Process Creditor

Process Creditor is a function to give you control of your creditor's accounts. All invoices you receive from your suppliers are added to the Process Creditor function and the resulting list used to reconcile your supplier's statements at the month end. Process Creditor is only used for those suppliers with whom you operate a monthly "charge account", it is of little use for those suppliers to whom you pay COD as they won't be issuing you a monthly statement.

The Process Creditor function is used in two ways:
Firstly, it is used to input information from your supplier's invoices as you receive them.
Secondly, it is used to reconcile the information you have input during the month with your supplier's monthly statement.

Both Process Creditor and Reconcile Bank function in a similar manner in as much as entries are cleared with the aim to result in a "balanced account".

To process a supplier's invoices, select Ledger from the Main Menu. Select Process Creditor from the drop down menu. G-E presents a list of all your suppliers in the Ledger in the Creditor Control list. Select the supplier you wish to work with from the list. G-E presents the Creditor Control dialogue for the selected supplier.

When the dialogue is opened for the first time, it will be empty as you have not yet added supplier invoice information to the function. To add supplier invoices, select the Charge/Credit control. The Edit Charge/Credit dialogue is presented.

Charge/Credit
The Charge/Credit control is used to enter supplier invoice and tax adjustment (credits) information. The information required is all taken from the supplier invoice or tax adjustment (credit).

Date (d/m/y)	The date field holds the last date entered. Change the date to the date of your supplier invoice.
Amount	Enter the the supplier invoice or tax adjustment (credit) total in the amount field. If it is a credit from your supplier, place a ' - ' (minus) in front of the figure. eg: -125.23.
Ref	Enter the invoice number or credit number in the Ref field.
Notes	Enter any notes if required in the Notes field. (Not normally required).
Ok	Check the information is correct and click Ok or press Enter to accept the information. The new information is placed in the Creditor list and the Charge/Credit dialogue is instantly presented again for the next entry.
Cancel	Click Cancel or press Esc to abort without saving the information.

Tip:
When a new Charge/Credit is added to the list, G-E instantly presents the dialogue again for the next entry. This is invaluable for entering information from several of the supplier's invoices. If the last invoice has been entered, click Cancel or press Esc to clear the dialogue from the screen.
Each time the dialogue is presented, the date field contains the last date entered. Be sure to check the date against the invoice date to ensure it is correct.

During the month, entering the charges and credits into the various supplier's Creditor Control windows is all that is required. The rest of the dialogue's functions pertain to reconciling the account at the month end.

Processing
The Creditor Control screen shows all charges and credits entered which have not yet been processed. G-E calculates and displays the "Statement Difference". This figure is calculated from the Opening balance and Total Due amounts which are input to the Header dialogue. As the charges and credits are compared with the supplier's statement and deemed correct, the entries are cleared in the list. The Statement Difference figure is adjusted with each item cleared. When the Statement Difference figure is reduced to zero, all items appearing on the statement have matched the items in the column. The word "Balanced" appears in the Statement Difference field. At this point and only when the Statement Difference is zero, the column can be processed.

Sort
When working with the Creditor Control dialogue, you will enter new invoices and credits and adjust entries to correct mistakes. These new entries are added to the bottom of the list. Clicking the Sort control causes G-E to resort the list in the correct order.

Find Ref
Presents the "Find Reference" dialogue. Enter the supplier invoice or tax adjustement (credit) number you wish to find. Click Ok or press Enter to be taken to the entry in the list.

Find Amount
Presents the "Search for Amount" dialogue. To search for an exact figure, enter the figure in the Exact Amount field and click Ok or press Enter. To show all transaction figures between an upper and lower limit, enter the lower limit figure in the Minimum field and the upper limit figure in the Maximum field. To show all transactions under an upper limit, enter the upper limit figure in the Maximum field and leave the Minimum field blank. To show all transactions above a minimum limit, enter the minimum figure in the Minimum field and leave the Maximum field blank. Click Ok or press Enter to return a listing of the results. Double clicking an entry in the returned list takes you to the entry in the reconcile column.

Edit Entry
While working with the Creditor Control you will find errors with some entries. The Edit Entry control presents the selected entry's Charge/Credit dialogue containing the information as entered when the charge or credit information was added to the list. Correct the error in the dialogue and click Ok or press Enter to accept the change.

Edit Header
Presents the Header dialogue for editing. This allows changing the date, and the opening and total due amounts. The Cleared Date should be the date of the last transaction on the statement or the last day of the statement month. The Opening balance should be the "Amount Carried Forward" in the supplier's statement. The Total Due is the sum of all outstanding amounts on the supplier's statement.

Cleared
"Clears" the highlighted entry in the Creditor Control list. This can also be done by double clicking the entry. You clear an entry after it has been compared with the supplier's statement and deemed correct. The "Cleared" column is stamped with the "cleared date" which is entered in the Header dialogue. Highlighting a cleared entry and clicking the Cleared control or double clicking the entry will remove the cleared status.

Process
The Process control is unavailable until the Creditor Control list balances with the supplier's statement. G-E knows by the statement opening and total due balances when this condition exists. At this point, the Statement Difference will show "Balanced". The Process control performs several functions: All the cleared transaction's date stamps are changed to "R" ("Reconciled"). Various header fields are adjusted or cleared.

Show All
When the Creditor Control screen is opened, only entries that have not been reconciled are displayed. This greatly reduces the number of entries which form the list and thus makes it easier for you to locate and clear charges etc. The Show All control commands G-E to display all the entries including the reconciled. The control changes to Hide Reconciled and clicking the control again will hide the reconciled entries again.

Quit
Closes the Process Creditor list and saves the list in the current state, Pressing Esc achives the same result.

Tips:
Keep the Creditor Control lists up to date.
Be sure to be exact when entering the opening and total due amounts including the minus sign if the figure is negative. There is absolutely no way the column will balance if these figures are not correct!
Reconcile the lists as your supplier's statements come to hand.
If the list doesn't balance, the figure remaining in the Statement Difference field is the total amount of the error. Try finding the figure using the Find Amount control. Remember, any error remaining in the Statement Difference field may be made up of several smaller errors. If all else fails, go through the statement from top to bottom and search for each amount and check to see if each amount is entered and cleared. Generally an error is caused by an overlooked entry.