Pay Bills Command

This section explains how to use the Pay Bills command to pay vendor bills, write checks, and view your accounts payable in the Goldenseal accounting software.

HINT-- You can use the Pay Bills command to see a "snapshot" of accounts payable. It's also a good way to pay all your current bills at once-- at the end of the month, or any other time when you want to clear out vendor invoices that are due.

BILL PAYING SETUP
        Expense Setup | Entering Purchases | Entering Other Costs
        Entering Subcontractor Costs | When to Pay Bills
        Direct Bill Payments | Printing Checks

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Accounting Software | Accounts Payable Software

When to Pay Bills

Use the Pay Bills command whenever you are ready to write checks to pay suppliers or subcontractors. You can pay bills on a regular schedule-- weekly, twice a month or monthly. You can also pay bills whenever you are ready to.

HINT-- You can also use the Pay BIlls command to check Accounts Payable balances at any time, even if you're not ready to pay bills.

Pay Bills Window

To pay bills, follow these steps:

Choose Pay Bills from the Bank menu.
You'll see a list of vendors, with the amount owed to each.
Put a checkmark next to each item you want to pay now. You can double-click on an item to see which invoices are due, and choose which to include in the payment.
To see a different set of vendors, click on the popup menu at the upper right corner. You can list material suppliers, subcontractors, other costs, loans, payroll taxes or sales taxes.
When you are ready to write checks to the marked vendors, click the Write Checks command.
Choose a checkbook, click OK, and Goldenseal will automatically create check payments for the correct amounts.

You can also print the receivables report, or save it as text.

Cutoff Dates

The Cutoff Date field at upper right determines which items are considered due or overdue. To see payables for a different date, follow these steps:

Click in the Cutoff Date field.
Type in a new date.
Hit the Tab or Enter key, or click in the table.

Vendor Display

To change the items that are included in the list, click on the popup menu at the upper right corner. You can include material suppliers, subcontractors other cost accounts, or all three types of accounts together. You can also include just the vendors that were previously found with the Find command.

You can also use the Pay Bills command to handle loan payments, payroll tax payments and sales tax payments .

Creating Checks

After you have decided which items to pay and have made any adjustments, click Create Checks to pay for the selected items.

The Goldenseal accounting software will ask you which account to use for payment. If you choose a checking account, you also can decide which checkbook to use.

Click OK, and Goldenseal will automatically create a bank payment for every vendor that has a check mark in the Pay column. The payment transaction includes a breakdown table that lists the specific transactions that it pays. You can also print checks for the current payables.

HINT-- To leave the Pay Bills window without doing anything, click the Close button.

Itemized Breakdowns

To see an itemized list of invoices for a material supplier, subcontractor or other cost, double-click on their row of the Pay Bills table.

You'll see an itemized list of unpaid transactions.

Click in the Pay column to determine which invoices to pay now.

NOTE-- Subcontractors with an X in the Pay column have expired insurance, and can't be paid now.

To adjust an invoice because of discounts or finance charges, enter the amount into the Adjust column. Enter a negative number for a discount, or a positive number for a finance charge.

HINT-- If you've set up vendor payment terms to include discounts or finance charges, Goldenseal calculates the adjustment automatically.

To make a partial payment on an item, type an amount into the Pay Now column.

Goldenseal automatically subtracts any amounts that you have previously paid on account.

When you are finished viewing the itemized list, click OK. To close the window without changing anything, click Cancel.

You can also print the itemized report, or save it as text.

Credit Card Payments

To make payments for credit cards, follow these steps:

Choose Pay Bills from the Bank menu.
Click on the popup menu at upper right and choose Credit Cards.
You'll see a list of credit cards, and the amount that is currently unpaid for each.
Click in the checkmark column for each account that you'd like to pay now.
To make a credit card payment for less than the full amount, type a different amount into the Pay Now column.
To create payment checks, click the Create Checks button.

NOTE-- The credit card list always shows the current balance for each account-- it is the total of all Credit Card transactions that are payments, minus any money transferred into the account. It does not show pending or overdue amounts, since payment dates and amounts due will vary for each credit card.

Loan Payments

Not available in the current version. Coming Soon.

Payroll Tax Payments

To make payroll tax payments to tax or insurance agencies, follow these steps:

Choose Pay Bills from the Bank menu.
Click on the popup menu at upper right and choose Payroll Taxes.
You'll see a list of tax agencies, and the taxes that are currently unpaid to each.
Double-click in a row to see an itemized breakdown of unpaid taxes.
Click in the Pay column to determine which items to pay now.
When you are finished with the itemized list, click OK.
To pay taxes now, click the Create Checks button.

When you pay payroll taxes, Goldenseal creates an Other Cost transaction for the tax agency.

Sales Tax Payments

To make sales tax payments, follow these steps:

Choose Pay Bills from the Bank menu.
Click on the popup menu at upper right and choose Sales Tax.
You'll see a list of sales tax agencies, and the taxes that are currently unpaid to each.
Double-click in a row to see an itemized breakdown of unpaid sales taxes.
Click in the Pay column to determine which items to pay now.
When you are finished with the itemized list, click OK.
To pay taxes now, click the Create Checks button.

When you pay sales taxes, Goldenseal creates an Other Cost transaction for the tax agency.

Subcontractor Insurance

Goldenseal lets you withhold payment from subcontractors who do not have current liability or worker's comp insurance.

When you use the Pay Bills command for subcontractors, Goldenseal checks for expired insurance in each account.

If the insurance is expired, Goldenseal handles it by whatever method you've specified in the Subcontractor account:

Ask-- You'll see a warning dialog that lets you decide whether to pay them anyhow.
Deduct-- Goldenseal automatically deducts from all payments to the subcontractor, as specified in the Subcontractor account.
Don't Pay-- Goldenseal will not pay the subcontractor (you'll see an X in the Pay column for them).
Pay Anyhow-- The subcontractor is paid as usual.

Discounts

If a vendor offers a discount for early payment, enter it into the Vendor Payment Terms for that vendor.

Goldenseal automatically calculates early payment discounts, based on the cutoff date. You'll see it in the Adjust column of the itemized breakdown.

To include discounts and other adjustments in Job Cost reports, change the settings in Expense Preferences.

To include discounts and other adjustments in time and materials billing, change the settings in the Project Payment Terms .

Finance Charges

If a vendor charges a penalty for late payments, enter it into the Vendor Payment Terms for that vendor.

Goldenseal automatically calculates finance charges, based on the cutoff date. You'll see it in the Adjust column of the itemized breakdown.

To include finance charges and other adjustments in Job Cost reports, change the settings in Expense Preferences.

To include finance charges and other adjustments in time and materials billing, change the settings in the Project Payment Terms .

Other Adjustments

If you discover that a purchase price was entered incorrectly, follow these steps:

Click Close to leave the Pay Bills window.
Choose Material Purchases from the Costs menu.
Use the Find command to locate the transaction.
Type in a correct amount.
Choose Pay Bills from the Bank menu, and continue.

If you need to make an adjustment for an invoice because of a one-time situation of any kind, follow these steps:

Choose Pay Bills from the Bank menu.
Double-click on the vendor's row.
You'll see a list of itemized invoices.
Click in the Adjust column for the invoice, and type in an adjustment. Enter a positive value to raise the price you pay. Enter a negative number for a discount.
Click OK.

To include adjustments in Job Cost reports, change the settings in Expense Preferences.

To include adjustments in time and materials billing, change the settings in the Project Payment Terms .

Tracking Payables

The Pay Bills command is a good quick way to check the current state of your payables, even if you don't plan to pay bills now.

For a more complete report on payables and the amounts that are due and overdue, choose Expenses from the Reports menu, and choose the Payables Aging submenu.

Direct Bill Payments

You can pay bills directly from any bank account. When you do that, you can only pay one vendor at a time-- so it's not as convenient as the Pay Bills command.

To pay a bill directly by check, follow these steps:

Choose Checkbook Transactions from the Bank menu, and choose the account that will be used for the payment.
Click the New button.
Select Check from the Type popup menu if paying by check. Select Payment if paying in some other form.
Enter the person or company being paid into the Payee Type and Pay To fields.
If the payment covers just one transaction, enter it into the Payment Type and Transaction fields. If it covers more than one transaction, choose Purchase from the Breakdown popup on the left side of the window.

Printing Checks

To print checks after you have created checking transactions in Goldenseal, follow these steps:

Make sure that the new checks are the only items that are flagged to print.
Choose Print Form from the File menu.
Make sure Bank Checks is listed in the Transaction Type popup. Enter the form that matches your checks into the Form Type popup. Enter Unprinted Records into the Record Range popup.
Click the Print button.

To print a single check, follow these steps:

Make sure that the check you want to print is visible in the Checking Transactions window.
Choose Print Form from the File menu.
Make sure Bank Checks is listed in the Transaction Type popup. Enter the form that matches your checks into the Form Type popup. Enter Active Record into the Record Range popup.
Click the Print button.

To print any combination of checking transactions, follow these steps:

Use the Find commands to locate just those checks you'd like to print.
Choose Print Form from the File menu.
Make sure Bank Checks is listed in the Transaction Type popup. Enter the form that matches your checks into the Form Type popup. Enter Found Records into the Record Range popup.
Click the Print button.