10. Payables Journal Entries SMARTStream Payables generates journal entries throughout the life cycle of an invoice, from the invoice processing to the payment processing and the payment clearance processing. All of these journal entries are subsequently posted to SMARTStream Ledger. The following sections describe when and how the journal entries are generated in Payables and posted to the General Ledger. These sections include details on : Ledger Activity for Invoice Processing Journal Entries for Discounts Journal Entries for Taxes Journal Entries for Payments Multi-Currency Journal Entries Journal Entries for Payment Cancellation Payables Journal Entries 10-1
10.1 Ledger Activity for Invoice Processing Whenever an invoice is added, changed or cancelled, Payables generates journal entries to be posted to the General Ledger. The following table explains how SMARTStream Payables generates journal entries for the various accounting distributions when adding an invoice. For the following accounting distributions.. Payables generates journal entries for... Accounts Payable liability account the total amount of the liability minus the discount earned. Expense account the amount on each invoice line; plus the amount of freight, miscellaneous charges, and taxes when these are charged to the same expense accounts as indicated on the invoice lines; less the discount amount applicable to the invoice line. Freight expense account the amount and related taxes that were not allocated to an expense account on an invoice line. Miscellaneous charges account the amount and related taxes that were not allocated to an expense account on an invoice line. Tax expense account the non-reclaimable tax amounts that were not allocated to an expense account on an invoice line; plus the tax on freight and miscellaneous charges that were not allocated to an expense account on an invoice line; plus the tax on any discount adjustment. Self-assessed tax liability account the amount of self-assessed on an invoice. Tax reclaimable account the reclaimable portion of the tax payable on an invoice. Payables Journal Entries 10-2
10.1.1 Changing an Accounting Distribution When you change the accounting distribution on an invoice that has already been posted, Payables will generate reversing entries for the original accounting distribution and post the correcting entries for the new accounting distribution(s). Changes to all invoices, including those with inter-entity accounting distributions on the same invoice, are recorded the same way by SMARTStream Payables. The maintenance effective date on the Document Detail view of the Invoice Window, which defaults to today s date unless modified otherwise, becomes the effective date of the correcting entry when these correcting entries are posted to SMARTStream Ledger. 10.1.2 Deleting the Invoice When trying to delete an invoice, Payables first verifies if the corresponding journal entries are posted. If a posting has occurred since the invoice was saved, Payables will not allow you to delete the invoice; you must cancel it instead. 10.1.3 Cancelling the Invoice When cancelling an invoice, Payables generates reversing entries for every journal entry it had generated when posting the original invoice. The cancellation effective date becomes the effective date of the reversing entries in SMARTStream Ledger. Refer to section 8.3 Cancelling an Invoice, of this Manual for instructions on how to establish the cancellation effective date on an invoice. 10.1.4 Cancelling Recurring Payments When cancelling a recurring payment, Payables generates reversing entries for each payment cancelled. 10.2 Journal Entries for Discounts A discount represents the amount subtracted from the payment made to a vendor for the prompt payment of an invoice. A discount can either be recorded as a set amount in the discount field on the Invoice Window or it can be a calculated amount based on the default payment terms for that invoice. In addition to calculating the discount amount for the invoice, Payables can also calculate a discount on freight, miscellaneous charges as well as tax amounts. A discount must be allocated to one invoice line but may also be allocated to many lines. The discount amount is allocated (prorated) to each individual line on the invoice. If you save an invoice as Incomplete, Payables does not calculate or allocate a discount to the lines on the invoice. The discount amount is only calculated when saving the invoice and cannot be changed after the invoice is saved. At the University, we use the Net Discount Method for calculating when and how the discount is recorded in Ledger instead of the Gross Discount Method. Payables Journal Entries 10-3
With the Net Discount Method, SMARTStream Ledger recognizes a discount immediately when an invoice is saved and the discount is allocated to an invoice line. The discount amount is posted to the applicable accounting distributions for the invoice lines. The liability is recorded as the net amount of the invoice, the gross amount minus the discount amount, in the Accounts Payable Liability account. If an invoice is not paid by the discount due date, SMARTStream Ledger posts the discount amount originally recorded for that invoice, to a Discount Lost Suspense Account. This account is closely monitored by a Financial Officer in the Accounting Department at Financial Services. The officer clears the suspense account by charging back to the original expense accounts these lost discounts. The Gross Discount Method only recognizes a discount when the invoice is paid and does not reduce the amount charged to the invoice lines for the discount earned. The discount amount is simply posted to a Discount Earned Account. 10.3 Journal Entries for Taxes This section describes how SMARTStream Payables records the journal entries for taxes on invoices and the effects of these entries on the General Ledger balances for these accounts. 10.3.1 Allocating Tax Expense The total tax expense is divided among all taxable invoice lines and is posted to the same accounting distribution as specified on the invoice line. Only one journal entry is generated per invoice line, it includes the amount of the invoice line plus applicable taxes. 10.3.2 Taxing Freight and Miscellaneous Charges When posting taxes to the same accounting distribution as specified on the invoice line, Payables allocates taxes on freight and miscellaneous charges when freight or miscellaneous charges apply to those invoice lines. The amount of the taxes is included in the total expenditure for the invoice line. 10.3.3 Reclaimable amounts When calculating the reclaimable portion of the GST tax amount for an invoice line, SMARTStream Ledger posts that amount to the GST receivable tax account. 10.3.4 Self-Assessed Tax Liability If the tax rule selected for the invoice is a self-assessed tax rule, SMARTStream Ledger posts the tax amount calculated for that invoice either to the GST Self-Assess or the PST Payable tax liability accounts. Payables Journal Entries 10-4
10.4 Journal Entries for Payments SMARTStream Payables generates journal entries to record all of the transactions it creates when issuing, cancelling or replacing payments. These transactions are posted to the General Ledger according to established policies in SMARTStream Ledger and the options selected in the Payable Entity Policy and the Bank Window. When paying an invoice, SMARTStream Payables generates the following journal entries: # a debit entry to the Accounts Payable liability account # a credit entry to the Unreconciled Cash account # a debit entry to the Discount Lost account, if the invoice is paid after the Discount Due Date All of the journal entries generated during the payment process are posted to the General Ledger when a posting occurs in SMARTStream Ledger. Only then will the General Ledger balances be updated, taking into account the posted journal entries generated by the payment process. 10.5 Multi-currency Journal Entries Payment transactions are generated using the following currencies: # Payment currency. The currency in which the cheque was issued. The payment currency is also the transaction currency of the invoice. # Bank account currency. The currency of the bank account from which the cheque was issued. At the University, the Payment currency always matches the Bank account currency, since we maintain two chequing accounts, one in Canadian Dollars and another in US Dollars. # Booking currency. The currency in which transactions are posted to the General Ledger. When an invoice entered in US currency is paid from a bank account using that same US currency, the SMARTStream Payables payment process converts the amount of the payment, from the transaction currency US dollars (USD), to our booking currency Canadian Dollars (CAD) for posting to SMARTStream Ledger. From a SMARTStream Payables perspective, this is considered a single-currency transaction because the US invoice is paid from a bank account using the same US currency. From a SMARTStream Ledger perspective, this is a multi-currency transaction because the payment process must convert the payment amount from the transaction currency (USD) used to issue the cheque, to our booking currency (CAD) before the transactions can be posted. Payables Journal Entries 10-5
The following example illustrates how journal entries are generated for multi-currency transactions when the Bank Account and Payment Currencies are the same in SMARTStream Payables. Example: US exchange rate of 1.48 SMARTStream Payables SMARTStream Ledger Invoice : $100 US Expense account $ 148 debit Accounts Payable liability account $ 148 credit Cheque : $100 US Accounts Payable liability account $ 148 debit Foreign Exchange Conversion account $ 48 credit US Bank account $ 100 credit 10.6 Journal Entries for Payment Cancellation When a cheque is cancelled, SMARTStream Payables generates reversing entries for all of the journal entries originally posted to SMARTStream Ledger to record the payment transaction. For example, if a cheque in the amount of $155.00 Canadian Dollars is issued and subsequently cancelled, the following entries are posted to the General Ledger: When the invoice is entered Expense Account $ 155 debit Accounts Payable Liability Account $ 155 credit When the cheque is issued Accounts Payable Liability Account $ 155 debit Bank Account $ 155 credit When the cheque is cancelled Accounts Payable Liability Account $ 155 credit Bank Account $ 155 debit Payables Journal Entries 10-6