ACP - Payment Calculator
Payment Calculator Overview
This is the first step in the automated payment cycle.
Use this program to select the invoices due for payment based on the due date and if necessary produce a printout for approval.
The 'Payment Calculator' determines the unpaid amount on unpaid invoices as defined by the search criteria in the 'Payment Calculator' search screen. It calculates the recommended amount to pay and displays the 'Payment Calculator List' which is then used as the basis for the next steps in the payment routine:
- Approve EPs.
- Auto payments.
Search Screen
This is a facility to search for unpaid invoices based on criteria entered by the user. These unpaid invoices are populated into the 'Payment Calculator List' screen for the user to review, adjust and print in preparation for 'Auto Cheques' or the 'EP Bank File'.
The 'Payment Calculator' search screen will automatically display up to three warning messages if relevant:
- WARNING: There are # unapplied cheques.
- WARNING: There are # unapplied EP.
- WARNING: There are # unapplied credits.
Search up the relevant documents from the appropriate search screen and ensure they have all been applied before running the 'Payment Calculator'.
Before displaying the 'Payment Calculator' search, the system will determine whether or not a payment run has already been created. If so then a message will display 'WARNING: A Payment Run has already been created by ******** on dd/mm/yyyy but the payments generated have not been saved'.
To complete this Payment Run and save these Payments, click 'Complete'.
If you would like to discard this Payment Run, click 'Discard'.
You will need to complete or discard this payment run.
If a payment run is not already created but the 'Payment Calculator' has been partially run and there are records already in a 'Payment Calculator List', then the message 'There are Invoices currently in the Payment Calculator – do you wish to Review them or Delete them?' displays.
Click on 'Review' to view the 'Payment Calculator List' or click on 'Delete' to discard the list and return to the 'Payment Calculator' search screen.
Searchable fields are 'Invoice Due Date Cut-Off', 'Payment Method', 'Supplier Code', 'Supplier Type', 'Term and Document Number'. As an example, you would use these filters when you wanted to pay a particular supplier or group of suppliers.
| Fields that require further explanation | |
|---|---|
General Supplier Cheques / EPs | When selected the 'Payment Calculator List' screen will be populated with only 'General Supplier Cheques / EPs' based on the search criteria selected. |
Miscellaneous Supplier Cheques | When selected the 'Payment Calculator List' screen will be populated with only 'Miscellaneous Supplier Cheques' based on the search criteria selected. A Miscellaneous Supplier is determined by a supplier who has the 'Misc Supplier' checkbox ticked on their supplier record. Normally there would only be one or a very small number of miscellaneous suppliers. |
Student Deposit Refund Cheques | When selected the 'Payment Calculator List' screen will be populated with only 'Student Deposit Refund Cheques' based on the search criteria selected. These have been generated by the Parent Account module using program Finance > Parent Accounts > Student Deposit Refunds > Distribute Deposit Monies. |
Invoice Due Date Cutoff | This is a mandatory field. The current date will be the default. Use the 'Date Picker' to select the unpaid invoices due for payment on or before that date. |
Payment Method | This is where you decide if this payment run will be a combined or separate EP/Cheque run. One school of thought is to run EPs and Cheques as separate payment runs. The author finds this easier to manage as you can run EPs right through to producing the email remittances then start a new payment run for cheques. The software will handle combined or separate payment runs. The choice is yours. |
Payment Calculator List Screen
This screen displays the invoices that match the criteria selected in your 'Payment Calculator Search'. The list will be sorted by 'Supplier Name' with the 'Payment Run Total' displayed on top.
| Fields that require further explanation | |
|---|---|
Edit Payable amount | You only enter an amount in this column for invoices that you want to part pay (those that you don't want to pay the amount displayed in the 'Payable Amount' column). By default, the amount in this field for each invoice in your payment run will be zero. If an invoice is to be fully paid leave the amount as zero. |
Delete | Tick the checkbox to delete the associated invoice from the payment run. To delete a large number of invoices from the list, click on the 'All' icon at the top of the screen, then untick those that are to be paid in this run. Important! Click on the 'Update' button to refresh the 'Payment Calculator List'. This sets the payments to be made in 'Auto Payments'. If you forget to update, the payment run will be based on the previous list and will include the invoices you ticked for deletion. |
If the payment run is for Student Deposit Refund Cheques then the parent name will display in the 'Supplier Name' field.
Printing Your Payment List
You can print this list by clicking the 'Print' icon on the toolbar. This will display the 'Print Options' screen where you can export the list to a file. Various sorting and formatting options are displayed and you can select the type of file and layout you wish to use.
By default, the list will only print the total amount that is payable for each invoice. For invoices that have already been partially paid or have had credits applied against them, you can elect to print this detail by ticking the 'Include Applied Credits/Payments' checkbox.
Click on the 'GO' button to create the file.
Viewing an Invoice in Your Payment List
To view an individual invoice, click on the 'View' link in the Action column for that invoice.
Adding an Additional Invoice Into Your Payment List
Click on the 'New' button to add a supplier invoice that the auto payment calculator has not selected.
An example of this would be an invoice with a due date later than the 'Invoice Due Date Cut-off' that you entered for this payment run.
You will need to enter the supplier code and document number to identify the invoice that you want to add to this payment run.