How to Pay Payables Using a Credit Card

Purpose: Some bills are paid with a credit card instead of ACH or physical check. For example, oil change on a company vehicle or supplies for the office Christmas party.

Due to IRS requirements, it is strongly recommended that every receipt be keyed as a manual voucher under the vendor name id where the expense was accrued.
Example: if you charged meals to the local diner, then a voucher is keyed under the local diner’s name id and coded to the appropriate expense account, like Meals Expense.

Process:

1. enter vouchers on the receipt name id coded to the appropriate business expense.
   Example: Key voucher to Mama’s Diner vender coded to meal expense.

2. Pay those vouchers with the credit card bank code.
   Example: Enter disbursement to the AE-American Express bank code.
   print to plain paper using control number.

3. This leaves the AE-American Express bank code with a negative balance which represents your liability to the credit card payable in the ledger.
   I.E. what you owe the credit card company is represented by the negative bank total.
   Example: AE bank code as credit balance of $100 and this matches ledger code 2045-American Express Liability in the ledger.

4. Receive statement from the credit card company.
   Example: statement should equal the negative bank balance.

5. Enter a voucher to the credit card company coded to Credit Card Clearing.
   This keeps all a consistency that all your payments have a voucher so that auditors can easily follow and 1099-forms can be printed on all vendors required.
   Example: Key a voucher to American Express name id coded to ledger account 7275-Credit Card Clearing Account.

6. following the voucher entry, key a manual deposit into the credit card bank coded to Credit card clearing.
   This zeros out the Credit Card Liability bank code showing that is was paid.
   Credit card clearing account washes. It should ALWAYS be zero in the ledger.
   This also clears the credit balance in the credit card bank code.
   Example: Select American Express bank code and key manual deposit that equals credit card statement amount with G/L coding to 7275-Credit clearing.

7. Finally, issue a disbursement to vendor of the credit company to pay the statement.
   Example: write a check to American Express to pay statement amount out of your normal AP Bank code.

Setup Ledger Codes & Bank Codes & SJI System Accounts:

1. Setup a credit card bank payable in the ledger.
   This ledger account will be linked to your credit card bank code. Example: American Express Bank Code will be mapped to this ledger account in the SJI system accounts.
   LDG > Maintenance > Chart of Accounts > 1. Add New Accounts
   

   

2. Setup a credit card clearing account in the ledger. This account should always be zero dollars in the ledger.
   It will act as a clearing account when paying the credit card bill.
   

   

3. Setup Bank Code to present Credit Card payments. This code is used when you pay a vendor by credit card.
   BNK > Bank Maintenance > key in new bank code (example: AE for American Express)
   Keep in mind how your bank codes sort so that this sorts outside of you actual check writing banks.
   

   

4. In the SJI, , map the BNK system account to hit the Credit Card Payable LDG account number
   SJI > System Accounts > Bank