Account Payable Process

Understand the Accounts Payable process. Understand the AP cycle and the various tasks that need to be completed during AP transaction processing. Learn the key activities and setups that are done in any typical system during the AP processing.

Given below is the complete Accounts Payable Process:

1. Issue Purchase Order:

The AP Process starts with the issue of Purchase order to the Supplier. The purchase order specifies what you intend to buy, the make and the quality of the goods. In some cases it also specifies the agreed quantity and the price.

2. Receive Goods:

Based on the purchase order the supplier will ship a product. Till goods have been received by the customer, the ownership generally lies with the supplier. Once the goods are received at your go down, you become the owner of the goods.

3. Inspect Goods:

Most organizations have the internal control processes to inspect the goods to ensure the quantity and quality of the supplied material.

4. Enter Invoice:

Supplier issues an credit invoice, and collects payment later. This describes a cash conversion cycle, a period of time during which the supplier has already paid for raw materials but hasn't been paid in return by the final customer. Received invoice is accounted for in the books of the customer.

5. PO Match and Receipt Match:

When the invoice is received by the purchaser it is matched to the packing slip and purchase order, and if all is in order, the invoice is paid. This is referred to as the three-way match. The three-way match can slow down the payment process, so three-way matching may be limited solely to large-value invoices, or the matching is automatically approved if the received quantity is within a certain percentage of the amount authorized in the purchase order.

6. Release and Make Payment:

Once the matching is done and accounts payable department is satisfied to the accuracy and validity of purchase, the refer to the payments terms. Companies may have negotiated different payment terms with different suppliers. Payment is released based on the agreed payment terms and amount is issued to the supplier.

7. Bank Reconciliation:

Generally the payment is made through the bank. There is a slight delay between the date when the payment is released and when it reaches to the account of the supplier. The bank entry is reconciled to the original payment entry in the Payments Register to reconcile the both accounts and this completes the account payable process.

In the next video tutorial we will take you through the accounting entries in the payable process.

Given below are some other activities that happen during the AP processing cycle:

Define and maintain supplier information to be used at the time of invoicing and payment
Enter invoice information
Match invoices to Purchase Orders
Define, enter and import employee expense reports as expenses are also part of payables to employees
Set up bank accounts for payment to Vendors
Enter manual payments or use EDI to make automated payments
Pay invoices
Stop and void payments in case any holds are required
Enter and apply prepayments to invoices, adjust advances
Enter and apply employee advances
Create recurring invoices for same type of invoices
Transfer invoices and payment details to General Ledger to ensure proper accounting
Before any ERP System works, you might need to define the tax defaulting rules and principles