Expense Checks Payment through Payroll Checks

[Mindy]

Hi everyone,

I have been using Peachtree for the last 9 years and using Quantum since 2007. Currently I use 2011 Quantum version. We are an IT and engineering consulting company located in DC metro area.

CURRENT PROCEDURE for EXPENSE CHECKS...... BTW, we use 3rd party software called Replicon Timesheet software. Our timesheets and expense reports are generated through Replicon, then entered in PT manually. Employees are also set up as vendors and their expense reports are entered as invoices. Then manual/electronicl checks are written for paying their expense reports. This procedure was designed by our CPA.

DESIRED PROCEDURE FOR EXPENSE CHECKS....We will like to pay expense checks through payroll checks. The reason for paying expense checks through payroll checks is that some employees forget to cash the expense check and then we have to put stop payment and issue a brand new check. We want to stop this mess. Our payroll is done inhouse and everyone is on direct deposit.

Anyhow, I have set up expense report payment in Employee Fields in Maintain Employee area. I have run a sample payroll check and it is working fine. The expense check is being added in the net amount of the payroll and payroll taxes are not affecting expense check amount.

But the PROBLEM is.....PT is reducing the AP liability of the outstanding expense report amount, but it is NOT clearing the outstanding expense report which was entered as invoice by using employee as vendor.

So what should I do so that PT can clear the outstanding invoice/expense report? Has anyone on this forum done this kind of thing?

Any help will be appreciated.

Mindy

[cowvets]

As I understand it, you are applying payments to an employee and wondering why a vendor cannot receive credit, even though the employee and vendor are the same. I don't think you can do it that way. Personally, I would keep reimbursements and paychecks separate, but then I tend to be a very clean bookkeeper. On our system, if someone needed reimbursement by direct deposit, I would do my payroll batch and then do a separate reimbursement batch of direct deposits. I pay a flat monthly fee for being able to do direct deposits or other ach transactions, so don't pay extra bank fees for double direct deposits.

It sounds like you are dealing with professional people, so, to go back to the basics, why not say "cash your check or use it to start your fire, I don't care, but I am not issuing replacement checks". Or, if they forgot to cash it and want it replaced, they can hand it back to you so it does not get cashed twice without issuing a stop payment, or deduct the stop payment from their reimbursement? I think you can do a lot of hand holding, but in the end, each person should be able to do something to take care of their own business.

Maybe you could start a sticker system. It would have to be posted in some public area, and when you issue a reimbursement check and they cash it within a month, they get a sticker. Have a sheet with each name as the header of a column and have the stickers for the year in each column. Post this over the coffeepot. If they get a reimbursement check, write the date in red marker under their name. If they cash the check, the sticker covers the red marker. If not, they have a red marker date under their name for all to see. Seemed to work well for me when veterinarians were lax in turning in invoices for work they did on farm, creating all kinds of problems in doing billing and getting paid. Our secretary says she has turned into a kindergarten teacher. Stickers are pretty cheap at the dollar store. We get animals usually, but if we are good, we might get tractors or bulldozers. VROOOM, VROOOM!

Chris