Payables Check Stub Options in Microsoft Dynamics GP

Originally Posted 9/20/12

(The attached video includes all of the information in the text below for those of you who prefer to “watch it” rather than “read it.”)

On a recent customer visit, we heard about an issue that the payables staffer was having, which was ensuring that credit memos show up correctly on check stubs. Today I’d like to review all of the different options available to display credit memos and other documents on Microsoft Dynamics GP check stubs.

It starts with how you set up your payables. We’ll begin in the payables management setup window: In the bottom left corner, you’ll find an option for listing documents on the remittance form. There are four options available here:

• Invoices Only
• All Documents
• Applied Order
• Totals Only

Invoices Only

If you set up the default for “Invoices Only” in your payables management setup window, only the invoice will show up when you have a credit memo applied to the invoice. The credit memo will not appear on the check stub. Also if you’re paying finance charges or miscellaneous charges, these documents will also not appear on the check stub.

All documents

If you have the default “All Documents” selected in your setup window, everything will appear on your check stub, including everything that decreases or increases what you owe your vendor, so all prepayments, credit memos, etc. will show up on your check stub as well as all invoice finance charges, miscellaneous charges, etc.

Applied order

If this is your default option, you will see all of the invoices that you’re paying on the check stub along with any credit memos or payments had been applied to this invoice to reduce the balance of the invoice. Credit Memos and Returns will then show up in the order in which they were applied.  So if a credit document was applied to multiple documents, it will show up NOT as a single credit document, but in the parts to which it was applied.

Totals only

Finally, the Totals Only option will only give you the grand total on your check stub showing the amount of the invoice. I dislike this option because the description in the invoice column will only show the word “prepayment.” Usually checks are not prepayments but rather are actual invoice payments for amounts due.  Regardless of whether this is actually a prepayment or you’re paying the invoice, the description will read “prepayment.”

In the Select Check window and in the Edit Check window, you have the option to select any of these four options prior to selecting payments (Edit Checks) or building the batch (Select Check.) Keep in mind that anything entered on the setup window becomes the default. So unless you change the option in Select Checks or Edit Checks, the default selected in the setup window will dictate what displays on the check stub.

If you select “All Documents” as your default and let that default come across in your Select Check batch and Edit Check batch windows, you maintain the option to edit the check stub prior to printing. In the Edit Check window, if you pull the check that you’re going to print, there is an “edit check stub” button in the bottom of the window that enables you to deselect items that you do not wish to appear on the check stub.

 So when should you apply your payments?

The answer to this question depends on how you want your check stub to appear. In the example in the attached video, I want to take one credit memo and disperse it among several invoices. In this case, if I want the credit memo to appear on each check stub when I pay those individual invoices, I will need to perform the “apply” function prior to printing the check. If I apply them all at one time, they will appear only on the first or next check printed. So the question as to when to apply is based on when you want it to appear on the check stub. If you’re okay with it appearing on the first check stub only, apply it at all at one time, but if you want it to appear with each invoice to which it is applied, make sure that you apply it at the same time you’re selecting that invoice.

This task is much less complicated than it sounds on paper, so I suggest watching the video for more detail.

Author: Belinda Allen

Belinda Allen (Microsoft MVP) is both a Microsoft Certified Professional for Dynamics GP (MCP) and a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT). She is also the co-founder of Smith & Allen Consulting, Inc. (www.saci.com), a business management software consulting firm for over 24 years. Belinda began implementing ERP systems so long ago that Windows was not an operating system, but an application. Larger businesses used old Main Frames with monitors that were Green and Black and smaller business did accounting by hand. Having seen the evolution that has taken place over the years from pieces of paper to analytics, Belinda still gets excited every time she helps a business improve. Belinda is also well known for her Blog www.BelindaTheGPcsi.com. Her blog is about sharing really useful information about the product quickly and succinctly. She has earned the nickname GP CSI because she excels at reviewing GP problems and figuring what went wrong and why. With followers all over the Globe she is able to share knowledge and achieve her mission: “To Improve the Lives and Business Success of my Followers.” In her time off, Belinda enjoys sailing, woodturning, crochet/knitting, sewing/quilting, reading and playing the ukulele (Belinda often participates in Ukulele Jams in NYC.) View all posts by Belinda Allen