invoices exist in the system. For this, follow your routine process to enter data for purchases. Accept the default of account 2102 and sub account of 9999.
- For entries with NO vendor invoices in the system, enter your normal accounts and subaccounts. For example, these might include: payments for meals, purchase of gas or other misc. expenses.
Payment Processing
Use the routine process to print the check to AMEX.
System Configuration
- Add the accrued liability GL account 2102.
- Enter account 2102 and sub-account 9999 as default AP Expense and AP Expense subaccount for AMEX vendor.
- Add the payment method CORP CC.
- Add the AMEX cash account, link it to the accrued liability account 2102 and associate it to the payment method CORP CC.
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