Create an AP advance

Create an AP advance when you need to make a payment to a vendor in advance of receiving a bill. For example, if a vendor requires an up-front deposit, create an advance payment and post it to an established prepayment account, or create a new account on the fly.

When you create an AP advance, you supply payment information that Intacct uses to create a payment request. After you complete the payment request, the advance state changes to Advance paid and the amount becomes a credit.

You can apply this credit to the bill total on the Pay bills page, after the bill is received and comes due.

Subscription

Accounts Payable

User type

Business
Permissions

AP advances: List, View, Add
Restrictions

Companies with multiple base currencies must create advances at the entity level.

  1. Go to Accounts Payable > All > Payments and select Add (circle) next to Advances.

    If your company uses multiple base currencies, create AP advances at the entity level.

  2. Enter the Advance date.
  3. Select an existing Vendor, or add a new vendor as needed.

  4. (Multi-currency companies) Enter Transaction currency and Exchange rate information in the Currency section.

    Advance credits can be applied to bills from the same vendor that have a matching transaction currency.

    1. Select the Transaction currency to use.

      If this is not your company's base currency, continue with the next two steps.

      Do you have a vendor who conducts transactions using a different currency? Set the Default currency in their Vendor information record to reflect their currency of choice. Then, when you create a bill, advance, or adjustment for the vendor, Intacct automatically sets the transaction currency to match their default currency setting.

    2. Select an Exchange rate type such as Intacct Daily Rate or WSJ Published Rate.

    3. Enter or select a date in Exchange rate date.

      The default is the current date, but you can override this. For example, you might want to change it to the date the transaction was issued, or the date you intend to pay the transaction.

      If you override the Date field, the Exchange rate date updates automatically.

    4. Optionally, enter an Exchange rate.

      If you know the exchange rate for this transaction, or are contracted with the vendor on a set exchange rate, enter it here.

  5. In Payment method, select the method of payment.

    The payment method determines how the advance payment is processed in your company.

    For example, if you select Check, you need to first print and confirm the check to the General Ledger, before it becomes a credit that you can apply to a bill.

    If you select Credit Card, Intacct automatically creates a credit card transaction.

  6. Select the Bank or Credit card to use for payment.

    For payment methods of Check, Record transfer, or Cash, select the Bank to use. For advances to be paid with a credit card, select the Credit card to use.

  7. Optionally, add an Attachment and a Reference number or Document numberfor the transaction.

    The Reference number field is available when you select a payment method of Credit card or Record transfer. The Document number field is available when you select a payment method of Cash.

  8. In Description, enter any note you want to store with this transaction.

    This description is copied into the Memo field for entries. You can override it as needed.

  9. Optionally, to set dimension defaults for line items, select Show defaults.

    If you are entering many line items and want dimension values filled in automatically for each line, select or enter default values for the dimensions you want. For example, you can select the Department and Location that applies to each new line item. You can override default values on any line item, as needed.

  10. Enter the line items in Entries.

    1. If you need to override the default GL account where the advance is recorded, select Account and select a new one.

      The default account for AP advances is set in Configure Accounts Payable. Look for the Vendor advances setting under GL Accounts.

    2. Under Transaction amount, enter the amount of the line item.

      If the advance uses a transaction currency that's different from your base currency, the base amount shows the transaction amount in the base currency.

    3. In the Memo field, record additional information about this entry.

    4. For additional dimensions, select the dimension dropdown and select an appropriate value, as needed.

      If you've set a default value for a dimension, you can override it here on a line-by-line basis.

      To set additional dimensions that are not visible in the line, select the Show details tab (or Ctrl + down arrow) to reveal them.

      A dimension is a category of data that you can organize and sort in meaningful ways. Sage Intacct provides the following predefined dimensions:

      • Location
      • Department
      • Class
      • Customer
      • Item
      • Project
      • Vendor
      • Employee
      • Warehouse (if you subscribe to Inventory Control)
      • Contract (if you subscribe to Contracts)

      In addition, Intacct enables you to define new dimensions to suit your needs. Use these user-defined dimensions to organize and sort categories of data unique to your business. For example, if you’re a software company with multiple product lines, you can create a user-defined dimension called Line of business. Then add the values Direct customers, Channel partner, and OEM.

      Dimensions enable you to collect, sort, analyze, and report on data within one category, or between categories, so you can identify key factors such as:

      • Your most profitable or most costly items or customers
      • The return on investment of a project or department
      • Whether and to what degree a new product or product line is successful
      • Which way a particular aspect of your business is trending
      • Intacct dimensions give you fine control over data definition and data hierarchy

      With dimensions, you can customize financial reports around specific business activities, get greater visibility into how the business is doing, and make faster, more meaningful business decisions.

      Think of dimensions as a more powerful alternative to subaccounts.

      Additional fees can apply for the Project dimension and user-defined dimensions. Contact your account representative for more information.

  11. Select one of the following: 

    The buttons you see depend on your selected payment method and whether your company is configured for payment approvals.

    • Select Draft to save the advance in a draft state. The advance is not submitted for approval and you have the option to edit or delete it, depending on your permissions.
    • Select Save to make the advance available for payment, if the payment method is check or bank file payment, and your company does not use payment approvals. The state is set to In process.
    • Select Post to record payment of the advance, if the payment method is record transfer, cash, or credit card, and your company does not use payment approvals. Because these payment methods are managed outside of Intacct, the state is automatically set to Advance paid. The advance is ready to be applied as a credit on the Pay bills page.
    • Select Submit to submit the advance for approval, if your company is configured for payment approvals. In some cases, the advance might be automatically approved at the time you submit it. For example, if the total amount of the advance falls below the value threshold required for approval, the advance is automatically set to Advance paid.

Next step:

After you submit an advance, you might need to approve the payment, if you are set up for payment approvals.

Advances that are approved or do not require approval become paid based on the payment method:

After an advance is approved, and any checks are confirmed to the General Ledger, you can apply the advance as a credit to a bill on the Pay bills page.