Invoice Processing: Paying Invoices

This article and accompanying tutorial video will demonstrate how to pay invoices in Vantaca using the Accounting -> Pay Invoices screen. 

Before we begin paying invoices, it's important to understand how our payments will be processed.

Understanding AP Payment Types

• Check - is a payment to be processed through the printing of a physical check
• Auto Draft - records the payment, but it does not actually remit funds
• ACH - will push funds to the vendor based on the ACH information on the Service Provider Payment Method screen
  • (Note: We know mistakes happen, if you pay an invoice by ACH and catch your mistake within the hour you can void the invoice on the bank register and the funds will NOT move. After the hour grace period the transaction is queued to send in the daily ACH file and cannot be modified. The daily ACH file sends on banking days and is typically scheduled to send early afternoon.)
• In-Office Check - will produce a physical check as payment, but it will be denoted as In-Office in the Mailroom > Check Queue, so that it can easily be recognized and printed separately.   

Paying an Invoice

Once invoices have been approved, they will advance to Vantaca’s Ready for Payment step for final pay approval. This allows users to verify bank accounts have sufficient funds before issuing payment for invoices.

Invoices in the Ready for Payment step are paid through the Pay Invoices page, located under Accounting -> Pay Invoices.  The Pay Invoices page has three tabs, :  Pay Now, Warning, and Future. The number associated with each tab indicates the number of invoices on that tab.

The Pay Now tab

The Pay Now tab will contain any invoices that have adequate funds to be paid and are due within the date range designated by the Future Pay duration setting, (found on the Association -> Settings page.)  From the Pay Now screen, you can view the invoice attachment by clicking the paperclip icon, and see all information about the invoice to be paid. By clicking on the dropdown arrow for that invoice, you can use the Pay Detail tab to see the Bank Balance, the Book Balance and the amount to be paid for this invoice.

You can even add columns to include more information such as DBA Name, Check Name, and Bank Account to better help you find your invoices. 

This page makes it easy to confirm that you have the necessary funds before paying that invoice! The GL Detail tab will display the GL information for the invoice you have selected and the Messages tab will display the entire history of the invoice, from receipt through manager approval and signature approval, if relevant. This makes it easy to see exactly who approved your invoice and when. Once you have verified your invoice information and are ready to pay your invoices, select the invoices that you are ready to pay and click “Pay Selected Invoices.”

The Warning tab

The Warning tab contains a combination of invoices that, if paid together, would cause the bank account to fall below a balance threshold for that association. If the total amount of all of your invoices in the Ready for Payment step exceed the minimum amount defined on the bank account, then all of those invoices will fall under the Warning tab so that you can determine which invoices need to be paid first. (To see you bank account minimum balance thresholds, go to the Association -> Bank Accounts page, click edit and see the Minimum Alert amount.)

Invoices can still be paid from the Warning tab, but having the invoices presented in the Warning tab instead of the Pay Now tab quickly alerts you to prioritize certain invoices over others, perhaps that important insurance payment over a general landscaping invoice.  Not enough funds to get those necessary invoices paid? A transfer can be made to the bank account to allow sufficient funds for paying, so seeing invoices in the warning tab can be a great reminder to process those reserve transfers.

The Future tab

The Future tab contains invoices that have a due date which is past the threshold designated on the Association -> Settings page under the Future Pay Duration setting or which have an invoice date in the future. Invoices can still be paid from the Future tab but once the due date is within the future pay duration threshold and their invoice date is the current day or before, they will automatically move to the Pay Now tab or Warning tab, depending on available funds and minimum balance thresholds.