Simplifying Your A/P Payment Process

Paying vendors in SyteLine® doesn’t have to be complicated. With the right forms and a few smart settings, you can run payments smoothly, take advantage of discounts, and keep everything organized without extra effort.

A/P Payment Generation

This is where you tell SyteLine® what to pay and when. Think of this form as one big filtering session.

Payment Type

Leave all options checked unless you want to create separate payment batches based on a vendor's default payment type.

Payment Date

Can be set ahead to prep for an upcoming run.

Aging Basis + Discount Method

Whether your aging basis is Invoice or Due Date, leave the start date blank to avoid excluding invoices.

Caution: These two methods may not capture invoices with discounts.

To capture all available discounts, run the process a second time and update the Discount Method as follows:

• Select Early Pay to have the system generate payments for invoices with discounts available up to the defined Payment Date.
• Select All if you want to force all discounts no matter the date.
• Select None if you want to leave discounts on the table.

Override Payment Bank Code

Need to pay a vendor from a different bank than their default? Use the Override Payment Bank Code—ideal for one-off runs without changing vendor setup.

When it came to commissions, I had a client struggling with how to separate the right vendors. Since the Commissions Due form bases its due date on A/R activity (not vendor terms), I set them up to use the default bank code on the Vendors form with a bank code filter to pull the right records. Then, by applying the override, we made sure the payments hit their main cash account. It was clean, accurate, and solved the problem.

Process

Vendors with credit balances or payment holds will have payments generated but will be noted in the grid.

A/P Payment Forms

There are three forms for creating manual payments or editing system-generated payments: A/P Payments, A/P Payment Distributions, and A/P Quick Payment Application.

The third form is a hybrid of the first two. On the quick version, not only are the distributions displayed in a grid under the header portion of the payment; but the grid also displays all unpaid vouchers to easily change or add to the payment details.

There are two notable takeaways about the A/P Quick Payment Application form:

1. If an unposted payment to a vendor exists, the vouchers selected on the first payment will not display in the grid for any subsequent payments.
2. If the Payment Type is "Standard Check", the Payment Amount field is greyed out, but the system will update the value as vouchers are selected or deselected in the grid. For all other payment types, the amount field is editable and will need to be manually updated based on grid changes.
   
   

PRO TIP! Change the payment type to Standard Check to have the system update the amount field automatically. After you Apply your changes, change the payment type back and save.

Vendor Prepayments

Let SyteLine® do the work to track your deposits. On A/P Payment Distributions, set Type = Open and add the PO if you have one. It’ll show as a Prepaid Amount on the PO and carry over to A/P Posted Transactions Detail.

• Make sure the Deposit Acct is set up in Accounts Payable Parameters first.
  
  

Receive and voucher prepaid POs in the same way as POs with payment terms.

When you're ready to apply the deposit to a voucher, activate the Reapplication checkbox in A/P Quick Payment Application. Confirm the payment type is the same and enter the payment number. Once you've selected the voucher(s), commit via the posting form for the payment type.

Not applying the entire payment at once? That's okay. You can perform the reapplication step as many times a needed until the prepayment is fully absorbed.

There's no cash movement. Instead SyteLine® will create a journal entry to move the prepayment applied out of the deposit account to the AP control account.

A/P Check Printing/Posting

This is where you print and post Standard or Manual checks. You can also void checks if needed before they are posted. That is, before you print the final register. Voiding checks at this step will retain the A/P Payment records. That way you can easily reprint them without regenerating.

If you exit from the A/P Check Printing/Posting form after printing or voiding checks but without running the Final Register and Post option, the system will void any records that are not already voided, and then automatically run the final register and post option.

Void A/P Posted Payments

This is your after-the-fact void option. Use this form to void previously posted checks, wire, or EFT payments.

For centralized A/P, follow the special steps in Infor’s online guide. Once voided, you’ll have to generate a new payment.

A/P Wire Posting

Use this form when posting payments with Payment Type = Wire Transfer.

• The system will post the payment and generate a remittance advice if you’ve already got that set up in A/P Parameters.
  • Vendor Document Profile Task Name: A/P Wire Posting – Remittance Advice
• Just remember: this records the wire in SyteLine®—it doesn’t actually transmit funds to your bank.
  
  

A/P EFT Posting

Similar process, but for Payment Type = EFT:

• At posting, SyteLine® creates the EFT (NACHA) output file.
  • If a Remit To Vendor is defined, the file uses their bank details; otherwise, it pulls from the vendor record.
• Like wires, remittance advice will generate automatically once you’ve got it configured.
  • Vendor Document Profile Task Name: A/P EFT Posting – Remittance Advice

Positive Pay File Generator

Use the Positive Pay Format Sections and Positive Pay Format Fields forms to define the format specified by your financial institution.

The Positive Pay File Generator is what produces the file that is sent to your bank after checks are posted.

SyteLine® can handle every flavor of A/P payment you throw at it—you just have to feed it the right settings. Nail down your Payment Generation process, use Quick Payment smartly, and let the system track deposits and discounts for you. Less chasing, fewer misses, cleaner books.

This entry is posted. See you in the next journal.