Bank Checks

Use Bank Checks for checks that pay out of Checking accounts, Escrow a

counts and Loan accounts.

HINT-- For most businesses, bank checks are the principle way to pay for expenses in the Goldenseal accounting software.

Entering Bank Checks

You'll probably enter most of your bank checks indirectly, however you can also enter them directly.

Instant purchases

To write a check for a purchase that you pay for immediately, follow these steps:

Choose Material Purchases from the Costs menu.
Click the New button, or start a transaction from a template.
Enter details for the purchase.
In the Payment Method field, enter Check.
Enter a bank account into the Details field.
When you save the purchase, Goldenseal will automatically create a bank check to pay for the item.

Accounts Payables and Paychecks

To write checks for accounts payable items, follow these steps:

Choose Pay Bills from the Bank menu.
Select the vendors that you'd like to pay now.
Click the Create Checks button.
Choose a bank account and checkbook to pay from.
Goldenseal will automatically create bank checks to pay the selected vendors.

To write paychecks, choose Write Payroll from the Bank menu, and follow similar steps.

Direct Bank Checks

You may occasionally enter checks directly to pay a vendor, if you don't want to use the Pay Bills command for just one check.

You'll also enter bank checks directly when you make a payment for a loan or credit card, or write a check for cash.

To enter a Bank Check directly from a Checking account, follow these steps:

Choose Checking Transactions from the Bank menu, and choose an account from the submenu. HINT-- You can also write bank checks from Escrow and Loan accounts.
Click the New button, or click on an existing item and click the Edit button.
Enter Bank Check into the Type field at the top of the window.
Enter information about the bank transaction.

Data Fields

Enter the following information for each Bank Check:

Checkbook-- If the checking account uses more than one checkbook, choose the one that will be used for this payment. The check number will be adjusted automatically.
Pay To-- Choose the type of account that will receive this check.
Account-- Choose the specific account that will receive this check.
One Time Name-- If you are paying to an account which allows you to enter one-time names, turn on the checkbox and type in a name. Otherwise, this field shows the full name of the account (and no checkbox is visible).
Spelled Amount-- The check amount is automatically spelled out in words, for use in printed checks.
Address-- The address for the entered account is entered automatically.
Date-- Enter the date of the check.
Check Number-- The next available check number is entered automatically.
Transaction Paid-- Choose the type of transaction that this payment covers.
Reference-- If the payment type involves a transaction, enter the transaction that this check covers.
Amount-- Enter the amount of the check. HINT-- When you pay for a specific transaction, Goldenseal automatically enters its amount.
Comments-- Enter any comments you'd like to make about this transaction.

The following fields are available for direct bank expense (otherwise they are disabled):

Job Class-- Enter the type of account to use when job costing this expense.
Job-- Enter the account against which this expense will be job costed.
Category-- Enter the cost category to use for this expense.

Payment Types

Simple bank payments do not have a breakdown-- they pay for just one transaction. To enter a simple bank check, use None as a breakdown choice.

Every simple bank payment must be allocated with a Payment Type.

UNALLOCATED PAYMENTS

Some payment types do not reference a specific transaction:

Paid On Account-- A payment that doesn't cover any specific transactions. The account will be credited with this amount "on account", which Goldenseal will apply to future bills.
Paid As Gift-- A payment that is not credited "on account".

HINT-- You should probably create an expense transaction for gifts that you give-- that way you can job cost the expense.

TRANSACTION PAYMENTS

Some payment types pay for a specific expense transaction. Enter one of the following:

Chargeback-- This payment covers the "credit to" half of a Chargeback.
Equity Transfer-- Enter a specific Equity Transfers which this payment covers. Available only for Owners.
Payroll-- Enter a specific Payroll Record which this payment covers. Available only for Employees.
Material Purchase-- Enter a specific Material Purchase which this payment covers. Available only for Material Suppliers.
Other Cost-- Enter a specific Other Cost which this payment covers. Available only for Other Cost accounts.
Subcontractor Bill-- Enter a specific Subcontractor Cost which this payment covers. Available only for Subcontractors.
HINT-- To enter a purchase directly into the checkbook or to use a check to pay for more than one transaction, use a breakdown.

REFUNDS

Some payment types cover an income transaction that is a credit or return (negative balance):

Billing Refund-- Enter a specific Billing Record that has a negative balance. Available only for Projects.
Rental Refund-- Enter a specific Rental Transaction that has a negative balance.
Sale Refund-- Enter a specific Sale that has a negative balance. Available only for Customers.

TRANSFERS

Some payment types are a Transfer from this account to a different bank account:

Cash Transfer-- For checks you write to cash.
Checking Transfer-- For checks you write to another checking account.
Credit Card Transfer-- For checks you write to a credit card account.
Escrow Transfer-- For checks you write to an escrow account.
Investment Transfer-- For checks you write to an investment account.
Loan Transfer-- For checks you write to a loan account.
Savings Transfer-- For checks you write to a savings account.

HINT-- When you write a check to another bank account, Goldenseal will automatically create an offsetting Transfer In in the other account.

Breakdowns

If you are entering a purchase directly into the checkbook, use a breakdown to identify the costs that are being covered.

The following types of breakdowns are available for direct purchases:
Category-- For simple purchases that don't use Cost Items. For more about category breakdowns, click here.
Item-- For purchases that involve Cost Items. For more about item breakdowns, click here.

HINT-- You may want to require all purchases to be entered as Material Purchase transactions, so you don't have expenses in two different places. To forbid direct purchases from bank transactions, choose Preferences from the Options menu, and choose Purchases from the submenu. Turn off the Allow Direct Bank Purchases checkbox.

The following types of breakdowns are available for payment of several expense transactions:

Payroll Breakdown-- For payroll records.
Purchase Breakdown-- For material purchases, other cost transactions or subcontractor costs.

Payroll Breakdowns

Create a Payroll breakdown to pay for one or more Payroll Records.

Goldenseal automatically creates checks with a Payroll breakdown when you use the Write Payroll command.

You can also enter a Payroll breakdown like this:

Open a Checking Transaction.
Click the New button, or choose New Record from the Edit menu.
Enter Employee into the Pay To field.
Enter Payroll into the Breakdown field.
Enter an Employee into the Employee field.
Goldenseal automatically fills in all unpaid Payroll Records for this employee. Turn on the checkmarks for the ones you want to pay now.
To print paychecks, choose Print Form from the File menu.

HINT-- Create a Payroll breakdown this way if you have Payroll Records for things other than regular payroll.

Purchase Breakdowns

Create a Purchase breakdown to pay for one or more Material Purchases, Subcontractor Costs or Other Costs.

Goldenseal automatically creates checks with a Purchase breakdown when you use the Pay Bills command.

You can also enter a Purchase breakdown like this:

Open a Checking Transaction.
Click the New button, or choose New Record from the Edit menu.
Enter Material into the Pay To field.
Enter Payroll into the Breakdown field.
Enter a Material supplier into the Account field.
Goldenseal automatically fills in all unpaid Material Purchases for this supplier. Turn on the checkmarks for the ones you want to pay now.
Click in the Adjustment column to add finance charges or subtract an early payment discount.
Click in the Amount Paid column to type in a partial payment amount.
To print a check, choose Print Form from the File menu.

Status Field

The following types of bank transaction status are available:

Entered-- The transaction has been entered, but not yet cleared.
Cleared-- The transaction has cleared the bank. This status is entered automatically after you enter something into the reconcile field.
Canceled-- If you make a transfer between two bank accounts, then delete one of the transactions, then the other is automatically given the Canceled status.
Job Cost Only-- For past transactions that have been entered for job costing only. They will not affect the account balance.
Planned-- For planned future transactions. They will not affect the account balance.
Void-- For canceled transactions.

One Time Names

You can set up vendor accounts which allow you to enter One Time Names.

To write a check to an infrequent vendor, follow these steps:

Make sure you have a Material Supplier Account that has the "allow one-time names" checkbox turned on.
Enter the account from step 1 into the Pay To field.
Turn on the One-Time check box.
Type the name of the vendor into the field next to the checkbox.

HINT-- Goldenseal prints the 'one time' name on checks. For payments to a regular account, it is always the full name of the account, and you can't type in a different account name.

Printing Checks

To print checks onto pre-printed forms, follow these steps:

Put any brand of pre-printed check forms into your printer.
Choose Print Forms from the File menu.
Choose Bank Checks as a Transaction.
Choose one of the check forms as a Form Type.
Choose Unprinted Checks, or one of the other record ranges.
Click the Print button.

HINT-- If you are just starting out, it's a good idea to print onto plain paper first. Different printers have different margins, and you may need to change the form layout to get it to look right.

NOTE-- When printing forms, Goldenseal uses the page range to determine which records to print. The actual number of printed pages may be different if there is more than one record per page, or if some records include breakdowns that extend onto multiple pages.

Bank Transfer

ChecksWhen you transfer money between two bank accounts, Goldenseal considers the transaction to be an internal transfer-- it is neither an expense nor income.

HINT-- To pay bank service charges, or to transfer funds in any way other than by a written check, use a Transfer Out instead.

To write a check that transfers funds to another of your bank accounts (including Cash accounts), follow these steps:

Choose Checking Transactions from the Accounts menu, then choose the bank account from which payment will be made.
Click the New button.
Enter the class of the receiving account into the Pay To field.
Enter the account into the Account field.
Enter other information about the check.
When you complete the transaction, Goldenseal automatically creates a compensating Transfer In transaction in the receiving account.

HINT-- If you write checks to pay for bank service charges, enter the bank as an Other Cost account , so you can create expense transactions for the bank charges.

Using Bank Checks

Enter bank checks whenever you pay money to anybody by check.

You can use the Pay Bills command to automate your payments to vendors, and the Write Payroll command to automate your paychecks.