Accounts Payable Expense Codes

Accounts Payable expense codes allow for easier, more accurate data entry. They eliminate the need to know whether an expense is billable (reimbursable) or not billable (direct) to a client at the time of AP voucher or AP disbursement entry.

The general ledger expense account prefills during data entry based on the vendor and project that you enter for a voucher or disbursement. Accounts payable expense codes are optional.

Settings

Specify settings in the following locations:

• Settings > Cash Management > Accounts Payable: On the Options tab, complete the two settings to turn on the expense code feature.
• Settings > Cash Management > Expense Codes, in the desktop application: On the Expense Codes tab, set up expense codes and their general ledger expense accounts. If your firm uses multiple companies, enter setup information on both the Expense Codes tab and Expense Codes Accounting tab.
• Hubs > Firms > Firms: On the Vendor tab, enter a default expense code that prefills when you enter an AP voucher or AP disbursement for the vendor.
• Hubs > Projects > Project: In the Bill by Default section of the Accounting tab, designate whether or not consultant type and other type expenses codes are billable by default when applied to a project on an AP voucher or AP disbursement. If necessary, enter an expense code override table.
• Settings > Cash Management > Expense Code Override, in the desktop application: Enter override tables if you need them. These are exception tables in which you assign bill by default settings to specific expense codes, which override the bill by default setting that applies to all the expense codes for a project. You enter an override table for a project on the Accounting tab in the Projects hub in the desktop application.

Processing

When you use accounts payable expense codes, a vendor's default expense code from the Firms hub prefills when you enter an AP voucher or AP disbursement.

• An expense code does not prefill for a voucher or disbursement if a default expense code was not entered for the vendor in the Firms hub.
• When an expense code does not prefill, you can manually enter one for the voucher or disbursement. If you do not require expense codes (setting is in Cash Management of the desktop application), you can leave the expense code field blank and manually enter the general ledger expense account.

If your firm uses multiple companies, the default expense code is retrieved from vendor's accounting record that is associated with the project's company, not the active company.

Because an expense code has a reimbursable, direct, overhead, and promotional expense account associated with it, to determine which one prefills for the voucher or disbursement, Vantagepoint looks at the following settings after you enter a project for the voucher or disbursement.

• A project's Charge Type (Regular, Overhead, or Promotional) on the Accounting tab of the Projects hub.
• A project's Bill by Default settings, also on the Accounting tab of the Projects hub.

When you enter a project for an AP voucher or AP disbursement, the general ledger expense account is determined as follows.

Expense Account for the Expense Code	Used in these circumstances
Overhead account	The project entered for the voucher or disbursement has an overhead charge type.
Promotional account	The project entered for the voucher or disbursement has a promotional charge type.
Reimbursable account	The project entered for the voucher or disbursement has: A regular charge type Expenses that are billed by default
Direct account	The project entered for the voucher or disbursement has: A regular charge type Expenses that are not billed by default