Receipt and Payment Posting - Cashbook

The most frequent use of receipt transactions is for recording the cheques received in any one day. You may be banking a number of cheques, some charge card receipts like American Express or Diners Club, and perhaps some cash as well. You would use one receipt transaction for each paying-in slip you make out, no matter how many cheques etc. are being paid in on that slip.

Payment transactions cover all supplier payments, and any other payments which are not covered by automatic transactions for standing orders and direct debits.

Templates

If you have defined any transaction templates for receipts or payments you can select this prior to entry, the list of possible choices are offered on the right-hand side of the screen.

You might define a template for (say) entering a weekly petty cash summary, or the details from an employee expense form. Choose a template number, or leave at zero to start with a fresh transaction.

Transaction Header

Journal no

The next journal number in sequence is displayed and you can accept this by keying <Enter> or overwrite it with another number. This item can only be numeric, and usually shares its sequence with the nominal ledger if installed. Diamond and Premier users can set this to be view-only.

Period

The current period number is displayed here. You can accept it by keying <Enter>. In fact you can enter a transaction into any period of the current year by changing this to a value between 1 and the maximum number of periods defined for your company (typically 12 or 13).

If last year is still open for posting, you can post to any period last year by prefixing the period number with P. For example, a period of P12 posts this transaction to the twelfth period of last year.This is only likely at the start of a new year, and the treatment of these is described at the end of this Receipts/Payments section.

Note

Date

The date you enter must be within the date range specified for the period above in the company calendar.If the date you give is incorrect, you are warned the date is out of range for the period you gave above. Return to correct either the period number or the transaction date.

Description

You may type in a narrative description for this transaction. If you chose a template, then the default template description is offered. The number of characters you can enter here depends on the way your system is configured.If you are entering the same descriptions repeatedly then you can use the <F11-Save> option, the entered description with then be available on a drop-down list.

Note — Datafile Diamond and Premier only

Cash account

For receipt and payment transactions you must now enter a cash account code. You can use the <F4–Select> key to show a list of the cash accounts defined, and to make a choice of one of these. If the foreign currency application is in use and you select a cash account that isn’t set for the base currency then only matching currency entries can be processed at the detail level.

Pay In Ref / Cheque no

The paying-in reference number for receipts or cheque number for payments is offered here. Normally the number increments by one automatically each time you use it. However, you can type a non-numeric reference such as DD for direct debit, or SO for standing order, or even clear it to blank. Unless this field is strictly numeric, the same reference number is offered again next time to preserve the sequence.

Total amount

This is the total value of this cash receipt or payment transaction. If using the foreign currency application then this value is in the currency of the cash account selected.

You can exceptionally leave the total at zero if you want to match invoices between sales and purchase ledger accounts. If you want to make contra entries between cash book accounts, then you should use Cash Transfer option described later.

Analysed

Balance

These two header items are used whilst you are entering the transaction details. The first shows the total analysed so far, and the second the balance still left to enter. Only when the balance stands at zero can you post the transactions.

Transaction Detail

Now you can enter the details which make up this receipt or payment entry. You can include up to 490 entries in a transaction, and their values must sum to the total you gave at the start. You can enter up to seven entries at one time, after which the screen is cleared for you to enter the next seven.

You can use the up and down arrows within the screen to edit any line still showing. You can use the <Page Up> and <Page Down> keys to move between sets of entries. If you use the down arrow key in the last entry of a screen you are taken to the first entry of the next screen if there is one, otherwise you go to the transaction completion routines.

Column

You must decide which cash book column applies for each entry. Normally the column names are displayed at the bottom of the screen, but if they aren’t, the <F4–Select> key displays them for you now. Key the column number you want.

Note

Three types of entry procedure can now occur depending on how the cash book column you chose was defined under Receipt Columns or Payment Columns above.

Standard entry (column type was given as zero)

Sales/purchase ledger entry (column type was given as 1 or 2)

Job Costing expense posting (column type was given as 4)

Standard Entry

There are no extra items, prior to input of the nominal account.

Sales/Purchase Ledger Entries

When you choose a ledger-style entry line, then first a check is made that the transaction is within the allowable period range for this ledger.

If the period you gave in the header is outside the current period for this ledger (including the forward period if using forward transactions) then you are warned that the ‘Required Period Not Active in the Sales/Purchase Ledger’. You are returned to the column prompt when you press <Enter>. Either <Escape> to enter the correct period number, or change the column number to one that is not linked to the sales or purchase ledgers.

You must now choose the sales or purchase ledger account to which this receipt or payment entry refers.

Enter here the account code for the ledger account. You can use the <F4–Select> key to find the account you want in the usual way.

The account details, and the current account balance is shown and you are asked to confirm that this is the account you want. If not clear the tick box (space bar or enter ‘N’) to return to choose another account.If this is the account you want press <Enter>.

As an alternative, Diamond and Premier users can select the sales/purchase account to use by entering an invoice number that is to be paid. An option, available within the Application User Facilities, enables you to search for an account by the invoice reference. You enter the reference and the system defaults the account for confirmation as above.

Job Costing Entries

For job costing expenses you must select both the job number and the cost code.

Enter here the job code and cost code to use for posting to job costing. You can use <F4-Select> to find the codes required.After selecting each code the title of the job/cost code is displayed and, after selecting the cost code, you are asked to confirm the job details are ok – reply Y or N accordingly.

Account

You must now enter/confirm the cash book account code. Depending how the column was defined, a default account code may already be displayed here. You can <Enter> to accept this code, change it to another one, or use the <F4–Select> key to find one.

If an account range was given for the column, then the account must fall within this range; but the <F4–Select> key only shows you this range anyway.

For sales or purchase posting the debtors ledger or creditors ledger cash book control account code shows — this is one of the standard account codes which must be present and are defined under the nominal ledger System Profiles. Key <Enter> to accept this code.

Note

Narrative

The selected nominal account name is displayed here.

Net Amount

Enter the value of the entry and press <Enter>. Note that you can enter a negative value here if (for example) you were refunding a payment, or if this is (say) a contra amount against the other ledger in a contra transaction. You are entering the net amount, if you have the gross value you can enter this followed by the VAT code, i.e. ‘117.50S’, to have the system calculate the net amount and update the tax value.

If line entry is for a sales/purchase account then you may be taken into the allocation processes here, rather than after update of the files. See details below for the allocation options.

If the foreign currency application is in use and the sales/purchase or nominal code selected is not the base currency then a pop-up form asks for the amount in currency, the exchange rate to the base currency and the base value. If enter for a non-base account then the following tax inputs are skipped – even for nominal accounts.

Tax

Skipped if posting a sales/purchase entry, when a tax code is defined for the cash book account it is prompted here. It is generally uncommon to break out VAT here, and most times you will leave it blank.If you key <Enter> to a blank VAT code, then the following prompt is skipped. Note that you can use the <F4–Select> key to view the tax codes.

Tax-amt

If you have entered a tax code in the previous prompt, then the tax amount is entered here. It is not usually calculated for you and you have to enter the value, Diamond and Premier versions allow you to enable an option for automatic calculation.

Notes

After entering the amount details Diamond and Premier users have the ability to enter four extra analysis items depending on configuration.

Analysis Code

This can take a value in the range 0–9999. You might use it for (say) a receipt or payment type (cash, cheque, credit card, charge card, and so on).

Reference

Second Reference

You can enter references here — the remittance advice reference perhaps, or the initials of the originator. The Second Reference item prompts with the name of the defined data item – in the screenshot above this is defined as ‘Posted-by’.

Description

The entry description is entered here.

Note

Transaction Entry Completion

<Enter> on a blank column number completes entry of the receipt/payment and takes you to the update parameters.

These options allow you to check that the transaction balances before you post it, edit the entries if not, or abandon it altogether if you cannot get it to balance. The possible actions are:

Add - This returns you to the column prompt for the next vacant line so that you can continue to enter lines for this transaction

Delete - You can delete an entry entirely by taking this option and giving the line number you want to delete. You are given the chance to confirm that you want to delete the chosen line, and then all the entries are shuffled up to fill the space left by the deleted line

Edit - This puts you back at a specific line so that you can edit the details of that entry

Header - This returns you to the header part of the transaction so that you can change the details there — in particular the total of this receipt or payment, if that is now seen to be incorrect. You should not change the period number if you have specified some sales or purchase ledger entries for this transaction

List - This lists the entries in this transaction, starting from whichever line number you give and listing seven at a time. If there are more entries to come, the option assumes you want to continue.Either <Escape> to the actions above, or continue until the end of the list, when you are returned to the above actions

Totals - This option gives you the total of the receipt and the analysis total so far. You are warned if the totals do not balance and then returned to the actions above

Update - Update this transaction to the ledger. If the Balance in the header is now zero, then this option automatically prompts for you anyway. you cannot use this option if the balance is not zero

Exit - Finally, if you really can’t find the balancing error, or you realise that you do not wish to complete this transaction yet, take this option to abandon the transaction and return to the menu

After you have successfully taken the UPDATE option, the nominal ledger/cash book plus depending on entries the sales, purchase or job costing systems, are updated with the values for this transaction.

Transactions in Previous Year

Ledger Allocations

If sales/purchase payments are posted for open-item accounts then you are allowed to allocate the transaction you have just entered against invoices for that account. The allocation procedure is an important technique and is therefore described here in detail.

Allocating transactions follows three main stages:

Choose the transactions to allocate

Mark the amounts to allocate against the chosen transactions

Update transactions with the amounts allocated

The allocation screen (see example below) shows the progress of your allocation in the top window, the transactions themselves in the second window (you can scroll backwards and forwards through these) and the possible allocation actions in the bottom window.

Allocations Screen

The top of the screen shows the account which you are allocating on the left and three values on the right:

DB: This shows the total of all debit values allocated so far

CR: This shows the total of all credit values allocated so far

DIFF: This shows the difference between debits and credits. Only when this difference is zero can the allocation be completed. As described later, you can part-allocate transactions so that the difference is made zero.

The account transactions are displayed in the middle window, and you can scroll up and down them using the up and down arrows, <Page-Up> and <Page-Down> keys. At the start no transactions show until you have made your first choice of action.

Two shortcut prompts are offered, based on the circumstances, when entering a payment.If the payment value matches the account balance the system will offer to allocate automatically.

If the payment amount entered does not match the account balance but instead matches the first n outstanding invoices the system will offer to allocate these automatically also.

If you select YES for either of these prompts then the appropriate transactions are marked as allocated and you can choose to UPDATE the allocation. If you select NO then you can continue with a manual allocation.

For a manual allocation you must choose one of the allocation actions shown. Every time you reach the end of the transactions for an account, or key <Escape>, you are returned to the allocation action prompt.The allocations you have made so far are noted, so that you can use a number of the techniques to achieve the result. Only if you abandon is your work on the allocation discarded.

Select ALL to display all transactions, both debits and credits. You would choose this option where you have a mixture of transactions which you need to allocate.

Select DEBITS to display only debit transactions.This is the default for the sales ledger, because sales invoices are debits.

Select CREDITS to display only credit transactions.This is the default for the purchase ledger, because purchase invoices are credits.

Select UPDATE to update the allocation details at the end of the process (option only available once allocation is complete and the DIFF figure in the top right-hand corner is nil)

Select EXIT to abandon the allocation and return to the transaction entry process.

The first time you choose one of the actions which displays transactions (All, Debits, or Credits) you are asked whether to show only outstanding transactions or not.

Reply Yes or No as required.If you do a lot of allocations on an account during the period, then to display only those which are not allocated can save time. If you want to change, or ‘un-allocate’, some allocations you did earlier in the period, then you might choose to display all transactions, even those which you allocated earlier.

Transactions Displayed

Each time you return to the allocation action choice the value of DIFF is checked to see if it is now zero. If not zero, then the help text "TOTALS DO NOT BALANCE” displays at the bottom right of the screen.

Allocation Dates

If you enter the allocation procedure as part of the payment entry processes then the allocation date is taken to be the same as the transaction entered. If you enter the allocation procedures through the separate option(s) in the Utilities menu then you are asked for a date of allocation. This date is posted to the ‘date allocated’ item in every transaction for which a transaction is fully allocated.

However, there is a further dating consideration when allocating transactions. It is perfectly acceptable to allocate current period debits to forward period credits, and vice versa. However, you must not choose amongst either the credits or debits to mix some transactions dated in the forward period and those dated in the current or earlier period. For example, if you have an invoice for £117.50 within the current period paid in full by a payment in the forward period then you can allocate this. If you had an invoice for £117.50 and a credit for £10 in the current period and then a forward period payment for the balance then you cannot allocate this. If you try to do so, you are warned ‘Cannot Allocate Forward Dated Payment with Current Payment / Credit’.

Press <Enter> and change the allocation details to rectify this by allocating the transactions in two stages. In the above example allocate the payment against the invoice and then update, and re-process the account to allocate the remaining balance of the invoice against the credit. Alternatively, you could abandon the allocation until after the period end.

"All”, "Debit” and "Credit” Allocation Choices

When the allocation action is selected the appropriate transactions are displayed and a ‘cursor bar’ highlights the first transaction. Each line displays the details of one transaction and includes the original total and the present amount outstanding, together with the description and transaction type. You can change the transaction highlighted by using the <Up> and <Down> arrow keys and the <Page-Up> and <Page Down> keys.

To allocate a transaction you can either:

Enter the amount to allocate. The value you enter cannot be more that the outstanding amount on the transaction in question. If you enter an incorrect amount, you may return and re-enter the correct amount. Leaving the amount zero or blank means that nothing is allocated to this transaction.

If the transaction has been allocated previously you can enter a negative value. This allows you to ‘unallocate’ an amount against this transaction for allocation elsewhere. This helps in undoing an earlier incorrect allocation so that the correct transactions are left outstanding. You cannot enter a negative value that would leave the outstanding balance greater than the original full value of the transaction.

If you leave a small balance outstanding then the system may prompt for you to write off the balance of the transaction as a discount, respond as required.

The size of balance remaining before the system will prompt to write-off the remainder is set within the ledger system profiles. Within the profiles you set a percentage of the original value of the transaction under which any remaining balance is offered for write-off. You can set separate percentages for invoices/credits and payments. If any discount is given then a transaction is written to the ledger on update to reflect this.

Enter the letter A to allocate the full amount outstanding on the transaction.

If the payment received clears the balance of the account then you can enter AUTO against the first transaction in the list to allocate all the transactions on the account. If the payment does not clear the balance of the account then the use of AUTO will leave a difference between the allocated debits and credits and you will need to amend the allocation details to resolve this.

If an invoice (credit) has settlement discount details recorded against it then the allocation window at the bottom of the screen displays these details.

The allocation window shows the settlement discount available, the nett allocation value if settlement is taken and the due date up to which the discount was/is available. If you choose to apply the settlement discount entering N for Nett updates the nett amount as the allocation value and prompts to write off the balance as discount. There is no restriction on entering N-Nett once the due date has past as the allocation may be done some time after the payment was received.

As the transactions are allocated a ‘*’ is updated against the transaction, the DB and CR values updated at the top of the screen and the DIFF value recalculated. Once the required allocations have been entered pressing <END> (or <Enter> against the last transaction in the list) will return you to the allocation actions.

If the transaction has been flagged, the ‘!’ column on the transaction grid, with a status code (disputed, bad debt, contra, etc.) then you may be prevented from entering an allocation amount against this transaction. Diamond and Premier users can control this via the Application User Facilities.

"Update” Allocation Choice

You select this option to update to the files the allocations you have made. Provided the allocated debit and credit values are the same you can take this option and proceed to the next. However, if the values do not match then one of two scenarios can occur:

DIFF Value is negative. If the sum of allocated payments and credit notes is greater than the sum of invoices, then the DIFF value shows as negative and you cannot exit the allocation routine. You must amend the allocation details so the value matches or abandon the allocation until advice can be sought.

DIFF Value is positive. If the sum of allocated invoices exceeds the sum of payments and credit notes then you may be asked to write off the difference as a discount. Non-Compact users can control whether this is allowed via the ledger system profiles. If you do not allow write-offs then you cannot exit the allocation routine until the DIFF value is 0 and you need to amend the allocation details so the value matches or abandon the allocation until later.

"Exit” Allocation Choice

This option allows you to abandon the allocation process and you are returned to whatever is the next stage in the transaction process.