Manual Check Processing

The Manual Checks option enables you to generate checks for both purchase order and non-purchase order payments. As part of the process in creating checks, you enter payable information, including account distributions. You can then use the data to issue handwritten checks or generate printed checks.

System Processing

Following is an explanation of the processing that occurs in connection with manual check entry:

Payment Control

Payment processing and payment control are determined by the following settings in the Fund Accounting Profile:

• Overpayment Control Level field settings:
  F - Fatal- Prevents overpaying the purchase order amount.
  W - Warning - Issues a warning if you are overpaying the purchase order amount but allows overpayment.
  N - None - Allows overpayment of the purchase order amount without issuing a warning.

• Overpayment Control Type field settings:
  A - Amount - Allows you to set the upper limit for overpayment based on the dollar amount entered in the profile's Overpayment Amount Limit field.
  P - Percentage - Allows you to set the upper limit for overpayment based on the percentage entered in the profile's Overpayment Percentage Limit field.
  B - Both- Allows you to use both a dollar amount and a percentage to set the upper limit for overpayment. The system applies whichever setting allows for the higher overpayment amount.
  N - None - Does not use the overpayment limit.

• Pay Prior To Receive field settings:
  F - Fatal - Prevents you from entering payment for an item that has not been received. If you have the security resource to override this field setting, you can continue.
  W -Warning - Issues a warning if you try to enter payment for an item that is not fully received but still allows the entry.
  N - No Checking - Allows payment regardless of whether the item is fully received.

Budget Monitoring

The system monitors budgeting when you enter the accounting distribution for a manual check. For each Expenditure Ledger record you enter, the system refers to the Check Budget Balance field in the appropriate Organization Chart record.

Following are the field's settings and how they affect entry of a manual check's accounting distribution:

N - No Checking - Allows distribution of amounts exceeding the Expenditure Ledger record's budget balance. No warning is issued.
W - Warning - Issues a warning if you try to distribute amounts exceeding the Expenditure Ledger record's budget balance. The system still allows you to enter the payment.
F - Fatal - Prevents distribution of amounts exceeding the Expenditure Ledger record's budget balance.

Additional Profile Settings

The following profile fields affect the format of your printed manual checks:

Check Amount Format

Setting determining whether monetary amounts on your vendor checks print as words or numbers. The following options apply:

D - Dollar - Monetary amounts print in numeric format.
V - Verbose - Monetary amounts print as words.

Format of Detail Line

Setting determining the default format for the detail information that prints on vendor checks and vouchers and the Cash Requirements in Check Format report. The following options apply:

D - Detail - Checks, vouchers, and the Cash Requirements in Check Format report show the payment's vendor, distribution accounts, invoice, description, and if applicable, purchase order.
S - Summary - Check stubs, vouchers, and the Cash Requirements in Check Format report include only the vendor and invoice number.

Ledger Transactions

When you finish entering a manual check record, the system generates the following ledger transactions:

• For all Expenditure Ledger records included in the check's accounting distribution, the expenditure amount is increased and, if applicable, the encumbrance amount is reduced.

• The same entries are made for Project Ledger records included in the check's accounting distribution.

• When payments are posted to the Expenditure Ledger, the following General Ledger balance sheet account transactions occur:

  • Debit: Expenditure Control account

  • Credit: Cash account

• When an encumbrance is involved in a payment, these additional balance sheet account transactions occur on the General Ledger:

  • Debit: Reserve for Encumbrance account

  • Credit: Encumbrance Control account

• The manual check record is added to the Transaction Ledger with a Transaction Code of 20 - Manual Check / Void Check. You can search for and view the record using the Transactions page (Fund Accounting > Entry & Processing > Detailed Displays > Transactions).
  For details on how to search for and list Transaction Ledger records, refer to Detailed Displays.

• If an encumbrance is involved, the system updates the Encumbrance Ledger record's Payment Balance by adding the payment amount. If the payment exceeds the record's Remaining Balance, then the excess amount is recorded in the Change Balance field.
  Likewise, if the transaction is a final payment that is less than the encumbrance's Remaining Balance, then the system updates the Encumbrance Ledger record's Change Balance to show the difference between the Payment Balance and the Original Amount as of the final payment. In this case, the Change Balance shows a negative amount.

1099 Information

• If you assigned a 1099 payment type for the vendor when entering the check's accounting distribution, then the system updates the associated Vendor record's 1099 Amount fields in the Vendor List.

• If you used an alternate remittance address for the vendor, the system tracks 1099 amounts based on the Alternate Vendor Address record's Track 1099 Amount by Original Vendor field setting.

Manual AP Checks Holding Table

When you save a manual check record, the system loads the check's data into the Manual AP Checks Holding table. This table stores manual check data references when you use the Print item on the Manual Check Entry page's Action Bar. The Print item enables you to generate physical checks from your manual check records. After you print a check, its record is deleted from the table. For details, refer to the Print Manual Vendor Checks Page.

To store a manual check in this table, you must assign an integer value as the Check Number. The Holding table will not store checks with characters in the check number. If the bank account reference table record designates Vendor Manual Checks as a document type, the Check Number is automatically populated.

Forms Manager and PDF Attachments

The Print Manual Vendor Checks page includes a setting for generating PDF attachments of printed checks via the Forms Manager feature if:

• The variable IMAGE_APCHECKS_DIR is set to designate the server directory where the resulting manual check attachments are stored. This variable, if it exists in your environment, is set when you log into the system.
  If these conditions are met, then the Print Manual Vendor Checks page displays the Create Attachments checkbox in its Print Setup section.
  To generate the PDF attachments, select the when printing your manual check records. Also, be sure you send the print job to a printer rather than saving it to a file.

• The PDF document displays the manual check based on the layout set up in your Forms Manager forms.

• You can access these attachments using the View Attachments toolbar item in the following Detailed Displays options: Transactions and Vendor Transactions.