Setting Up Vendor Records

Sage 300 ERP

Setting Up Vendor Records

Adding vendor records to Accounts Payable involves transferring your existing vendor information to Sage 300 ERP and selecting options that let you process payables more effectively.

You use the Vendors form to enter most of your vendor information to Accounts Payable. This form lets you enter information such as:

The vendor number (the code you use to identify the account), as described under "Assigning Vendor Numbers," later in this section.
Whether the account is on hold. See "Placing a Vendor Account on Hold," later in this section.
An optional "short name," (an abbreviation or acronym that represents the vendor). For more information, see "Entering Short Names," later in this section.
The vendor's name, address, Web site, e-mail address (one for the vendor and one for your contact), and phone numbers.
The date on which you started to do business with the vendor.
Comments you want to store with the vendor record or want to print on correspondence with the vendor, display during transaction entry, or keep for other purposes.
Additional information your company wants to include in the optional fields created in the Options form for your vendor records, if you purchased the separate Optional Fields package from Sage 300 ERP.

Processing options for vendor transactions

You also use the Vendors form to identify the ways in which you process transactions for each vendor, specifying the following information.

The account set, which determines the general ledger accounts to which the vendor's transactions are distributed. Each set includes accounts for payables control, purchase discounts, and prepayments.
If you use multicurrency accounting, the account set also includes unrealized and realized exchange gain and loss accounts.
The default payment terms that Accounts Payable will use to calculate the due date, discount period, and discount amount for vendor invoices.
The bank code and credit limit associated with the vendor.

The vendor bank code is the bank account on which you usually write checks to pay the vendor.

The method for distributing invoice amounts to G/L accounts.

You may distribute amounts by distribution code, distribution sets, or by general ledger account code.

How you check for duplicate vendor invoices.
Whether you pay each invoice with a separate check or cover several invoices with a single payment.
Tax information for vendor invoices, and whether the vendor is subject to 1099 (for US vendors) or CPRS (for Canadian vendors) reporting.

The tax group for the vendor determines the taxing authorities and tax class for each authority to which you would pay tax on an invoice. This information tells Accounts Payable how to calculate tax amounts on the vendor's invoices.

In addition to the information you can enter for each vendor in the Vendors form, Accounts Payable automatically adds the statistics it collects from all transactions posted to each vendor account

If you select the Allow Edit Of (vendor) Statistics option in the Options form, you can enter statistical figures when you are setting up a new Accounts Payable system, and revise them as needed.

You can define as many additional remit-to addresses as you need, using the Remit-To Locations form.

You can import vendor records into Accounts Payable from non-Sage 300 ERP programs, instead of entering them in the Vendors form.

Assigning vendor numbers

You use the Vendors form to add vendor records. For each new record you assign a unique vendor number, up to 12 characters, including letters, numbers, and symbols.

If your current system for assigning vendor numbers makes sense in Sage 300 ERP, you may want to transfer your present system. However, you should probably take the time now to evaluate your current system, because the best time to switch systems is when you already have to recreate all your vendor records.

If you do not have a logical method of assigning vendor numbers, you should develop a system before you add any vendor records to Accounts Payable.

Your numbering system should let you organize the records as you require, such as alphabetically, by region, and for reporting purposes. The system should also allow for expansion as your business grows.

Setting a vendor account Inactive

You can set a vendor record inactive prior to deleting it, to ensure that no further transactions are processed.

You cannot set inactive status, however, if there are any unposted transactions for the vendor.

Placing a vendor account on hold

You can place a vendor account on hold. When an account is on hold, Accounts Payable warns you when you start to enter an invoice for the vendor, and you then choose whether to continue entering the invoice.

You cannot enter payments or prepayments for a vendor who is on hold, or otherwise decrease the balance in the vendor account, using the Create Payment Batch form. However, you can pay vendors on hold using the Payment Entry form.

Entering short names

You can enter a code or "short name" of up to ten characters for each of your vendors. Short names are a means by which you can list vendors in alphabetical order (or any other order) on reports, and still include the full vendor name in the vendor record, because Accounts Payable can sort records by short name first.

To illustrate, assume you have the following four vendors. When listed alphabetically, the names appear in this order:

A. Craig & Son

Bashaw Bulldozing

Mr. Stephen Kershaw

The Garden Restaurant

If you assign a short name that is the first seven letters of the name by which you want to list the accounts, they appear in this order:

Vendor name	Short name
Bashaw Bulldozing	BASHAW
A. Craig & Son	CRAIG
The Garden Restaurant	GARDEN
Mr. Stephen Kershaw	KERSHAW

If you want, you can print short names on vendor statements. You might then want to use them for a purpose that is unrelated to vendor names.

You may have designed your vendor numbers so that they list vendors in alphabetical order or in another order that meets your requirements. In that case, you might choose not to use short names at all.

Selecting processing options

You choose the processing options you want to use with each vendor on the Processing tab of the Vendors form:

The account set.
The default payment terms.
The bank code.
The credit limit.
The method for distributing invoice amounts to general ledger accounts.
The rate type for converting source currencies to their functional-currency equivalents (multicurrency ledgers).
Whether you pay each invoice separately.
How you check for duplicate vendor invoices.

Entering tax information

Whether you are charged taxes on purchases or are tax exempt, you enter all the necessary tax information in the vendor record. Accounts Payable can then automatically calculate all the applicable taxes so you can verify the invoices you receive from vendors.

To specify tax information in the Vendors form, you first select the tax group that includes the taxing authorities and tables that apply in the vendor's geographical area. (You set up tax groups in the Tax Services forms in Common Services.)

You then select the taxing authorities that tax sales to the vendor and the tax class that indicates the type of sales on which the vendor is charged tax by each authority.

If the vendor has a tax-exemption number or a registration number, such as for the Canadian Goods and Services Tax (GST), you also enter it. You can also include the number in the information you print on invoices and statements.

Using vendor statistics

Accounts Payable keeps statistics for vendors, and displays them in the Vendors form. You can view the statistics by the type of year and length of period specified in the Options form for vendor statistics.

For each vendor, the application displays the amount and number of invoices, payments, discounts taken and lost, credit notes, debit notes, adjustments, and paid invoices. The application also calculates and displays the total days to pay and average days to pay for the vendor.

Activity statistics

Accounts Payable also displays the current outstanding balance and keeps track of the year-to-date amounts and the dates of the highest balance and largest invoice in the current and previous years, and the last invoice, payment, credit note, debit note, adjustment, and discount posted to the vendor's account.

Finally, Accounts Payable calculates and displays the total invoices paid, number of checks, average payment, total days to pay, and average days to pay for the account.

Editing statistics

You can edit the statistics in a vendor record if you select the Allow Edit Of Statistics option in the Options form.

Reporting tax amounts in statistics

The totals kept for invoices, credit notes, and debit notes can include or exclude tax amounts posted with the document, depending on your choice for the Include Tax In Statistics option in the Options form.

You can also see, but not change, the outstanding balance, open document count, current prepayment amount, and number of prepayments for the account.

Setting up records for recurring payables

If you regularly pay the vendor for the same order, such as monthly rent, you can create recurring payable records, using the Recurring Payables Setup form. (See Recurring Payables — overview.)

Processing vendor comments

You can enter any number of comments in vendor records, using up to 2,509 characters for each comment.

To view an entire comment on a separate form (rather than having to scroll to see it), double-click in the Comment column.

When you enter a comment, you can also enter a follow-up date when you want to check on the comment, as well as an expiration date when you want to delete the comment. Once the expiration date is reached, Accounts Payable automatically deletes the comment when you use the Clear History form to clear comments for the vendor number.