Processing AP Checks

Purpose of this document

The Payment Journal in Ceres is the starting point for:

• Creating and printing computer generated checks
• Generating single checks
• Record manual payments

You may generate many checks using the Suggest Vendor Payment Batch Job or record a manual entry.

This document describes how to use the Payment Journal function to create and post checks in Ceres.

Ceres Object release 6.00.00 is required for the functionality described in this document.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Creating and Posting Computer Checks 
• Creating and Posting Manual Checks

Creating and Posting Computer Checks 

1. Payment Journals can be accessed by selecting “Search” from the Dynamics 365 Business Central Banner and entering “Payment Journals” in “Tell me what you want to do” then selecting “Payment Journals” from the results in the Go to Pages and Tasks section OR by selecting the “Payment Journals” menu action (if present) from your Role Center home page.

2. If using Payment Journal Batches, select your Batch from the Batch Name field.

3. To suggest invoices for payment, select Prepare à Suggest Vendor Payments.

4. Update the fields as necessary on the Options FastTab

Last Payment Date: Enter the latest payment date that can appear on the Vendor Ledger Entries to be included in the Batch Job. Only entries that have a due date or a payment discount date either before or on this date will be included. If the payment date is earlier than the system date, a warning will be displayed.

Find Payment Discounts: Toggle this field on if you want the batch job to include Vendor Ledger Entries for which you can receive a payment discount.

Check Other Journal Batches: When toggled on exclude payments that are already included in another journal batch from new suggested payments. This helps avoid duplicate payments.

Use Vendor Priority: If toggled on, the contents of the Priority field on the Vendor Card will determine in which order vendor entries will be suggested for payment. Ceres always prioritizes Vendors for payment suggestions if you specify an available amount in the field below.

Available Amount ($): If there is a maximum amount available for payments enter it here. The Batch Job will then create a payment suggestion based on this amount and the prioritization of Vendors (see field above). It will include only vendor entries that can be paid fully (can be fully applied to).

Skip Exported Payments: Toggle on if you do want the batch job to insert payment journal lines for documents for payments that have already been exported to a bank file.

Summarize per Vendor: Toggle on if you want the batch job to make one line per Vendor. Ceres will then use the Applies-to ID field when the Journal Lines are posted to apply the lines to Vendor Ledger Entries. If you toggle on this field, the Batch Job will make one line per invoice.

By Dimension: Select the Dimensions by which you want to group the suggested payments. You get one suggested payment per combination of Dimension Values for each currency in which the Vendor has ledger entries.

Posting Date: Enter the check date in this field that will appear as the Posting Date on the lines that the batch job inserts in the Payment Journal.

Calculate Posting Date from Applies-To Doc. Due Date: Toggle on this field if you want the due date of the purchase invoice to be used to calculate payment posting date.

Applies-To Doc. Due Date Offset: Specify a period of time that will separate the payment posting date from the due date on the purchase invoice.  For example:

• Enter CW-2D (end of current week minus 2 days) to pay the purchase invoice on the Friday of the week of the due date.
• Enter -2D (minus 2 days) to pay the purchase invoice two days before the due date.

Starting Document No.: Enter a 1 here. The document number will be incremented by one on each of the following journal lines. This will be populated with the check number once you print the checks. This field is optional.

New Doc. No. per Line: Toggle on if you want Ceres to fill in the Payment Journal Lines with consecutive document numbers, starting with the document number specified in the field above. If the Bank Payment Type field contains the Manual Check and the Summarize per Vendor field is off, this field must be toggled on. Ceres will then use the document number as the unique ID for the check.

Bal. Account Type: Select Bank Account.

Bal. Account No.: Select the Bank Account the checks will be paid from.

Bank Payment Type: Choose Computer Check.

5. On the Vendor FastTab you can narrow the list of Vendors to be included in the batch. Leave the No. field blank to include all Vendors. You can also filter by Payment Method Code, by Fund No., etc.

Note: To filter out vendors with credit balances you may enter the filter criteria of Balance >0 as shown here:

6. Select OK to run the Batch Job.

7. Upon completion of the Batch Job, the Payment Journal will be populated with the Vendor Invoices to be paid based on the selected criteria.

8. Review the Journal Lines for accuracy and make any required adjustments.

9. Select the Print Checks from Check à Print Checks.

10. Update the fields as necessary.

Bank Account: Select Bank Account No. the checks will be issued from. This needs to be the same Bank Account you selected when you ran the Suggest Vendor Payments Batch Job.

Last Check No.: Verify the last check number that was used. This will automatically flow from the Bank Account Card.

One Check per Vendor per Document No.: Choose this option to combine multiple invoices for one Vendor into one check. If you leave this field off, a separate check will be printed from each Vendor invoice.

Reprint Checks: Choose this option if you tried to print checks, encountered a problem, and now need to reprint them.

Test Print: Toggle on this field if you want to print the checks on blank paper before you print them on check stock.

Preprinted Stub: Toggle on this field if you are using check stock with a preprinted stub so column information will not print.

Commit Each Check: Toggle on this field if you want Ceres to do a commit to the database for each check rather than at the completion of the print job. This can avoid discrepancies between the data and check stock in case of printer error on networks where the print job is cached.

11. Select Print and then choose the printer that you wish to print to. Once the checks are printed the Document No. will be replaced with the Check number.

12. Review the printed checks for accuracy. Remember to verify that the printed check numbers match the Document No. in the Payment Journal. When you have printed a check, Ceres places a checkmark in the Check Printed field on the Payment Journal Lines. 

13. To post the Payment Journal, select Post/Print à Print or Post and Print. Select Yes to confirm that you want to post the Journal Lines.

Creating and Posting Manual Checks

1. Generally, a manual check is for payment of a single invoice or may be generated prior to receiving the invoice because the Vendor needs to be paid immediately.

2. Just like computer checks, the Payment Journal is used to process manual checks. See step 1 above on how to access the Payment Journal.

3. If using Payment Journal Batches, select your Batch from the Batch Name field.

4. Update the fields in the Payment Journal as necessary.

Posting Date: Enter the check date that will appear as the Posting Date on the lines that the Batch Job inserts in the Payment Journal.

Document Type: Select Payment from the List.

Document No.: Enter the manual check number.

Account Type: Select Vendor from the List.

Account No.: Select the Vendor that you wish to pay from the Vendor List.

Amount: Enter the amount of the check.

Bal. Account Type: Select Bank Account.

Bal. Account No.: Select the Bank Account the checks will be paid from.

Bank Payment Type: Select Manual Checks.

Applies-to Doc. Type: Select Invoice to apply the manual check to an invoice.

Applies-to Doc. No.: Select the Invoice Number you are applying the manual check to. You can apply a payment to an Invoice after the fact if this field is left blank.

5. To post the Payment Journal, select Post/Print à Print or Post and Print. Select Yes to confirm that you want to post the Journal Lines.