Question:
Running the Accounts Payable Control Report at Year End
Answer:
Control Report
As the AP Control Report name implies, it provides you
with a tool to control your payable. It is also used to
insure that your data files are in balance. The AP control
Report prints the total for each AP code by aging periods,
and prints a grand total for all AP codes. One of the most
useful aspects of this report is to catch discrepancies
among the total due in the master file, the open invoice
file, and the line detail file. The report computes the line
details of each invoice. and compares it to the total due
for that invoice in the open invoice file. It also computes
the total due for each invoice in the open invoice file
(Open Item Total), and compares it to the total due in the
vendor master file (Master Total). If there is a discrepancy
among the files, a value other than zero will appear in the
Net Difference column on the right side of the report.
On the Control report you will see the following items by
vendors:
Open Item Total: This is the total amount of all
outstanding invoices for the vendor.
Master Total:This is the amount due, which is
found in the Master Vendor Record, and should equal the Open
Item Total
Net Difference:This value should always be zero.
If it isn't you may have a corrupt data file and should re
index your files.
In addition to the invoice totals due for each vendor,
the report will display the individual Debit and Credit
Aging Totals listed by each of the aging periods established
by the AP code
Recommendation: Run this report every 30 days as
individual AP Codes for better control. In the example below
the Open and the Master Balances and the report gives you
the totals.
What happens if the Open and Master does not balance as
shown in the following examples: Here we see that our Due
amount is zero.
What happens if the Open and Master does not balance as
shown in the following examples: But, looking at the detail
we see that we do owe $ after a credit has been added.
Running the Control report will tell you of this Net
Difference. To correct it we should do a recalculation of
our software. Always do a back up before running this
maintenance
Recalculating Vendor Balances
Warning
Always back up your data files and print the Accounts
Payable Control Report before recalculating the master file.
Recalculate Master File
Use the Recalculate Master File option whenever master
file corruption errors or problems are encounter. The
Control Report will often show errors when this occurs and
you can recalculate the master file to correct some of the
errors. This option replaces the total due amount for each
Vendor with the calculated total due from associated open
items
Note If the Control Report reported that the Open
file was wrong, an adjustment entry might be required after
recalculating.
Recalculating corrects inconsistencies between the Master
and Open file due to corrupt or missing data. Data
corruption can occur due to power outage, system failure,
etc.
The recalculaion will correct the discrepancies. And when
you run the AP Control report again you will find they have
been corrected.
Another check and balance you can do with the control is
to compare the totals of each AP code with your GL if they
are integrated.
Going to the P1 Accounts Payable code we can see if it
balances on the GL.
