Using the Payments & Allocations screen

Payments and Allocations, like Payments - Quick Entry‍, can be used to record and allocate ad hoc payments made to suppliers outside of Bulk Payments. Note that unlike Bulk Payments, it does not have the protection of Payment Approval. 

Payments and Allocations let you:

• Pay a Foreign Currency Supplier from your Base Currency Bank Account or from another Foreign Currency Bank Account. This is not possible using Quick Entry.
• Enter a standalone payment.
• Enter a payment and allocate it against one or more outstanding transactions on the Supplier Account. 
• Use the allocation facilities on their own. For example, if you’ve previously used the Payments Quick Entry, or want to allocate Credits or Discounts.

Permissions

Only users with the Payments & Allocations permission against their profile can use this screen.

Bank Accounts for Foreign Currency Transactions

The system facilitates the payment of Foreign Currency amounts into both:

• Foreign Currency Bank Account: You must have a Foreign Currency Bank Account (for each Currency) with your Bank(s) and equivalent Bank Accounts in the system.
• Base Currency Bank Account.

See Creating Bank Accounts for more details.

What should I do if I don't maintain FX Bank Accounts?

Pay a Foreign Currency Amount from your Base Currency Bank Account. There will almost certainly be Bank Charges. 

• The Amount Withdrawn is the amount in Base Currency you were charged for the Foreign Currency payment excluding Bank Charges. 
• The Amount Withdrawn plus Bank Charges is used to calculate the Rate of Exchange. This is the Bank Rate of Exchange and will differ from that in the Currency Table. This results in General Ledger Posting for FX Gains or Losses when you allocate the Payment to the Invoices.

Allocation and Period Management

Whether a transaction is available for allocation is impacted by its currency type and period:

• Non-Foreign Currency Payments: Supplier Payments can be allocated to invoices from closed, as well as open periods. If they are allocated, unallocate them via the Transaction Browser. This will not require or cause the period to be opened. In addition, all period-end integrity is maintained with no journal values, trial balance, or period totals being altered. The audit trails captures all allocation, re-allocation, and unallocation actions.
• Foreign Currency Payments: Unallocation in closed periods is not permitted. The period must be open or re-opened to perform this action. Foreign Currency allocations automatically create Realised Gains and Losses Journals. See Using Foreign Exchange Revaluation Journals for more details.

See:

Supplier Payments and Allocations (4.7) - AIQ Academy
 

Using Supplier Payments - Quick Entry‍ 

Creating Bulk Payments 

Entering Header Details

1. Go to Purchases > Actions > Purchase Payments > Payment & Allocate.
   
2. Complete the following header details:
   • Supplier: Select the supplier from the dropdown. The supplier currency will appear next to the Supplier field and any unallocated transactions will display automatically.
   • Bank: The default bank comes from the Supplier Master Record but you can select another. This can also be in supplier currency, in base currency, or less commonly in a third currency (see ‘Currency Triangulation’ section). The bank currency will display next to this field.
   • Payment Date: This is the transaction date. It defaults to today's date but you can select another. For ease of Bank Reconciliation use the same transaction date as the Bank Transfer type payments. Note the following:
     • When allocating transactions without creating a purchase payment (see ‘Creating Allocations’), this date will impact the retrospective ageing reports. 
     • When allocating foreign currency payments to foreign currency invoices, the date of the payment will be used for the realised gains or losses journal.
   • Bank Ref/Cheque: This is used during bank reconciliation to match transactions with imported bank statements. Enter a reference that is meaningful in relation to this payment. Note that if you are allocating existing transactions (see ‘Creating Allocations’), leave this field blank.
   • Payment Amount: Enter the total amount to pay in supplier currency. 
     • For foreign currency suppliers, the base currency amount and exchange rate will also appear. If the exchange rates of the Invoice and allocated payment differ, the Realised Gain/ Loss will be calculated and posted as a separate journal (PX type transaction).
     • The exchange rate can be edited if both the supplier and bank are in the same foreign currency. Otherwise, use Codes Maintenance for any needed updates to rates.
   • Bank Charges: Enter any Bank Charges related to the payment, such as for a foreign currency purchase payment. Bank Charges are deducted by the bank from the Payment Amount. They are posted to the System Bank Charges Account and will not be reflected in the Supplier Account. 
   • Amount Withdrawn: This is the amount withdrawn that will appear on your Bank Statement after any Bank Charges are added to the payment amount.
     • If the Supplier and Bank currencies are the same, this field will be locked. 
     • If the Supplier and Bank are in different currencies, enter an amount. When processed, this amount will be posted to the Bank GL Control Account. The Exchange Rate will be calculated from this amount, taking into account any Bank charges levied.
   • Dimension Tag: This is optional. It will be filled automatically if a Dimension Tag is associated with that supplier. Otherwise, select or create a tag using the dropdown. See Using Dimensions for further details.
   • Description: Add an optional Description for the transaction, including any additional information in relation to this supplier.

In the footer, note the following:

• Balance after payment: This updates in response to the payment amount.
• Unallocated: This shows the total amount of purchase payments that have not been allocated against outstanding transactions for this supplier.

The Purchase Payment can now be processed with or without allocations. For more details, see the relevant section in this article.

Process payments on account

Purchase Payments can be entered on account. This means a payment was sent to a supplier, but will be allocated to a specific invoice later.

1. Follow the instruction in ‘Creating Purchase Payments’ above.
2. Under Process, select one of the following:
   • Process: This will produce a payment.
   • Process and Print Remittance: This will produce a PDF payment that can be printed.
   • Process and Email Remittance: This will produce a payment to email to your supplier.

Show Me - Create a payment on account

Access the onscreen walkthrough for assistance with creating a payment on account.

1. Go to Show Me.
   
2. Select Create a payment on account and enter your figures.
3. Click Show Me for a walkthrough.

For this option, either:

• Allocate existing payments and invoices: In this case there is no need to enter a Payment Amount, simply allocate the transactions in the grid. If they balance to zero, a Bank/Cheque Ref is not necessary as no new transactions will be created.
• Create payment and allocate: Here, you can enter a Payment Amount and as you allocate invoices to it, the Unallocated field will reduce to zero. Alternatively, allocate the desired invoices and the Payment Amount will be automatically updated.

Allocations can be partial or full and based on manual selection (option 1) or using the allocation tools (option 2). 

To unallocate any allocated transactions, click Clear All Allocations. Note this will not unallocate transactions that are already completed and therefore have disappeared from the grid.

Option One: Manually Allocate Payments (partially or fully)

1. Follow the instruction in ‘Creating Purchase Payments’ section, noting the following:
   • Payment Amount: Only enter a Payment Amount if you are creating a new payment. 
   • Bank/Cheque Ref: There is no need to enter a Bank/Cheque Ref if you are allocating existing transactions and they balance to zero. However, if the allocations create a balance or there is an amount in the Discount Amount field, you must enter a reference as a new transaction will be created (PP or DP).
2. In the Allocate column, against the relevant Invoices, either:
   • Enter the amounts paid, whether full or partial.
   • Double-click in the cell to allocate the full amount.  
3. The Outstanding column and Payment Amount field will update as you allocate. Ensure that these figures are correct before proceeding.
4. Under Process, select one of the following:
   • Process: This will produce a payment.
   • Process and Print Remittance: This will produce a PDF payment that can be printed.
   • Process and Email Remittance: This will produce a payment to email to your supplier.

Option Two: Allocate Payments using the allocation tools

1. Follow the instruction in ‘Creating Purchase Payments’ section. 
   • Payment Amount: Only enter a Payment Amount if you are creating a new payment. 
   • Bank/Cheque Ref: There is no need to enter a Bank/Cheque Ref if you are allocating existing transactions and they balance to zero. However, if the allocations create a balance or there is an amount in the Discount Amount field, you must enter a reference as a new transaction will be created (PP or DP).
2. Go to Allocate and select either All Transactions, Due Transactions, or Filtered Transactions. Note, if there aren’t sufficient Purchase Payments and Debit Notes to cover the allocation, a Payment for the Balance owed to the Account will be created. Be careful not to accidentally create an unintended payment. 
   • Allocate All Transactions: This lets you allocate all pre-recorded Purchase Payments/ Supplier Credit Notes against any Purchase Invoices/Supplier Debit Journals that are already posted to the Supplier account. This option could be used when the Purchase Payments were recorded through the Supplier Payments - Quick Entry screen or when recording a payment against multiple invoices and allocating them at once. Fully allocated transactions will disappear from the grid.
   • Allocate Due Transactions: This allocates any payments against invoices that are marked as 'Due'. 
   • Filtered Transactions: Filter the grid using compound filter conditions and then allocate only that selection. See the ‘Create Filter’ section for full instructions. For example, you could filter by the date range that you typically have corresponding payments and invoices. 
3. Click Process. 

Show Me - Allocate Transactions

Access the onscreen walkthrough for assistance with allocating transactions.

1. Go to Show Me.
   
2. Click  Allocate Transactions. 
3. Select from the list of available Invoices (and other equally signed transactions) and Purchase Payments to get a walkthrough.
4. Click OK.

The pay function automatically creates allocations and payments in one go. 

Go to Pay and select one of the following:

• All Transactions: Use this to record a Purchase Payment and allocate all transactions at the same time. The system will allocate all transactions and populate the Payment Amount field. After this you can process the Purchase Payment and it will be posted to the supplier account. 
• Due Transactions: Use this to record a Purchase Payment for all Due transactions and allocate them at the same time. The system will allocate all transactions that are marked as Due and will populate the Payment Amount field. After this you can process the Purchase Payment and it will be posted to the supplier account. 
• Filtered Transactions: First create a filter (See the ‘Create Filter’ section for full instructions), then click Filtered Transactions to create payments and allocations based on that selection only, and process to post only those transactions.

1. Click Create Filter.
   
2. In the Filter Builder, click And to select the first operator.
   
3. Click on each blue field to select the relevant criteria. Click the Plus icon to add another filter and click the X icon to remove a filter.
4. Repeat to create as many filter levels as required.
5. Click OK.
   
6. Either, go to Allocate > Filtered Transactions and the filtered transactions will be fully allocated or enter the allocations required in the Allocate column.

Currency Triangulation - Supplier Bank Accounts in third currency

In less common circumstances, it is possible to pay a Foreign Currency Supplier from a Bank Account whose Currency is neither that of the Supplier nor the Base Currency.  

In this example, the GB entity is forwarding a USD supplier a payment from a EUR bank.

The Exchange Rate for the USD amount sent to the supplier is used to calculate the following:

• Payment Amount in Supplier Currency (USD) for GL Posting purposes.
• Equivalent Amount Withdrawn to the EUR Bank Account plus any Bank Charges levied.

Show Me - Currency Triangulation

Access the onscreen walkthrough for assistance with currency triangulation.

1. Go to Show Me.
2. In Currency Triangulation, enter the figures.
3. Click Show Me for a walkthrough on dealing with foreign currency transactions where both the supplier and bank have different currencies to the system base currency.

See:

Creating Bank Accounts 

Managing Multiple Currencies‍ 

Grid Options 

This allows you to add and remove Columns from the grid display. 

• Customise Grid: This is the option to use if you want to customise the grid in the main part of the supplier screen. You can drag and drop options available if you want to add or remove columns in the grid. Any changes made should be saved through the Save Grid Customisations option.
• Reset Grid Customisation: This option should be used if you want to reset the grid to its original view.