Check Processing - Purchase Authorization - FIN3200

Finance > Maintenance > Postings > Check Processing - PA

This tab is used to post a transaction for a computer check or post a district check for a payment authorization. When posting a transaction or district check by PA, the general ledger expenditure and contra accounts are automatically updated. Additional PA updates are not necessary when paying a PA since there are no encumbrances.

When posting invoices in the Check Processing - PA tab, an account should be entered in the detail section. It is important that you tab out of the field after making an entry, as this allows the summary information to be updated.

Duplicate PA numbers can be used as long as the vendors are not the same. If you enter multiple invoices for one account, it is important to save the data after each entry. When you do not save each entry, the amount originally entered is overwritten with the new amount, and the transaction only posts the new amount when saved. Fifteen transactions can be placed on a single vendor check before the transactions flow over to the next check. The totals are displayed on the last check to that vendor. All previous checks are then voided. If the transaction contains the same object code contained in the Asset Management Cross-Reference Table, the information for extract to Asset Management is retained.

Retrieve an existing check transaction for a PA:

Retrieve an existing record.	In the PA Number field, type an alphanumeric purchase authorization number, hyphens are allowed. If the PA number is numeric, leading zeros are not required. In the Vendor Number, type the vendor number. If the vendor number is numeric, leading zeros are not required. Click Retrieve. If the purchase authorization number is not known, click Directory. To search for a specific purchase authorization number, type data in one or more of the search fields. To search through all available data, leave all fields blank. Click Search. A list of purchase authorization numbers matching the search criteria is displayed. Select a purchase authorization number from the list. Otherwise, click Cancel.
View Account Details	Selected by default to display the detail section. Clear the field to hide the detail section.

Retrieve an existing record.

In the PA Number field, type an alphanumeric purchase authorization number, hyphens are allowed. If the PA number is numeric, leading zeros are not required.

In the Vendor Number, type the vendor number. If the vendor number is numeric, leading zeros are not required.

Click Retrieve.

If the purchase authorization number is not known, click Directory.

To search for a specific purchase authorization number, type data in one or more of the search fields.

To search through all available data, leave all fields blank.

Click Search. A list of purchase authorization numbers matching the search criteria is displayed.

Select a purchase authorization number from the list. Otherwise, click Cancel.

View Account Details

Selected by default to display the detail section. Clear the field to hide the detail section.

Create a check transaction for a new or an existing PA:

❏ In the transaction section, select an existing PA. The system displays the transaction details for the PA in the detail section and the transaction summary for the PA in the summary section.

❏ Click Add PA to add a new PA.

Field	Description
Add PA	If Use Automatic PA Number Assignment is selected on the Tables > District Finance Options > Finance Options tab, the PA Nbr field displays AUTO. Once the record is saved, AUTO is replaced with the next available PA number. If Use Automatic PA Number Assignment is not selected on the Tables > District Finance Options > Finance Options tab, the PA Nbr field is editable and a PA number must be entered. If the PA number is numeric, leading zeros are not required.
Vendor	Begin typing the vendor name or number. As you type the data, a drop-down list of corresponding data is displayed. Select a vendor number or name. Only active vendor numbers are displayed. An inactive vendor number is displayed if the vendor has check transactions that have not been printed or a purchase order that still has a balance. Once all check transactions have been paid and all purchase order balances are zero, an inactive vendor number is no longer displayed in the drop-down list.

Field

Description

Add PA

If Use Automatic PA Number Assignment is selected on the Tables > District Finance Options > Finance Options tab, the PA Nbr field displays AUTO. Once the record is saved, AUTO is replaced with the next available PA number.

If Use Automatic PA Number Assignment is not selected on the Tables > District Finance Options > Finance Options tab, the PA Nbr field is editable and a PA number must be entered. If the PA number is numeric, leading zeros are not required.

Vendor

Begin typing the vendor name or number. As you type the data, a drop-down list of corresponding data is displayed. Select a vendor number or name. Only active vendor numbers are displayed.

An inactive vendor number is displayed if the vendor has check transactions that have not been printed or a purchase order that still has a balance. Once all check transactions have been paid and all purchase order balances are zero, an inactive vendor number is no longer displayed in the drop-down list.

❏ Click +Add to add a transaction.

Note: New rows are automatically populated with data from the first row. For example, if a new row is added (Computer or District), any subsequent rows are populated with the same data as the first row until the record is saved. The Account Code and the Net Expend Amt columns are not copied. After the save, if another row is added, then the newly added row becomes the template for any subsequent rows. For District checks, if the Check Nbr and Check Date are invalid, then only the Check Date is populated.

Proc

Selected if the PA has been paid (a check has been issued) and the transaction has been through end-of-month processing. The field is not selected if the PA is unprocessed.

Acct Per

The accounting period for the transaction is displayed.

Account Code

Type an account code. As you type the account code, a drop-down list of corresponding account numbers is displayed. Select an account number.

If the account code is not known, place the cursor in the account code field and press F2. Or, click . The Account Codes lookup is displayed.

To search for a specific account code component, type data in the applicable account code components, or leave blank for all account codes.

Click Search. A list of available account code components is displayed.

Select an account code component from the list. Otherwise, click Cancel to return to the Purchase Order page.

Click Validate Account Code to verify the account code for the transaction.

Type

Click to select either computer- or district-type check. The following table shows which fields are required depending on the selection in the Type field.

Field to Fill In	Computer	District
Check Nbr	No	Yes
Check Date	No	Yes
Reason	No	No
Invoice Date	No	No
Invoice Nbr	No	No
Contra Account Code	No	Yes
Due Date	No	No
Print	Yes	No
Separate Check	No	No
Trans Date	Yes	Yes

Check Date

This field is only enabled after District is selected as the check type to be issued. Type the date the district check is issued.

Reason

Type a user-defined reason for the transaction. The field can be a maximum of 30 characters.

Net Expend Amt

Type an amount for the check transaction.

Invoice Date

Type the date of the invoice being paid by the transaction. Invoices can be processed regardless of the date/year in which they originated.

Invoice Nbr

Type the invoice number being paid by the transaction. The system verifies that the vendor and invoice number combination does not exist in the current or previous file ID. If the system finds the invoice number in a previous file ID, a warning message is displayed to continue using that invoice number or to enter a new number.

Note: The Invoice Nbr field is automatically filled using data from the previous row when the Net Expend Amt field is entered or modified on the selected row and the Invoice Nbr field on the selected row is empty.

Contra Account Code

When a purchase authorization is created, the field defaults to the payable object/subobject account on the District Finance Options > Clearing Fund Maintenance page with the same fund number and fiscal year as the account number that monies are being expended against. You can modify the contra account for a district check; however, the fund and fiscal year must be the same as the account number.

Due Date

The due date represents the date that the check is to be processed. The field is automatically populated with the current system date if D - Use Due Date for Payables is selected on the District Finance Options page. Otherwise, enter a due date in the MMDDYYYY format.

Note: If D - Use Due Date for Payables is selected, the system uses the date to determine whether it is time to print a check for the selected transaction. If the due date is within the range that the user listed on the Process Check page, or if the range is left blank, the check is printed. Otherwise, the transaction is retained until the due date is within the requested range. If you change the Payables Due Date option to T - Use Transaction Date for Payables, the check is printed during the next check process.

EFT

Select to disburse the payment via an electronic funds transfer. By default, By default, the EFT field is automatically selected if the vendor retrieved has bank information on the Maintenance > Vendor Information > Vendor Miscellaneous tab and an EFT email address on the Maintenance > Vendor Information > Vendor Name/Address tab. If a check is needed, unselect the EFT field.

Notes:

The vendor must have bank information and an EFT email address on file to be eligible for an electronic funds transfer.
This field is not displayed for purchase orders that were created using a credit card code.
If Separate Check is selected, EFT is unselected. Leave Print selected as this allows the transactions to be processed during the check run.

Selected automatically when the transaction is created, and a check is printed, if the criteria for issuing the check (e.g., date or account balance) is met. You can clear the Print field, and the transaction is not processed when the checks are issued.

Note: If the field is not selected and end-of-month processing has occurred, the transaction is considered a deferred check transaction. When the user is ready to print the transaction, he must select Print. If date ranges are used as a criteria for selecting checks for processing, the date of the transaction must be included in that selection criteria in order for it to be processed.

You can verify all deferred checks by printing an Accounts Payable Listing (FIN1700). It is the only report in the system that prints both the due date and the entry dates. Other reports that would be helpful are the Expenditure and Liquidation Journal, the Capital Outlay Expenditure Report, the Check Register and Check Transaction Listing, and the Check Payment Listing.

Separate Check

Select if a vendor has multiple transactions and/or multiple purchase authorization transactions and you need a separate check for one (or more) transactions. When selected, the associated transactions are displayed as separate check items in the list of checks to be processed.

When checks are processed, those transactions with Separate Check selected are issued separately. This functionality creates a single check per vendor per PO/PA number. If selected, a credit memo is not be applied and the check amount will be for the full amount. Check transactions without Separate Check selected are grouped by the vendor number.

Example 1: There are three separate PAs for the same vendor. The first PA has two transactions, one of which has Separate Check selected and the other does not. The second PA has a transaction that does not have Separate Check selected. The third PA has a transaction that also does not have Separate Check selected. When checks are processed, two checks are issued: one for the transaction with Separate Check selected and one for all the other transactions for that vendor.

Example 2: There is one PA with two transactions for the same vendor. One transaction has Separate Check selected, the other does not. When checks are processed, two checks are generated.

Example 3: There is one PA with two transactions for the same vendor. Both transactions have Separate Check selected. When checks are processed, one check is generated.

Trans Date

The current system date is displayed by default. If the transaction has not been through end-of-month processing, the date can be modified.

User ID

The name of the user who created the transaction is displayed. Users are created in the Security Administration application.

In the summary section, a running total of all check transactions entered is displayed:

Account Code	The account code selected when the purchase order transaction was created is displayed.
Description	The general ledger description of the account code is displayed.
Balance Amt	The current available balance for the selected account is displayed.
Net Expend Amt	A running total of all detail transactions for each account code is displayed.

Reverse a computer check transaction for a PA:

PA check transactions can be reversed in the detail section of the tab. The following rules apply when reversing a check transaction for a PA:

Check transactions for PAs created in the current accounting period can only be reversed in the current accounting period.
Check transactions for PAs created in the next accounting period can only be reversed in the next accounting period.
Deferred check transactions for PAs can only be reversed in the current accounting period.
Deferred check transactions are displayed in the next accounting period, but can only be reversed in the current accounting period.
Once a deferred check has been paid, the Reason column cannot be modified.

❏ In the detail section, select a transaction to be reversed.

❏ Click Reverse PA. In the detail section, a row is added with the same account code, description, and contra account code, but with a negative amount in the Net Expend Amt field.

Reason	REVERSAL is displayed.
Trans Date	The current system date is displayed by default, but it can be modified. If it is modified, all new transactions default to the last transaction date that was entered.
User ID	The name of the user who created the transaction is displayed. Users are created in the Security Administration application.

❏ In the summary section, the negative amount from the detail section is added to the Balance Amt field and resets the Net Expend Amt field to zero.

Void a district check transaction for a PA:

PA district check transactions can be voided in the detail section of the tab prior to EOM processing.

❏ In the detail section, select a district check transaction to void.

❏ Click Reverse PA. In the detail section, a row is added with the same account code, description, and contra account code, but with a negative amount in the Net Expend Amt field.

Reason	Type the reason for the reversal.
Trans Date	The current system date is displayed by default, but it can be modified. If it is modified, all new transactions default to the last transaction date that was entered.
User ID	The name of the user who created the transaction is displayed. Users are created in the Security Administration application.

❏ Click Save. A pop-up window opens with the balance amounts prior to and projected for the transaction.

Click Yes to continue.
Click No to cancel.

You must correct any imbalance prior to saving the record.

Other functions and features:

Retrieve	The Retrieve button is also used to retrieve information from the last save. If you click Retrieve, any unsaved changes are lost.
+Add	Click to add a row to the grid or press ALT+1. Note: When using ALT+1 to add a new row to the grid, you must use the 1 key on the keyboard, not the 1 key on the numeric keypad.
Delete PA	Click to delete a purchase authorization.