How do I record my creditors manually? (Accounts Payable)

This article explains how to create manual adjustments for money that you owe to creditors.

If you create accounts on an accruals basis AND you have auto-accruals enabled, when you create a purchase, an 'Accounts Payable' transaction is created automatically for the money you are due to pay. Your balance sheet total for Accounts Payable will also update to show an increased outstanding total.

This can be found in the Creditors and Debtors report through the Finance Reports screen. The total of any expenditure you are due to pay will show on your Balance Sheet, under Current Liabilities, Accounts Payable (see below).

When you make a payment, the expenditure is reconciled against the sum you are due to pay, and the accounts payable record will be adjusted accordingly. For example, when a £40 expense claim is created, your Accounts Payable record will increase by £40 and then subsequently decrease by £40 when you pay and reconcile this.

You can find out more about viewing your Accounts Payable record in this help guide article.

Manually adjusting for payments you owe

You only need to enter accounts payable transactions at year-end for payments which ExpensePlus does not know about, such as your Independent Examiner fee, or if you have auto-accruals turned off.

This can be done in the Adjustments module of ExpensePlus.

1. Within the Adjustments screen, click on 'Accounts Payable' in the Creditors & Debtors table;

2. Click the 'Add New Accounts Payable' button and then enter the details required:

3. This adjustment will show in the Accounts Payable table and will have adjusted your Balance Sheet total. It can be reversed out in the first month of the next financial year (or when the expenditure is actually paid) using the reversal button to the right-hand side of the adjustment.

Accounts payable for payroll

If you use the Payroll Upload function in ExpensePlus, your payroll expenditure will accrue automatically.

If you do not use the Payroll Upload function, you may need to manually account for your HMRC employer liabilities (PAYE and NIC) for the last month of the financial year, when they actually get paid in the first month of the next year. Follow the steps above to do this.

Manual Creditors & Debtors Adjustment screen

You can view all you manual adjustments in the Manual Creditors & Debtors Adjustments screen. This will only show your manual accruals, not any auto-accruals (if you have auto-accruals turned on). You can access this screen from the sidebar menu, selecting 'Adjustments'.

This screen shows a subset of the transactions shown on the Creditors & Debtors report. To view all your Creditors & Debtors, the Creditors & Debtors report is the place to go. You can find this report within the Finance Reports module:

The Creditors & Debtors report shows all creditors and debtors. The totals within this report will match the balance shown on your Balance Sheet, and your Opening and Closing Balances include auto-accrued transactions as well as manually added accruals.

To help you better understand the Adjustments module as a whole, please visit the module overview page here.