Accounts Payable End of Course Assignment

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Training Homework/Practice Guide -Accounts Payable Session

Module 1 - Vendor File Maintenance

Task 1 - Vendor Records Navigation

1. In the Vendor Records screen (Records menu, Vendors), click on the Help menu to display the Help article for this screen. You don’t have to review it all, just understand how the Help button works and the articles that come up.
2. Utilize the Search box under “Name” to type in and locate an existing vendor.  
3. Double-click on that vendor to go into that vendor file.  Review each field available on the screen, including the address ID line, where you can add multiple address options using the magnifying glass. 
4. Cancel out of the Options box and click on the “Payment” button at the bottom.  Review the Payment Method options and then go back to the Help on the overall Vendor Records screen to see the meaning of each payment method available.
5. Right-click on one of the vendors to view the vendor history either through the “Vendor Summary” or the “Vendor Detail” option. (Detail is different as it shows all the GL distribution lines, whereas the summary will simply show invoices and payments). If you’re a new SGA client, there won’t be vendor history, but you can get familiar with the navigation to go to vendor history to research or void payments/invoices as necessary.

Task 2 - Adding New Vendors

1. If possible, let’s create a new vendor record. This can be a new vendor that is needed for your organization. Keep in mind that if you are not live on SGA yet, then the vendor list will be overwritten with the full vendor population from your old system, but we can still practice here.
2. Click on the “New” button in the top left.  Input all the required information for the new vendor, including the address. Vendor email is important, but items like “attachments” and “comments” are more optional in nature.
3. Click on the Options button.  If possible, give the vendor a default GL account using the Distribution Method (Account) field. Make the default Due Date be for 20 days. Click OK
4. Click on the “Payments” button, and you can choose whether to pay the vendor by paper check, EFT, or Draft (which is if they just pull the funds from your bank account).

Task 3 - View Screen Configuration

1. In the upper right of the screen, where the “View” option is selected, click the grid/waffle button. Select some additional columns to display, and move some around via the arrow keys.  De-select a few columns as well, then click OK.
2. Save that new view via the save button, give it a new name, and save it only to an individual user - yourself. Now toggle between the original view and your new view. Feel free to delete the new view via the button or keep it, whichever you want.

Task 4 - Miscellaneous Navigation

1. Click the Reports button drop-down at the far right of the light blue menu bar to download the list into Excel.  This is a common button in several screens in SGA.
2. Click the drop-down button next to Edit in the light blue menu bar, and go to Merge. Click the question mark in the top right corner to make sure you can access the article and video tutorial when a vendor merge might be needed in the future.
3. Notice that you can use the “Summary” and “Detail” buttons in the light blue bar to see the vendor history, the same as the right-click on a vendor.  The vendor history can be accessed either way as long as the correct vendor is highlighted.
4. Click the drop-down button next to Edit in the light blue menu bar, and go to Global Edit.  Be careful with this screen, but just notice how you can change the active status for multiple vendors via this Global Edit. 
5. Practice using the search boxes (underneath the title) in each column to do searches. The “Name” column is the most often used search box, but the other columns are available, and all use the logic “contains” so you can just type whatever exists, and it will narrow the list accordingly.

Module 2 - Invoices

Task 1 - Simple Invoice Entry

1. Navigate to Daily>A/P Invoice Batch List, then from that screen, click “New” in the top left screen for New Batch. The basic invoice entry screen will come up so you can see all the fields and buttons available for invoice entry.
2. To choose a vendor, you can either click on the magnifying glass or, better yet, start typing in the field to the right of the magnifying glass and choose the vendor you want.
3. Type in an invoice number and then make sure the “Period” is correct, as that will drive when the invoice hits the financial statements. (The invoice date will not drive the timing of GL impact).
4. Review the Attachments button in the light blue bar at the top and add an attachment to this invoice entry (perhaps the PDF of the invoice itself).
5. In the distributions section below, enter an amount, a GL account number, and some comments for the invoice. Now, click Save to save that invoice.
6. Feel free to create more invoices as practice - if you’re not live on SGA yet, these will just be overwritten at GoLive.

Task 2 - Advanced Invoice Entry

1. Now, with a new invoice entry but likely the same vendor chosen, let’s click the clone button, and we can practice the clone feature by making a copy of that previous invoice.  (don’t clone the attachments this time)
2. Just to explore, click the blue drop-down button in the top left of the screen. See how you can either edit a vendor or create a new vendor directly from this screen, instead of going back to the Records>Vendors screen.
3. Edit the dollar amount and the invoice number and save that invoice as well. The cloning function does not affect the original invoice; it just makes a copy that you can edit as a new invoice. Save the invoice.
4. Now return to the A/P invoice Batch screen, click the checkbox next to that batch, and click the “Post” button. This Post action will do two things. It will record the expense (and AP liability) entries into the GL, and it will make these invoices available to pay during the payment process.
5. One other item to be aware of on the AP Invoice Batch screen - if you use the import function to import lists of invoices from an Excel or other file (such as a credit card statement download), you’ll click the “Import” button on the light blue bar to initiate that process.

Task 3 - Recurring Invoice Setup

1. For certain invoices that are the same amount, coding, vendor, and everything every time, the Recurring Invoices screen is an efficient setup for these invoices. If the vendor and coding are the same but the amount changes, I would recommend the clone feature discussed above instead of Recurring.
2. Click the Daily>Recurring Payables and click “New” in the light blue bar.
3. Review the different fields and buttons, especially the invoice button, where all the aspects of this invoice will be set to initiate the recurring process.
4. These recurring invoices can be posted when the Accounting Period Reset process is completed at the month's end. A pop-up screen will appear to allow the user to post the recurring invoices with one button.
5. Cancel out of the “New” dialogue box, click the Help, and if needed, watch the short video tutorial regarding Recurring Payable setup.

Module 3 - Payment Process

Task 1 - Select/Tag Invoices for Payment

1. Now that the AP invoice batch has been posted, we can practice a payment batch, which can include check or EFT payments. Click Daily>Payment Batches.
2. Click the button for “New Batch” in the top left of the light blue bar. This will initiate the payment process and take you to the “Tag Invoices” screen to choose which invoices will be paid in this payment batch.
3. You can use the checkboxes on the left to select invoices to be paid. You can select all open invoices with the “Select/Deselect All” checkbox at the bottom.
4. The blue rows give you the ability to select multiple invoices included in the total, such as all the open invoices for a particular vendor that is summarized in the blue row.  With the “view by” sorting feature at the top left, you can view by due date, for example, and allow you to select invoices due prior to a certain date (using the blue rows), which allows for efficient cash flow management.
5. Try not to tag every available invoice during this task so they can be saved for later exercises in this module.
6. Once you’ve selected the invoices you want to pay, click OK in the top left corner of the light blue bar. This will create the payment batch and take you back to the list of payment batches.

Task 2 - Process Payment Batch for Checks/ACH

1. Make sure you’re highlighting the row of the payment batch to pay, then click “Process Payment” in the light blue bar.
2. Review the dialogue screen to ensure the checkbook is correct, the cash account, the beginning check number, the period, and the date.  The period will drive when the entry to cash (credit) and accounts payable (debit) will hit the GL. Click OK.
3. The “Process Payment” dialogue screen will now allow you to print checks (as applicable) after you post the batch. Similar to AP batches, once you post the batch, it will record the entry in the GL and also allow the checks to be printed and/or the ACH file to be created.
4. Assuming you have permissions, click the checkbox to approve the batch and click the “Post” button; then, the “Print Checks” button will be available to print the checks. This won’t create the ACH payments (if any); that will be an additional step.
5. Once checks are printed, you can close out of the payment process dialogue box. 

Task 3 - Generate ACH file for ACH payments

1. For vendors who are set up for EFT payments to be paid, the SGA system will generate a file to be sent to the bank.  The file configuration is done during the implementation period.
2. We don’t necessarily need to create a file here, but we’ll go to the menu to see how it works.
3. Go to Daily>Generate ACH file.  This is where you would create the ACH file for any vendors in the payment batch that get paid by ACH instead of a check. This will complete the payment batch process.
4. Click on Help, then review the content and, if needed, watch the 5-minute tutorial video so you know how to create an ACH file to send to the bank.
5. The process for creating a Positive Pay file (pertaining to checks) is very similar to this process for ACH file creation, just a different menu.  Daily>Create Positive Pay.

Task 4 - Record Payments that are automatically withdrawn by the Vendor

1. Some payments are not initiated by SGA at all via check or ACH. Certain payments are just taken from your bank or financial institution via automatic withdrawal, but you still want to record those vendor payments. It’s better to record those payments in the AP system instead of a journal entry if possible.
2. So, enter those invoices as normal invoice entry or import, then click Daily>Manual Payment in order to get to the screen to record those payments.
3. The Manual Payment screen will show all invoices that have been posted but not already paid via check or ACH process.
4. Click on any invoices that need to be recorded in this method.  Click the EFT button in the light blue bar.  Review the checkbook, cash account, and ensure that the period and date are correct. The “EFT” field is an open field, so it can be any identifying information from the transaction or even something like “March 2026 Payment”.
5. The system will create a payment for each vendor, assuming that each vendor will be a separate payment on your bank statement.
6. There’s also an option here for “Check” in the light blue bar, which would be if you have a handwritten checkbook that you write checks from periodically. Ultimately, this “Manual Payment” screen is to record vendor payments that are not initiated by the SGA system but are initiated via withdrawal or some other outside source.

Module 4 - Setup and Configuration (Admin staff only)

Task 1 - Review General Options

1. Navigate to Settings>Accounts Payable>General Options
2. Review each item, with emphasis on the options for “Allowing vendor name change” and “Require new vendor approval” as these are critical for security around vendor payments.
3. Click into the Help to review some of the explanations behind each option on this screen. 

Task 2 - Review Entry Options

1. Navigate to Settings>Accounts Payable>Entry Options
2. Review each item, especially the entry period range allowed, near the top. This defines how many periods in the past or future a user can record a payable transaction. You can set a wider range for certain staff on the first line and then a more restrictive range for all other staff. The periods past and future will be based on the current period that has been set in the system via Month End>Accounting Period Reset.
3. Another key decision point is whether to either “Warn” if there is a duplicate invoice number for a vendor or disallow duplicate invoice numbers via the checkbox option near the middle of the screen.
4. Click into the Help to review some of the explanations behind each option on this screen. You might have to scroll down past the General Options explanations to get to the Entry Options Explanations.