Steps to Enter InvoicesNote: Complete the End of Fiscal Year Checklist for Accounts Payable before completing the End of Month Checklist for Accounts Payable and General Ledger and completing the End of Fiscal Year Checklist for General Ledger so the reports include all expenses for the month.
_____ 1. Expense outstanding invoices and/or purchase orders to the current fiscal year for merchandise received, but not yet paid, by June 30 (August 31 for Nebraska school districts), if desired. To expense invoices and/or purchase orders, complete one of the following: Method 1 - Expense Invoices at Time of Entry (recommended for school districts who operate on a cash basis (as defined in the System File)); or Method 2 - Use Expense Outstanding Payables Option (only utilize if needing to expense invoices that were previously entered and posted but not yet paid, or to expense outstanding purchase orders). With either method, the system debits the expenditure accounts as specified on the invoices (or purchase orders, if applicable) and credits the Accounts Payable account number (as designated in the Fund File).
For those school districts who operate on an accrual basis (as defined in the System File), Method 1 would not be used, and Method 2 would be used to expense only purchase orders, because when operating on an accrual basis, invoices are already expensed at the time they are posted. If operating on an accrual basis and there are any invoices that should be expensed to the current fiscal year for merchandise received, but not yet paid, by June 30 (August 31 for Nebraska school districts), enter and post the invoices as normal at this time to a processing month in the current fiscal year; then the Accrual Outstanding Invoices Report can be printed in the next fiscal year in order to see the invoices that had been expensed to June (August for Nebraska school districts) and paid in the next fiscal year (or not yet paid, if applicable), if desired. When running the report in the next fiscal year, be sure to specify 06/yyyy as the Processing Month (08/yyyy for Nebraska school districts), with yyyy being the year you are closing.
Note: If all the bills for this fiscal year have already been paid, skip this step.
Tip: To expense a credit card payment batch of invoices to the current fiscal year, create the invoice batch as normal by completing the Credit Card Payment Batch section and be sure to enter a Processing Month in the current fiscal year (for example, enter June as the Processing Month (or August for Nebraska school districts)); this will expense the invoices to the current fiscal year, while also reducing the appropriate cash account balance.
Recommended Method - Method 1: Expense Invoices at Time of Entry
Method 1 is the recommended method for school districts who operate on a cash basis. Method 1 is used to expense invoices at the time the invoices are entered and posted by completing the End of Fiscal Year Options section when creating the invoice batch.
a. Create a new batch for invoices being sure to complete the batch options as follows and then save.
Enter a unique description for the new batch in the Batch Description field. The description can be alphanumeric and up to 50 characters long. Leave the field blank to use a default description assigned by the system.
Note: The system will automatically create a second batch containing the entries to expense the payables. The description of the second batch will be the same batch description with a space and "Expense" appended to the end. If more than 42 characters were entered as the original batch description, the system will truncate the description for the second batch in order to append the space and "Expense" to the end.
In the Processing Month field, enter the fiscal period for which to post the entries within the batch to General Ledger. Use the mm/yyyy format or click the down-arrow button to select the desired date. Leave the field blank to default to the current month (as based on the computer date).
In the End of Fiscal Year Options section, select the Expense Invoices field. A checkmark will appear in the box if the field is selected.
Enter the date to use for expensing the payables within the batch in the Expense Entry Date field in the End of Fiscal Year Options section. Use the mm/dd/yyyy format or click the down-arrow button to select the desired date. The date entered in this field will show in General Ledger and on the reports as the date expensed.
For Iowa school districts who reverse GAAP expense only, select the Reversing GAAP field in the End of Fiscal Year Options section to reverse GAAP expense the payables, if applicable. If the Reversing GAAP field is selected, the totals do not post to the accounts, but are reflected on the C.A.R. A checkmark will appear in the box if the field is selected.
Note: This field is only enabled for those Iowa school districts who have specified they reverse GAAP expense at the end of the fiscal year (the Reversing GAAP field is selected in the System File).
b. Enter the invoices into the batch as normal.
c. Once all the invoices to be expensed have been entered, print the desired reports to verify the invoices in the batch.
Tip: Print the Expense Outstanding Payables Report by Chart of Account Number or the Expense Outstanding Payables Report by Vendor from the Reports menu to verify the invoices to be expensed.
d. Post the batch of invoices.
e. If necessary, repeat these steps again if additional invoices are received that need to be expensed in this fiscal year.
f. Then when in the next fiscal year, complete the check cycle as normal using July dates or later (or September dates for Nebraska) to print checks for the expensed invoices.
Tip: Invoices that were previously expensed will be denoted as such on the following reports: Unpaid Invoices Report, board reports (only applicable for board report setups which include the Invoice Detail Expensed field), and Detail Check Register.
Alternate Method - Method 2: Use Expense Outstanding Payables Option
Method 2 is an alternate method available to use, if needed. Method 2 is used to expense outstanding invoices (those that were previously entered and posted, but not yet paid) or to expense outstanding purchase orders (those that were previously entered and posted, but not yet invoiced) by completing the Expense Outstanding Payables option.
a. Complete the Expense Outstanding Payables option.
Steps
to Expense Outstanding Payables
b. If necessary, repeat these steps again if additional outstanding invoices or purchase orders need to be expensed in this fiscal year.
c. Then when in the next fiscal year, complete the check cycle as normal using July dates or later (or September dates for Nebraska) to print checks for the expensed invoices.
Note: If necessary, a check cycle can be completed and posted to July (or September for Nebraska) before expensing outstanding payables; however, be sure the invoices to be expensed are not selected as part of the check cycle.
Tip: Invoices that were previously expensed will be denoted as such on the following reports: Unpaid Invoices Report, board reports (only applicable for board report setups which include the Invoice Detail Expensed field), and Detail Check Register.
_____ 2. Complete the End of Month Checklist for Accounts Payable.
Accounts
Payable End of Month Checklist
_____ 3. Print the Vendor Totals Report by Vendor (from the Accounts Payable screen, Reports menu, Vendor Reports) selecting the fiscal year beginning and ending dates to view the total amount paid to each vendor during the fiscal year. This step is optional.
_____ 4. Print the Vendor Inquiry report (from the Accounts Payable screen, Reports menu, Vendor Reports) selecting the months in the fiscal year for a detailed listing including the account numbers. This step is optional.
_____ 5. Print the Outstanding Purchase Order Report (from the Accounts Payable screen, Reports menu, Purchase Order Reports) to view the purchase orders that are outstanding as of June 30 (August 31 for Nebraska school districts). This step is optional.
_____ 6. For Iowa school districts only, print the Targeted Small Business Report (from the General Ledger screen, Reports menu, Other Reports), if applicable. This report will list the fiscal year amounts paid to all vendors earmarked as a targeted vendor in the Vendor File. When completing the report printing options, select the Fiscal Year report selection, specify the correct fiscal year end date, and then enter the appropriate vendor group defined for targeted vendors.
_____ 7. For organizations using the School Accounting System installed locally, make a backup.
_____ 8. If there are funds in the Fund File in General Ledger with the Automatically Start New Fiscal Year field not selected, check to see if the Fiscal Year Begin and End dates for the next fiscal year display in the Fund Years List if those funds will be used again next year. If the dates for the next fiscal year do not display for those funds, complete the Start New Fiscal Year option at this time and be sure to only select the applicable funds.