Paying bills

[Derek Atkins]

Note that this is a way to do AP without using the existing
AR/AP systems.  Also note that the business AR/AP reports
wont work if you do it this way.

-derek

"Jack McKinney" <jackmc-gnucash at lorentz.com> writes:

>     What I do is this:
> 
> 
> 1. A bill come in from Acme Lighting and Power for $167.45 due on 2003/09/04
> 
> 2003/09/04      August Bill
>                       Liabilities.Accounts Payable.Acme L&P     ($167.45)
>                       Expenses.Houses.Utilities                  $167.45
> 
> 2. On 9/1, I get paid and send check #1433 to them.
> 
> 2003/09/01      Acme Lighting and Power
>            1433       Assets.Cash In Checking                   ($167.45)
>                       Liabilities.Accounts Payable.Acme L&P     $167.45
> 
>     This zeroes the account.  By looking at the Total for Liabilities.AP,
> I can see how much I owe in the near future.
>     This method is even more useful for things such as amazon.  Suppose
> I buy books at Amazon for $15, $20, and $30 in one order (shipping will
> be $3), and they send me a confirmation of order #001-012345-123456789.
> I enter this as:
> 
> 2003/08/08      #001-012345-123456789
>                       Liabilities.Accounts Payable.Amazon       ($68.00)
>       Book #1         Expenses.Books                             $15.00
>       Book #2         Expenses.Books                             $20.00
>       Book #3         Expenses.Books                             $30.00
>       Book #4         Expenses.S&H                                $3.00
> 
> 
>     OK, so I am anal: I actually have a Books expense account (I spend so
> damn much on them), and I actually list the name of the book.
>     However, here is the reason I do this:  My "monthly" (i.e., AP) debt
> shows up as an additional $68.  I do not let my Checking account dip below
> my AP, so I know that I will have the money when Amazon charges me.  It
> could be hours or weeks before the charge occurs, and when it does, they
> may have split my order (they always have).  So, Book #2 is split off
> three days later, and I get an email, so I enter:
> 
> 2003/08/08      amazon.com
>            MC         Assets.Cash In Checking                   ($21.00)
>                       Liabilities.Accounts Payable.Amazon        $21.00
> 
> 
>      The "MC" is because I used my mastercard.   Once amazon has shipped
> all of my stuff, my L.AP.Amazon account BETTER be zero, or they are going
> to get an email from me!
> 
> Big Brother tells me that Aldous Everard wrote:
> > Can anyone help, I have a simple problem, but I'm really stumped by it:
> > 
> > How do I pay off a Liability in Accounts payable? is there a column I
> > can tick for paid, or do I need to enter another two lines on the
> > transaction to maked a transfer from current account to the
> > liabilities:Accounts payable account?
> > 
> > thanks
> > Aldous
> > 
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-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
       warlord at MIT.EDU                        PGP key available