Enter Your Beginning A/P Balances

This procedure is only necessary if you're using the Accounts Payable part of the Lynx system. If you are, do this after you've finished entering your beginning Accounts Receivable balances for each of your customer accounts.

When you enter your beginning Accounts Payable balances you're telling the system how much you owe to your vendors as of your cut-over date.

Before you start . . .

As you key in your beginning A/P balances, corresponding General Ledger entries will automatically be generated by the system.

The credit entry will be the G/L account number specified in your Invoicing Preferences and will default to account 2000, like this:

If this is not the G/L account you want to use, you can change it using the Set Up Invoicing Preferences procedure.

The debit entry will be the G/L account number you select in the Code box when you key in each payable transaction. It's easiest if you use the same account (such as 6117 Miscellaneous Expense) for all of your entries, like this:

If this is not the G/L account you want to use, you can change it using the Edit the Chart of Accounts procedure.

You're now ready to begin entering your payables into the Lynx system. The first step is to get the A/P balances from your old system. Whether your old system was manual or computerized, you will need to establish a "starting point" for the money you owe to your vendors when you cut over to Lynx. Needless to say, it's important that this starting point is accurate and in balance.

By definition, all Accounts Payable transactions are handled on an "Open Item" basis. Therefore, EACH unpaid vendor bill needs to be separately entered.

From the Lynx Main Menu . . .

1. Left-click on Bookkeeping and a drop down menu will appear.

2. Left-click on Accounts Payable and then left-click on Add a Batch of Bills. This will display a new Enter Bills window. The new batch number will be displayed in blue in the lower right part of the window. Make sure all of the information in this window is correct:

This is the date the batch transactions are entered into the system (in other words, today.) The system will automatically set this field to today's date and you probably will not change it (but you can).

Left-click on the down arrow to select the employee who is entering the transactions into this batch. If the employee does not show up on the drop-down list, use the Add an Employee procedure to add them.

This is the date that will be associated with each of the transactions in this batch. NOTE: This date MUST be a date within the Period selected.

Don't worry about this field when you're keying in beginning balances. Later on it will be used to identify the General Ledger bank account that will be used to pay the bill(s).

It is VERY IMPORTANT that these dates and selections are accurate. Once you start entering A/P transactions into this batch, you will NOT be able to go back and change them. Review the help on How the System Handles Bookkeeping Dates to be sure you understand how these dates work.

3. Left-click on the tab and press the key which will put the cursor in the Invoice # field. Key in the Invoice number you want to use (any number is acceptable, it's just a reference) and then press the key.

4. This will move the cursor to the Date (this will default to "today"). Press the key again to move to the Due Date. Press the key again and the system will now display the Find a Vendor window. If you have the "Find a Vendor" default set to "Vendor ID" you can now key in the Vendor ID and press the key.

You can also double-left-click on the Vendor to be entered or left-click the Vendor and then left-click the OK button. Either of these will do the same thing. The problem is that this means taking your hand off the keypad to use the mouse and is not nearly as fast.

5. After the vendor has been selected, the Due Date will be displayed with a date that corresponds to the Terms for that customer. You can change this if you wish by using the drop-down calendar and then pressing the key.

6. In order to better identify these beginning balances, make sure the Invoice Type is set to "Beginning Balance" by selecting it from the drop-down menu, like this:

If "Beginning Balance" is NOT on the drop-down menu, add it now by using the Add an Invoice Type procedure. By doing this, these beginning balances will be identified on the vendors ledger, like this:

7. Key in a "1" (one) in the box and then press the key. The cursor will now be positioned in the Code field.

8. Key the General Ledger account number you're using for all of your payables entries (like 6117) in the box and then press the key.

9. This will enter the General Ledger account number in the Code field and the appropriate description in the Description field. The cursor will automatically be positioned in the Cost field, like this:

10. Enter the total cost for the vendor bill and then press the key. If you have more bills to enter in this batch, press the key and return to step 4 above. If you're done with this batch, left-click the close button to return to the Lynx Main Menu.

After you've finished entering your beginning A/P balances . . .

1. Post the batch(es) you just keyed to the General Ledger.

2. Print an Vendor Aging report (report ID AP01). See Print Accounts Payable Reports for help on this.

3. Compare these totals to the Accounts Payable totals from your old system. These MUST balance before you cut over to Lynx's Accounts Payable system. If they don't, go back, find the problem, fix it and then repeat this process.

4. As a final check, print a Trial Balance from Lynx. Your total Payables will be a credit balance in the account you selected in Invoicing Preferences for your "Default A/P Account" (usually Account 2000). This total must also balance to the old system. If it doesn't, go back and find the problem and fix it. Then run a new Trial Balance. Keep this up until you're in balance.

5. After everything is balanced, you're ready to enter your beginning General Ledger balances. Go to Enter Your Beginning G/L Balances for help on this.