How to configure accounts payable module

Flowchart: Configuring the Accounts payable module

Dynamics AX 4.0

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In the Accounts payable module, you can track all purchases and outgoing expenditures to vendors.

You can set up vendor groups, vendors, posting profiles, various payment options, parameters concerning vendors and purchase orders, prices and discounts, charges, supplementary items, deliveries and destinations, promissory notes, and so on.

Depending on your setup, you can then perform many tasks that are related to vendors and purchases. For example, you can create and manage purchase orders and planned purchase orders, use various kinds of journals, and settle vendor invoices.

Prerequisites

Set up the following modules:

• Administration
• Basic
• General ledger
  • If you want to set up payment journals, you must first set up the journal under finance (General ledger > Setup >Journals > Journal names).
  • If you want to run exchange rate adjustment, you must set up the currency codes (General ledger > Setup >Exchange rates).
• Bank accounts created in the Bank module - used in methods of payment

Flowchart

See Accounts payable module flowchart for print version.

The main setup forms of the Accounts payable module

The forms that a company must set up to be able to use the basic functionality of the Accounts payable module are listed in the recommended order of setup.

1. Define the terms of payment that you assign to sales orders, purchase orders, customers, and vendors, and that determine invoice due dates in the Terms of payment form.
   For complete guidelines, see Terms of payment (Form).
2. Create and maintain information about how the company pays its vendors in the Methods of payment form.
   For complete guidelines, see Vendor methods of payment (Form).
3. Create and maintain groups of vendors that share key parameters for posting, settlement and payment, reporting, and forecasting in the Vendor groups form.
   For complete guidelines, see Vendor groups (Form).
4. Set up the way vendor transactions are posted to the general ledger in the Posting profiles form.
   For complete guidelines, see Vendor posting profiles (form).
5. Set up default settings that are applied if a more specific setting is not specified, parameters for various kinds of functionality, and various number sequences for Accounts payable in the Parameters form.

   Tip

   Enable or disable functionality by selecting or clearing check boxes; select from system options in drop-down lists (characterized by a downward-pointing arrowhead); and select from options that are particular to your company in lookup fields (characterized by a small, curved, downward-pointing arrow). If the lookup fields have no options, you need to set up the options for your company: With your cursor in the field, right-click, select Go to the Main Table Form, and create the values that are agreed on for your company in the form that you have opened.

   For complete guidelines, see Accounts payable parameters (Form).
6. Define the format of various documents that are related to vendors and that are used within the company to keep track of receipts from vendors and to give reason for the flow of payments to vendors in the Form setup form.
   Not all the details on this form have to be decided right away. You can return to this form at any time to add functionality or to change the setup of vendor documents.
   For complete guidelines, see Purchase form setup (Form).
7. Create and maintain vendors, including the tax authorities to whom your company reports sales taxes in the Vendorsform.
   To make the setup process simpler, create company or user templates from the first records that are created. A template typically includes entries in a large number of fields that reflect the features that the company wants to implement for a particular type of vendor.
   For complete guidelines, see Vendors (Form). For more information, see Using record templates.

The optional setup forms of the Accounts payable module

The setup of the Accounts payable module includes a number of other steps beyond the basic functionality.

The additional setup forms are organized by functionality.

Price/Discount

• Create and maintain price, line-discount, multiline discount, and total discount groups for vendors in the Vendor price/discount groups form.
  For complete guidelines, see Price/discount groups (PriceDiscGroup) Form.
• Create and maintain price, line-discount, multiline discount, and total discount groups for items in the Item discount groups form.
  For complete guidelines, see Price/discount groups (PriceDiscGroup) Form.
• Create and edit the names of trade agreement journals in the Trade agreement journal names form.
  For complete guidelines, see Trade agreement journal names (Form).
• Activate trade agreements by selecting the relevant combination of discount, vendor, and item in the Activate price/discount form.
  For complete guidelines, see Activate purchase price/discount (Form).

Misc. charges

• Set up codes for the miscellaneous charges that you want to use in purchase orders in the Misc. charges codes form.
  For complete guidelines, see Misc. charges code (Form).
• Create and maintain miscellaneous charges groups for vendors in the Vendor misc. charges group form.
  For complete guidelines, see Misc. charges groups (Form).
• Create and maintain miscellaneous charges groups for items in the Item misc. charges groups form.
  For complete guidelines, see Misc. charges groups (Form).
• Define the miscellaneous charges you want to automatically assign to orders in the Auto-misc. charges form.
  For complete guidelines, see Auto-misc. charges (Form).

Supplementary items

• Create and maintain supplementary item groups for vendors in the Supplementary item - Vendor groups form.
  For complete guidelines, see Supplementary item groups (Form).
• Create and maintain supplementary item groups for items in the Supplementary item - Item groups form.
  For complete guidelines, see Supplementary item groups (Form).

External item description

• Create and maintain groups of vendors that have common item descriptions in the Item - Vendor groups form.
  For complete guidelines, see External item description group (Form).

Distribution

• Create and maintain the conditions for an item's transfer from seller to buyer in the Terms of delivery form.
  For complete guidelines, see Terms of delivery (Form).
• Create and maintain the means of transport used when delivering an order from the seller to the buyer in the Modes of delivery form.
  For complete guidelines, see Modes of delivery (Form).
• Create and maintain ID codes and descriptions for delivery destinations in the Destination codes form.
  For complete guidelines, see Destination codes (Form).

Forms

• Create the standard text that appears on different forms in the Form notes form.
  For complete guidelines, see Form notes (FormLetterRemarks) Form.
• Set up the sorting orders for requisitions, receipts lists, packing slips, and invoices in the Form sorting form.
  For complete guidelines, see Purchase form sorting parameters (Form).

Purchase order (purchase pools and return action)

• Create and maintain purchase order pools (groups) in the Purchase pools form.
  For complete guidelines, see Purchase pools (Form).
• Create and maintain identifications and descriptions of actions to be taken when purchased items are returned in theReturn action form.
  For complete guidelines, see Return action (Form).

Payments

• Set up and manage the terms for obtaining cash discounts in the Cash discounts form.
  The cash discount codes are linked to vendors and are applied to purchase orders.
  For complete guidelines, see Cash discounts (CashDisc) Form.
• Set up payment schedules to manage installment payments to vendors in the Payment schedules form.
  For complete guidelines, see Payment schedules (PaymSched) Form.
• Define the payment days that are used for the calculation of due dates, and specify payment days for a specific day of the week or month in the Payment days form.
  For complete guidelines, see Payment days (PaymDay) Form.
• Create and maintain payment fees that are associated with vendors in the Payment fee form.
  For complete guidelines, see Payment fee (VendPaymFee) Form.
• Create and maintain payment instructions in the Payment instruction form.
  For complete guidelines, see Payment instruction (PaymInstruction) Form.

Statistics

• Set up user-defined intervals to analyze the maturity distribution of vendor accounts in the Aging buckets form.
  For complete guidelines, see Aging buckets (CustVendReportInterval) Form.
• Create line of business codes that you assign to vendors in the Line of business form.
  For complete guidelines, see Line of business (LineOfBusiness) Form.

Tax 1099

Verify and update, according to the latest IRS requirements, the minimum amounts that must be reported to the IRS in the 1099 fields form.

For complete guidelines, see 1099 fields (Form).

Optional setup in other modules

Inventory management

Set up warehouses in the   form (Inventory management > Setup > Inventory breakdown > Warehouses).

For complete guidelines, see Warehouses (Form).

Basic

• Set up the receipt calendar in the Calendar form (Basic > Calendar).
  For complete guidelines, see Calendar (Form).
• Set up invoice number sequence groups in the Number sequences form (Basic > Setup > Number sequences > Number sequences).
  For complete guidelines, see Number sequences (Form).
• Set up address setup forms (Basic > Setup > Addresses >):
  • ZIP/postal Codes
    For complete guidelines, see Postal (codes (AddressZipCodes) Form)
  • Country/region
    For complete guidelines, see Country/region (form)
  • Address format
    For complete guidelines, see Address format (Form)
  • Address abbreviation
    For complete guidelines, see Address abbreviation (Form)
  • Contact Details
    For complete guidelines, see Contact persons (Form)
  • Job title
    For complete guidelines, see Titles (Form)
  • NAF codes
    For complete guidelines, see (CompanyNAFCode) Form
  • ZIP/postal Codes import log
    For complete guidelines, see (AddressZipCodeImportLog_NL) Form

General ledger

• Set up financial dimensions in the Dimensions form (General ledger > Dimensions).
  For complete guidelines, see Dimensions (Form).
• Tax setup forms (General ledger > Setup > Sales tax >):
  • Sales tax codes
    For complete guidelines, see Sales tax codes (Form)
  • Sales tax groups
    For complete guidelines, see Sales tax groups (Form)
  • Item sales tax groups
    For complete guidelines, see Item sales tax groups (Form)
  • Ledger posting groups
    For complete guidelines, see Account group - Ledger posting group (Form)
  • Sales tax exempt codes
    For complete guidelines, see Sales tax exempt code (Form)
  • Sales tax jurisdictions
    For complete guidelines, see Sales tax jurisdictions Form
  • Sales tax authorities
    For complete guidelines, see Sales tax authority (Form)
  • Sales tax settlement periods
    For complete guidelines, see Sales tax settlement periods (Form)
  • Electronic tax declaration setup
    For complete guidelines, see Electronic tax declaration setup (Form)
  • Electronic tax certificates
    For complete guidelines, see Electronic tax certificates (Form).

Bank

Set up the Central Bank purpose code in the Payment purpose codes form (Bank > Setup > Payment purpose codes).

For complete guidelines, see Payment purpose codes (Form).