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For businesses like Ignify that still receive checks from customer (and we are glad that we do), it is important to differentiate the two elements of receiving a customer payment.

1. Applying the payment to an invoice.

2. Depositing the check.
From an accounting perspective this distinction is important as one reduced the customer balance while keeping the check in the undeposited funds GL account while the second step moves the undeposited check into the deposited state.  These could be two different dates and potentially different periods.  I noticed that several consultants implement customer payments as a single step only mechansmis.

Explaining this further – the GL entry looks like this When check is received
Cr – Customer Receivable
Dr – Undeposited funds

When check is realized after deposit (which could be a few days later and another period)
Cr – Undeposited funds
Dr – Bank Account

Dynamics AX has a nice way of handling this through bridging accounts – however it is not the most intuitive and your consultant needs to know this well hidden feature. .
I've outlined the steps to do this.

 

1. Set up of Bridging accounts

Go to AR > Set up > Payment > Method of Payment

 

Create a Method of Payment “Check”.

 

Go to General Tab > Posting and select Account type as “Bank” and select the Payment account.

Check “Bridging account” and select Bridging account as “Un deposited Funds” (1130)

 

2. Posting AR Payments (When the Check is received but not realized in the Bank)

Go to AR > Journal > Payment Journal

 

Create AR Payment Journal Header and Click Lines

 

On the Journal line, Select Customer, Invoice Number and the Invoice amount will be populated.

Select Method of Payment as “Check “and enter the Check number in the “Payment reference” field.

The Bridging account “Un deposited Funds” (1130) will be automatically populated upon selection of Method of Payment as “Check “.

 

Validate & Post the Journal.

3. Posting of Bridging transactions of AR Payments  (When the Check is realized in the Bank)

Go to GL > Journal > General Journal

 

Create a new General Journal line and Click Lines

 

On the Journal lines Click Functions > Select Bridged transactions

 

Following form will open.

Select the relevant Transaction (the Check amount has been realized) and accept it.

 

The Date will be the Date of creating the General Journal.

Credit will automatically be the Bridging account “Un deposited Funds” (1130) and Debit will be the Bank.

 

Validate & Post the General journal.

Note:

We can use the past dates in AR Payment Journal as well as in GJ Journal.

If the AR Payment Journal is posted on 9/1/2009, when we accept the Bridging transactions in General Journal, the automatically created journal line with bridging transactions will have the AR Payment journal posted date i.e. 9/1/2009.However we can change this to past date i.e. 9/3/2009 before posting it.

Please refer screenshot below which is created & Posted on 10/13/2009 (AR Payment date 9/1/2009, GJ posting date 9/3/2009):

AR Payment journal line:

General Journal line:

 

Now you have achieved the the two step process of applying a payment to a check and then depositing the check to a separate step. Of course more and more businesses are moving to a single step electronic payment process such as lockbox (where the bank codes the deposits for you) or wire transfers and ACH as has Ignify also.

This post is jointly written by Yogesh Kasat and Partha Chattopadhyay. Yogesh is a Senior Manager and Partha is a Senior Business Analyst in the Microsoft Dynamics AX Practice at Ignify . Ignify is a Global Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle Partner specializing in Dynamics AX for Retail, Distribution, Manufacturing and Chemicals verticals. For help on Microsoft Dynamics ERP email us at dynamics@ignify.com

Integration of Fixed Assets and and Purchasing in Dynamics AX

Many Dynamics AX users are unaware of the tight integration that the Fixed Assets module has to various modules in AX. Fixed assets integrates with Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Inventory and Projects to name a few modules.

In fact the purchase order process may be used to acquire new assets for the company. There are some basic settings that are required to use Purchase Orders to bring in new assets.

1. The Fixed asset will need to be created as an item (i.e. ‘Computer hardware’ )
2. The item may be set up as a service item so as not to hit the inventory accounts while being purchased
3. In the General Ledger Parameters a setting may be set that allows Fixed Assets to be created from Purchase Orders. The Fixed asset will be created when the PO is received or invoiced.

The process to create to create fixed assets from a purchase order is straight forward.

1.Create a PO and select the item

Figure: Purchase order details form with item to be purchased as an asset.

2.On the Fixed Assets tab check the ‘New fixed asset’ check box. All of the fields except the Fixed Asset Group will be grayed out. Select the Fixed Asset Group.

Figure: Purchase Order Details form – line details – Fixed assets tab

The Fixed asset group that is selected for the item will set the default settings for the asset when it is created. Note: if the user does not check the ‘New fixed asset?’, the user may assign a previously created asset to the item being purchased.

3.Post the packing slip to receive the item

Figure: Post Packing Slip form

4.When the packing slip is posted, the fixed asset is created. On the PO fixed Asset tab, the user will find that a Fixed Asset number has been assigned to the Asset.

Figure: Purchase Order Details form – line details – Fixed assets tab

When the asset is created, it will assign the default value module for the Fixed asset group to the new asset.

5.Invoice the PO. The Cost of the Asset will be transferred to the Fixed Asset

Figure: Post Invoice form.

6.The remaining setups of the fixed asset take place on the Fixed Asset details form. Default values have been assigned to the asset based on the Fixed Asset group that was assigned on the PO.

FIgure: Fixed Assets Form>

That’s all there is to it! The integration between Fixed Assets and the Accounts Payable module makes it easy to bring in new assets into AX. In fact, users may also leverage the Purchase Requisition process to bring in fixed assets into AX. But that’s a story for another day…

This post is written by Craig Griffith. Craig is a Senior Manager in the Microsoft Dynamics AX Practice at Ignify . Ignify is a Global Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle Partner specializing in Dynamics AX for Retail, Distribution, Manufacturing and Chemicals verticals. For help on Microsoft Dynamics ERP email us at dynamics@ignify.com