Set Up and Print an AP Check Run
The Make Payments function allows you to print checks to pay AP Disbursements (the subject of this article) or Quick Checks. You can also use this function to record ACH, wire transfer or other electronic payments.
The outline of the steps for printing a run of AP Checks looks like this:
- Enter & post AP Vouchers for your Vendor invoices using the AP, Open Payment Type.
- Find and mark the Disbursements to be paid. This step can be bypassed by using AP, Marked to Pay when entering the Vouchers.
- Print the AP Checks. Optionally, print and review the AP Check Journal before printing checks.
- Confirm the AP Checks were printed correctly. If not, either Reprint them or Void them and start over.
- Post the Disbursements.
1. Post the Vouchers
For the purposes of this article, we'll assume you have already Entered Vouchers for the Vendor Invoices.
2. Mark the Disbursements to be paid
Find the Disbursements that you want to pay using any of the available search tools. In the screenshot below, I've filtered for All Open Items.
Mark the Disbursements to be paid and then decided whether or not to take a discount (if available.)
2.1. Do you want to take any existing Vendor Discount?
Choose whether or not to take any available AP discounts.
2.2. The Disbursements are ready to print
The Disbursements will have a status of PRNT (i.e. Ready to Print).
3. Print the checks
Navigate to Accounts Payable ➤ Make Payments.
- Select the Disbursement Type. For the purposes of this article you will select AP Disbursement.
- Enter the Payment Source Information.
- Print Date: The date that will be printed on the checks.
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Start with Number: The first check number that will be printed.
- This will be auto-populated based on the last check run. If you need to change the starting check number, you can change it to a higher number here. If you need to use a lower number, you'll need to go to Administration >System Setup.
- Select which checking account from which to write the checks.
- Select the Disbursements that will be printed.
- (Optional) Once you have steps 1-3 completed you can Print an AP Disbursement Journal and review it prior to printing checks. This will contain all of the information relating to the checks that were selected to be printed during this AP check run.
- See the next screenshot for an example of an AP Disbursement Journal.
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Print the checks. The print job will be sent to the printer in sequence starting with the beginning check number.
- If you have enabled the option to print a full page check stub, you will have the option to print those after the checks are finished printing.
3.1. AP Disbursement Journal example
3.2. Definitions for some of the terminology in this window ...
- Posted GL Account Balance: This includes only GL transactions that have been posted to the selected checking account as of the end of the current fiscal period.
- Current Balance: The last reconciled balance plus or minus any unreconciled check register items.
- Total Selected: The total amount of checks that have been selected to print for this current check run. (Also, see the total number of selected checks in parentheses.)
- Ending Balance: Current Balance minus Total Selected.
3.3. Mark OK, Reprint or Void the checks.
- Mark OK: the Disbursements will be changed to Ready to Post (RTP) status.
- Mark Reprint: the print dialogs will be presented once again to reprint the checks using the same check numbers.
- Mark Void: the printed checks will be voided and the last used check number will increment.
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- OK All: Mark OK all checks.
- Reprint All: Mark Reprint all checks.
- Void All: Mark Void all checks.
- Cancel: Click this button to cancel the check run as if it never happened.
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OK: Click this button to accept the previously marked status (OK, Reprint or Void).
- If all checks have been tagged as Mark OK, then the check run will be accepted and the Disbursements will be marked Ready to Post.
- The Reprint function from this window only works if you have NOT clicked OK to accept the check run. If you have already accepted the check run and you need to reprint a check, see this article.
- Click Cancel to abort the check run. The system WILL NOT record any checks that have been processed. This can be handy if a problem occurs during the printing process. Use this option sparingly.
4. The Disbursements are Ready to Post (RTP)
The Disbursements are now Ready to Post (RTP). The checks will not be displayed in the Check Register until the Disbursements have been posted.
4.1. The Disbursements have been posted.
The status of the Disbursements will be Closed (CL) after they are posted. If any discounts were taken, there will also be an adjusting entries posted at this time.
The checks will now appear in the Check Register. They can now be reconciled when you receive your bank statement.
