Paying bills

[Jack McKinney]

    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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