Hello Again Sage ERP MAS 500 (becoming Sage 500 ERP) Customers,
When last I posted an entry, we discussed some recurring themes from our in-product surveys, specifically in the Accounts Payable area. To review, those themes include:
- Questions about how to get information more effectively regarding vouchers and the payments, invoices or purchase orders associated with them all in one place
- Questions about the best way to apply debit and credit memos
- Interest in clarification on the best practices around partial payments
- Some question about the most efficient way to reverse a posted check
In previous entries in this series I’ve covered the use of Business insights Explorer to access related data from a central point and drill down to additional details as needed (Accounts Payable Information – All Together in One Place), and the concepts and methods behind applying debit and credit memos (Applying Debit and Credit Memos Explained).
Today’s entry is an attempt to clarify the best practices around partial payments. In the purest interpretation
of this request, one might conclude the information sought is the method for applying a partial payment to a voucher. In short, any screen that accepts payment information can be used to apply a partial payment simply by entering the desired amount in the Payment field.
A more complex interpretation of the request could lead one to an entirely different conclusion. In some instances businesses refer to periodic payments such as insurance premiums or loan payments as partial payments. In such instances, Sage ERP MAS 500 best practices utilize the Recurring Voucher process to track and schedule those periodic recurring payments. The Recurring Voucher process includes the following tasks:
I. Maintain Recurring Vouchers
II. Process Vouchers
III. Process Invoices for Payment
I. Maintain Recurring Vouchers establishes the parameters for the periodic payments.
- Enter the amount of the periodic partial payment.
- Enter the number of payments to generate.
- Enter the expense or items associated with the amount to be paid.
- Undistributed Balance must equal zero.
- System calculates the total amount to be paid. This should tie out the total vendor invoice or contract amount when using recurring invoices for partial payments.
- System tracks the last voucher generated and the number generated.
II. Process Vouchers generates a new voucher from the Recurring Voucher based on cycle, date, or other criteria.
This process:
- Generates a new voucher from the recurring voucher.
- Posts the associated liability and expense entries.
- Updates the Recurring Voucher screen with the appropriate information.
III. Process Invoices for Payment generates the actual check for the payment.
Either interpretation of the request for clarification on partial payments breaks down to a few simple steps. Although at first glance the process may seem overwhelming, the steps are logical and the workflows are not as complex as they seem in that much of the posting and tracking is automated within the Sage ERP MAS 500 solution.
Next time, we’ll look at the process to reverse a posted check.
If you would like additional information on partial payments or recurring vouchers, check the online help files or review the Anytime Learning courses on SageU.
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Thanks for listening,
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