Receiving and Paying Bills

Definitions

Vendor

Someone we owe money to, for instance a utility company.

Bill of Lading

A bill of lading is a document which is issued by a transportation carrier to us acknowledging that they have the stuff and will ship it. For example, Total Reclaim, Inc. picks up monitors and gives us a copy of a "receipt" (the bill of lading) that says they have 24 pallets of monitors containing 446 monitors. Later on, they'll write us a bill which will reference the bill of lading.

Bill

Document from a vendor showing us new money that we owe.

Statement

Document from a vendor showing us how much money that we owe -- old money and new. If we pay our bills on time, we might get no statements, or the statements won't show us owing any more money than the most recent bill does.

Current Vendors

• City of Portland -- Water and sewer
• Comcast -- Internet service provider
• Hallmark -- Gold bearing material processing
• McGuire Bros -- Rent
• Metro Metals -- Metals processing
• Northwest Natural -- Gas (heat)
• OR OSHA -- Regulates safety for Oregon
• PGE -- Electricity
• Integra -- telecom (phone and internet) service
• SAIF -- Workers Comp and Liability insurance
• Schnitzer -- steel processing
• Total Reclaim -- Monitor processing
• Waste Connections -- Garbage collection

Receiving a Bill of Lading

In Gnucash

Based on similar bills of lading, enter an estimated amount owed in the appropriate "Account Payable" account. For example on a Total Reclaim bill of lading for monitors that will result in a bill to us:

• Choose the "Total Reclaim A/P" account.
• Set the transaction date as the date the material was shipped.
• Review the size of payments so far. It appears that a reasonable average is $3400.
• Enter Total Reclaim (estimate BOL# 123456) in the description field (where 123456 is the actual number from the BOL).
• Enter "Expenses:Monitor Recycling" and an amount of $3400 in the "Tot Decrease" field of one line.
• Enter "Liabilities:Accounts Payable:Total Reclaim" and an amount of $3400 in the "Tot Decrease" field of another line.
• Initial and date the Bill of Lading and put it in the "To be filed" basket.

Note

The BOL is often entered into gnucash at the time we get the bill and so is not an estimated amount, but the expense still needs to be recorded as happening on the date of shipment.

In file cabinet

File in Monkey House File Cabinet

• Top drawer under Operations: Utilities, Recycling, Sales and Invoices.
• File in appropriate vendor folder in alphabetical order.
• File with the most recent document at the front of the folder.

Receiving a Bill

In Gnucash

• Open appropriate accounts payable account (match the vendor name or use Misc)
• Enter the amount into the expense field
• Transfer field should be the appropriate expense account.
• Initial the invoice (in an area that we don't send away in the mail) and date it.

In file cabinet

• If there is an associated bill of lading, match it to the bill and fasten them together. Note any discrepencies.
• File in the Bills to Pay folder

Paying a Bill

• Physically write the check.
• Prepare an envelope for mailing (including stamp).
• Put the check sideways in the envelope but do not seal it. (It still needs to be signed by Liane or Michael).
• Put ready to mail bill, check, and envelope in the Checks to Sign and Mail folder.

In Gnucash

• Open the main checking account
• Open the appropriate accounts receivable account (match the vendor name or use Misc)
• Enter the date
• Enter the check number
• Enter the vendor name in description
• Enter the amount in the withdrawl field

In file cabinet

• Write check number, date, and amount on bill stub, and initial it.
• File stub of bill in vendor folder with the most recent date in the front

Who Can Sign Checks?

• Liane
• Michael

Receiving a Statement

In Gnucash

Check to see if our account agrees with their statement. Note any past due amount. This is an indication that we need to prioritize paying the vendor.

In file cabinet

• File in vendor folder with the most recent date in the front