Setting up the Accounts Payable system generally consists of two different processes. First, the master files have to be created, such as files that contain your list of payment terms, types of currency, suppliers, etc. Second, current balances on your old system must be transferred, such as the balance owed to each supplier and any outstanding cheques. You may also wish to include a portion of your A/P history as well.
Setting up the master files is referred to as File Maintenance. After your initial setup, you will use these programs to make changes to existing records, add new records or delete obsolete records.
FILE MAINTENANCE
The file maintenance that must be done for your Accounts Payable system consists of:
Currency Code Maintenance
Bank Code Maintenance
Terms Code Maintenance
Supplier Master Maintenance
Prior to starting any A/P file maintenance you should ensure that your chart of accounts has been set up properly in your General Ledger system. When starting file maintenance for your Accounts Payable system, we recommend strongly that you follow the above order. For example currency codes and terms codes are referenced on the supplier master file and must be set up beforehand.
Before beginning any file maintenance, please read through the sections in this manual for each of the above maintenance programs to get an understanding of what information is required for each of these files and how that information is used. Assemble all required information before you begin.
To make setting up your master files as easy and efficient as possible, clearly mark any new codes on the lists you are working from. Make sure any obsolete records have been deleted or marked off from the list. Print a listing for each of the above files during file maintenance to verify that all records are entered correctly.
Once all of your master files have been set up, you can transfer current balances from your old system.
You may want to print some Supplier Forms to help you gather the information required for your supplier master file. See 24766 Supplier Forms.
TRANSFERRING BALANCES
Once the master files have been set up, current balances will have to be posted to each supplier as well as all cheques that are outstanding. This is done through the Invoice Posting and the Enter Outstanding Cheques programs. Alternatively, your Ideal consultant can discuss the feasibility of converting your A/P data files from your old computer system. This will be required if you wish to transfer any of your A/P history from your old system.
Please refer to 24553 Invoice Posting and 24551 Enter Outstanding Cheques for step by step details on how to use these programs.