This option is used to enter cash disbursements from cash journal accounts in the form of checks or miscellaneous withdrawals. In general, any item that represents a cash withdrawal from a bank account is a cash disbursement. You may enter cash disbursements at any time, but you should enter them daily for the following reasons:
When you write a customer check, , such as a return or premium advance, TAM debits the customer's account, thus keeping customer balances up to date.
Each cash disbursement you enter updates the general ledger cash account balance, keeping the general ledger balance current at all times.
You can enter a disbursement either as a check, which can be processed via the Print Checks action, or as a miscellaneous disbursement, which does not require a check to be printed (e.g. an electronic fund transfer).
TAM saves employee and vendor disbursements as defaults. When you make a disbursement to a vendor or employee, TAM presents the last disbursement entered for the client as a default, including the offsetting debits and credits. This feature eliminates redundant entry of checks to vendors and employees that are repeated often.
Several special disbursement types are provided through this program. First, a direct bill advance is made when a client pays the agency on a direct bill policy and the agency advances the premium to the company. It is also used to front money to a company for a customer who intends to pay you later.
Second, a company statement payment is made to pay an account current statement you have reconciled through the reconcile Agency Bill option. When you have reconciled a statement by marking the appropriate agency-billed transactions as paid to the company, you must enter the payment to the company to complete the reconciliation.
Third, an item payment is used when a company requires the agency to pay an agency-billed transaction a specific number of days from the policy's effective or invoice date. It is also used when the agency must send a check to a company up front on an agency-billed transaction, for example, when the company requires payment on a new agency bill policy before actually accepting the policy application. In such situations, invoice the NEW transaction at the customer's policy screen and enter the disbursement for net premium to the company through this option. TAM marks that transaction as paid to the company and it is no longer presented on agency bill reconciliations for that company. Such disbursements do not affect the payment status of the invoice from the customer; they only affect the agency's payment of that company's account current statement.
Fourth, one-time vendor checks are written to persons or companies not associated with the agency and to whom you will probably not write another check. Through the one-time disbursement option, you can issue a check to someone as a vendor without entering the payee in your client files.
Use the following steps to enter cash disbursements:
At Home Base, click Accounting.
Click Disbursements.
Click Enter Cash Disbursements.
Double click in the Journal Number field to list the cash journal accounts. Select the desired account from the list and click OK. The account number and balance of the cash journal are displayed to verify your selection.
Double click in the Agency field to list the installed agencies. Select the agency code.
If only one agency has been installed or if the selected cash journal is used by only one agency, no agency code is required.
Note: You may update a deposit for an agency in a selected cash journal only if the cash journal has been installed for use by that agency through Accounting Setup.
Select the Check radio button if you will be printing a check for this disbursement, or select Miscellaneous if you will be transferring funds without printing a check.
The Check Number/Misc. Number field (based on your selection in step 6) defaults to the next available check number or miscellaneous disbursement number and cannot be changed.
The Date and the accounting Month default but can be changed if necessary.
Click the dropdown arrow next to the Type field to list client and file types for whom you are making the disbursement. You may also make one-time disbursements or miscellaneous withdrawals that do not require payee information (for example, to indicate a bank service fee or overdraft charge). (You are only able to select the type of Miscellaneous if you selected Miscellaneous in step 6.) Press [TAB] after making the selection.
Enter the code of the payee. Double click the Payee field, or type ? and press [TAB] to select from a list of possible payees.
If the payee is a company for which multiple addresses have been installed, a prompt displays asking if you would like to choose an alternate address.
Click Yes to select the desired address from those listed. On some company disbursements, you must also confirm that you have selected the appropriate company.
If the payee is a new employee or if the vendor is not recorded in the Employee or Vendor File, indicate whether the payee is new. If so, enter the name and address information to be stored for that employee or vendor in the appropriate file, then click OK.
If the payee is an employee or vendor already on file, TAM displays the information and allows revisions as needed.
If you are entering a one-time disbursement, enter the payee's name and address information.
TAM assigns a vendor code to the payee and stores the payee's information in the Vendor File. After the one-time vendor check is printed, TAM flags the vendor for deletion in six months. This allows reprinting of such checks if needed.
Enter an optional Schedule value. The Schedule field is used to group or categorize cash receipts, cash disbursements, and journal entries. By entering a schedule description, you can keep track of a "line" of expenditures or income, e.g., each offsetting entry for FICA, federal, state tax, etc., on a payroll check. Scheduled entries are listed in groups on the Schedules Report.
Double click the Schedule field to select from a list of possible Schedule values.
Enter the Amount of the disbursement.
On disbursements entered to pay company statements, TAM defaults the net premium total from the selected statement as the disbursement amount. Change that figure if necessary.
The Description field automatically fills with the name of the payee; you can change it to something more descriptive about the disbursement you are entering.
To enter a void disbursement to keep your check/misc. numbers in order, click the Void button. Do this anytime you have a check that was voided for any reason, such as a lost or ruined check.
Click Yes to confirm the void.
Note: To void a previously entered disbursement, refer to Void a Disbursement.
On company statement and item payments, you may not modify the description. TAM hard codes that information to identify the payment and the statement or invoice to which it applies.
If you selected Customer, Broker, Finance Company, or Lienholder in step 9, go to step 14.
If you selected Company in step 9, go to step 16.
If you selected Employee in step 9, go to step 17.
If you selected Producer, Vendor, Miscellaneous, or One-Time in step 9, go to step 18.
If you are making a disbursement to a Customer, Broker, Finance Company, or Lienholder, indicate whether the disbursement is a Returned Premium Check (click the Yes or No radio button). If you select No, proceed to step 18. If you select Yes, you must choose one of the following options:
Single Item: Enter the item number to which to apply the disbursement and click OK.
Select Items: If you do not know the invoice number to which the disbursement should be applied, click Select Items to view the client's open invoices. Click the desired item in the list, then click one of the following buttons:
Full Return: Apply all available funds of the disbursement to the transaction. TAM asks if you want to apply debits to the credit item.
Click Yes to display the Apply Debits screen.
Select the desired item, click Full Apply, then click OK. The only portion of the RET that will be attached to the item is for any credit item left outstanding.
Partial Return: Apply a portion of the disbursement to the transaction. TAM asks if you want to apply debits to the credit item.
Click Yes to display the Apply Debits screen.
Select the desired item, click Partial Apply, and click OK.
Enter the amount to apply to the transaction, then click OK. The only portion of the RET that will be attached to the item is for any credit item left outstanding.
Journal Entry: Select J/E Between Items to apply a debit item to a credit item. Select J/E Writeoffs to write off the balances as bad debts or small balances, or reverse inappropriately applied late charges.
View Accounting Note: Display any notes attached to the transaction.
Detail View: View the transaction in full detail. Options are provided to move to the next and previous invoice for the client and to return to the list of invoices.
History View: Display the transaction history of the client to which the invoice belongs.
Click OK to accept the payment method.
If the client has no open items or if you did not select an invoice to which to apply the disbursement, click OK to leave the disbursement on the payee's account.
Click Yes to leave the item on account. Choose whether to apply it to a specific policy.
Click Yes to select the policy to which to apply it from the customer's policy list.
Select the desired policy, then click OK.
When you are finished making selections on the Entering Cash Disbursements screen, proceed to step 18.
If you are making a disbursement to a Company, select whether to make a direct bill advance for a customer, pay a company statement, pay the company for a specific item, or make a miscellaneous disbursement to the company. Note: To pay a company statement, you must have already reconciled the statement for the company.
Direct Bill Advance: Double click in the Client Number field to select the client for which the advance is being made. The client's information will automatically appear below in the Name and Balance fields. Press [TAB] and you may choose one of the following options:
Single Item: Enter the item number to which to apply the disbursement and click OK.
Select Items: If you do not know the invoice number to which the disbursement should be applied, click Select Items to view the client's open invoices. Click the desired item in the list, then click one of the following buttons:
Full Return: Apply all available funds of the disbursement to the transaction. TAM asks if you want to apply debits to the credit item.
Click Yes to display the Apply Debits screen.
Select the desired item, click Full Apply, then click OK. The only portion of the RET that will be attached to the item is for any credit item left outstanding.
Partial Return: Apply a portion of the disbursement to the transaction. TAM asks if you want to apply debits to the credit item.
Click Yes to display the Apply Debits screen.
Select the desired item, click Partial Apply, and click OK.
Enter the amount to apply to the transaction, then click OK. The only portion of the RET that will be attached to the item is for any credit item left outstanding.
Journal Entry: Select J/E Between Items to apply a debit invoice to a credit invoice. Select J/E Writeoffs to write off the balances as bad debts or small balances, or reverse inappropriately applied late charges.
View Accounting Note: Display any notes attached to the transaction.
Detail View: View the transaction in full detail. Options are provided to move to the next and previous invoice for the client and to return to the list of invoices.
History View: Display the transaction history of the client to which the invoice belongs.
Click OK to accept the payment method. Proceed to step 18.
Pay Company Statement: If you are paying a company statement, click Select Statement to open the Unpaid Statements window. TAM displays all reconciled statements that have not been paid to the company. Click the desired statement in the All Statements list, then click Select. The statement displays in the Selected Statements list. You are able to select multiple statements to be paid with a single disbursement. You may remove a statement from the Selected Statements list via the Remove button. Click OK to confirm the selected statement and proceed to step 18.
Item Payment: If you are making an item payment to a company, select the Client Type from the dropdown list and double click in the Client Number box to select a client. Press [TAB] and click Select Item to open the Unpaid Items list for the company. Select the desired item in the list and click OK. Click Cancel to select another customer for which to make the item payment. You may make an Item Payment for only one transaction per disbursement.
Note: Even though you specify a client for the Item Payment disbursement, the client's account with the agency will not be affected. The disbursement affects the account current balance due to the specified company only.
When you finish making selections on this screen, proceed to step 18.
If you are making a disbursement to an Employee, select the Yes or No radio button to determine whether or not this is a Payroll Check, and then proceed to step 18.
Click Detail to display and modify offsetting entries. The credit to the cash account entered on the previous screen displays in this window. Enter the following information for each offsetting entry to the cash disbursement. Double click in each field to select from a list of field choices (where applicable).
B
D
Account
Schedule
Description
Debit/Credit
Note: On disbursements for statement payments and item payments, you may make only one offsetting entry to apply the disbursement against the selected company's Company Payables subaccount. You may enter a schedule value for the offsetting entry only. TAM automatically fills in the branch, department, account, description, and amount.
Click one of the following buttons to perform the desired function:
Accept: Confirm the offsetting entry.
Delete: Delete the highlighted entry from the window.
Allocate: Allocate expenses to specific General Ledger accounts.
On the Cost Allocation Entries window, select the predefined allocation entry you wish to use.
When you click OK, additional detail rows are automatically created according to the allocation entry's setup in Utilities. See Define Cost Allocation for more information.
Default List: View and print Employee Defaults or Vendor Defaults. TAM automatically saves employee and vendor disbursements as defaults, since these types of disbursements are likely to be repeated often.
CheckMessage: Enter a message to appear on the check. This will display on the check's memo line.
Accounting Note: Enter an internal accounting note for the check. Accounting notes are not printed but are saved with the disbursement record.
View Entry: Return to prior Entering Cash Disbursements screen.
Click OK to confirm the disbursement entries.
Click Yes to file the disbursement.
Repeat steps 4 through 21 for each cash disbursement you record.