Anyone who bills you with an invoice would be a vendor, especially freelancers. Vendors are paid with checks written in the Checkbook against their unpaid invoices.

The vendor code tracks purchases and invoices for the things you buy. The vendor account keeps a running account balance, so it’s easy to see at-a-glance just how much you owe someone. When an invoice is added into Accounts Payable, you’ll enter the vendor number first -- this links the invoice to the vendor account on reports, especially the account agings.

Deciding who is a vendor is simple: If someone invoices you for things or services you buy, they’re a vendor. You can’t add a payable invoice unless the vendor exists (although you can add a vendor at the same time as the invoice). Once a vendor is added, it can be used again by entering in the vendor number.

Detailed account information can be easily maintained for each vendor, including task, markup, and notes. This information stays in a central location (your Clients & Profits database) and is generally accessible to everyone. This makes finding vendor information much faster than using someone’s Rolodex cards or filing system. This information can be entered, changed, or deleted, any time.

📍See vendor demo data: LAT (publication), LAMAR (outdoor), MERGE-SB (landlord)

🔹To see/use vendor accounts, choose Setup > Vendors

HERE'S HOW IT WORKS

• Filter by type.
• vendor can be a media vendor.
• vendor can be put on-hold.
• each account has info you need for writing checks
• key contact, multiple contacts
• default cost G/L#, payables G/L#
• vendors purchases can always be charged to credit cards.
• vendor purchases are compiled into year-end 1099s.
• option to always pay invoices with online banking
•√ payment priority
• setting to require invoices get approval prior to payment.
• vendor accounts are used by POs and media orders.
• vendors have optional markups on job cost invoices.
• vendors have default task.
• Recurring payables.
• Unpaid invoices are summarized by vendor in Snapshots > Vendor Agings.
• See vendors anywhere by choosing Lookup > Vendors.


📎 Vendors, staffers, freelancers, and temps Staff members aren’t vendors, since they’re paid through payroll. Staff time is accounted for with time sheets, not A/P invoices. Just what is a freelancer? A freelancer can be both a staff member and a vendor. If you’ll track a freelancer’s time on an hourly basis with Time Cards or Time Sheets, then he or she is added as a staff member. But if the freelancer is also added as a vendor, then he or she should be added twice -- once as a vendor then again as a staff member. The staff member’s initials must be different from the vendor number. If a staff member has the same code as a vendor, costs will appear duplicated on job cost reports -- but it’s just a cosmetic problem. To prevent this problem, give the freelancer slightly different vendor and staff codes. What are temps? A temp acquired from a temporary placement agency is not a vendor; instead, he or she is a staff member. So who is the vendor? The placement agency is the vendor, since they’ll be sending you bills for the temp’s hours worked.

⚠️ A vendor with a balance or any activity (including paid invoices) can’t be deleted. Otherwise, its invoices wouldn’t have a vendor account balance to update on aging reports.

⚠️ The Users table is different from Staff table Users are people who can access Clients & Profits, while Staff members are the shop’s employees. They are usually identical, since most employees typically use C&P. Everyone who works for the company should be added as a staff member, while only those people who will use Clients & Profits should be added as “users.” Staff members and Clients & Profits users may have the same initials. Changing the user’s name or initials doesn’t update the staff information, and vice versa; if you change information in one window, you should change the other as well.

✳️ Working with recurring payables By tracking time for each staff member, you’ll get productivity reports that compare billable versus unbillable time, time by client, time by task, and more. With practice, these reports can help you see where people are working most effectively. There are different strategies for tracking time (see Time Sheets for more information), but the effort pays off in a greater awareness of your business. Generally, you should track all time, including unbillable time, meetings, administrative time, and sick/vacation/personal time. (Using an

✳️ Working with vendor diary entries The vendor diary does not keep an automatic log of every vendor activity. That would create an immense number of entries. Instead, the vendor diary is used like a daily log. Anyone who works with one vendor account can make notes about phone calls, meetings, etc. These entries are intended to help accounting people to manage vendor accounts and to track payables and payments. Each vendor diary entry includes the date and time it was added, as well as the initials of the staff member who added it. The entry’s subject and description are user-defined. Vendor diary entries can be useful for tracking problems, such as overdue invoices, credits pending, etc... Since each entry has a “resolved” checkbox, the Vendor Diary window clearly shows at-a-glance which entries are still pending. Once the vendor’s issue is closed, anyone can mark the entry as “resolved.”

📎 All about passwords: There are separate passwords for the desktop app and the web app, as well as expirations and other others. There's a link to reset the user password.