About managing bills and accounts payable

If you use accrual-based accounting, you must track accounts payable. Even if you don't use accrual-based accounting, you can use an accounts payable account to track your payments to vendors.

The accounts payable account is where you enter all vendor transactions, including bills, payments, credits, and refunds. Even if you withdraw the money for the payment from a specific checking account—such as Business Checking—you need to enter the transaction in the accounts payable account so Quicken can track it properly. When you do so, Quicken lets you specify the real-life account from which the money's coming.

You can create one accounts payable account to track the transactions for all your vendors; for example, an account named Business Bills. Or you can add an account for each vendor; for example, Marshall Welding Supply bills and another account named Discount Uniform Supply bills. If you have several businesses, you can add one accounts payable account for each business.

What can I do?

Frequently asked questions

• How do I enter a transaction?

  After you've created the accounts payable account, you can enter vendor transactions by using the forms Quicken provides, such as the bill form, the payment to vendor form, the credit form, and so on. You can also enter transactions directly in the register, but when you use forms, Quicken can track more information.

• Can Quicken remind me when the bill is due?

  Yes. You can create a scheduled transaction for any bill, either as a one-time transaction or a series of recurring transactions (for example, monthly rent and utilities, quarterly tax payments, and so on).

  Notes

  If you choose to schedule your bill payments, all you need to do is either accept (or edit and accept) the transaction when Quicken reminds you to. You don't need to complete the Payment to Vendor form when it's time to pay.

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