Bills: enter, pay, print cheques, and track what you owe

Bill, cheque, or card?

Three ways to record money going out, and which to use:

• Enter Bill when you receive an invoice you will pay later. The expense is recorded now (so your profit and loss is right) and the amount sits in accounts payable until paid.
• Write Checks when you pay at the moment of purchase, by cheque, debit, or transfer, and there is no bill to track.
• Bank feed for card purchases that show up in the downloaded statement; add them from there with a rule. See bank feeds.

Enter a bill

1. Vendors → Enter Bill. Pick the vendor, enter the bill date and the vendor's reference number. Terms set the due date.
2. Expense lines: pick the expense account and amount; split across accounts or classes as needed. Item lines: for stock you are receiving, pick the inventory item and quantity, and the stock count updates.
3. Attach the PDF or photo of the bill with the paper-clip button so it is there at tax time.
4. Save. Nothing hits the bank yet.

Bills you receive every month, such as rent, can be memorized: enter it once, click Memorize, give it a schedule, and AcboBooks enters it automatically when you open the company on or after the due date. Manage them under Activities → Memorized.

Pay bills

1. Vendors → Pay Bills. Every open bill lists, oldest first, with any available vendor credits.
2. Tick the bills to pay. Pay a bill in part by changing the amount in the row.
3. Choose the payment method and bank account, and the payment date.
4. Click Pay. One bill payment is recorded per vendor, which is what appears in the bank register and what you will match against the statement.

For a bill paid by card or transfer outside the system, still use Pay Bills with the matching method; that is what closes the bill. Writing a separate cheque against the expense account would record the expense twice.

Print cheques

Cheques written under Banking → Write Checks, and bill payments made by cheque, queue for printing. Banking → Print Checks lists them. Set the starting cheque number to match the pre-printed stock in the printer, choose the cheque style (voucher or three-per-page standard), print, and confirm which numbers printed correctly. A misprint can be voided and reprinted without re-entering anything.

Purchase orders

Vendors → Create P.O. records what you ordered without posting anything. When the goods or the bill arrive, open it from Vendors → Purchase Orders and Convert to bill; the lines carry across so you only check quantities and prices. Open purchase orders show what is on order, useful for stock you are waiting on.

Vendor credits and returns

When a vendor credits you, for a return or an overcharge, record it under Vendors → Vendor Credits against the same expense or item. It then appears in Pay Bills as a credit to apply against that vendor's next bill. If they refund you by bank instead, record the refund as a deposit posted to accounts payable for that vendor and apply it to the credit.

Contractors and 1099s

For US contractors, tick Track for 1099 on the vendor record (Lists → Vendors) and record their tax ID and address there. Pay them through bills or cheques as usual. In January, Accountant → 1099 Wizard totals what each one was paid in the year, flags anyone missing a tax ID, and gives you the figures for the forms. Reports → 1099 Summary shows the same totals at any time.