Best Of

The Reckon Accounts program - previously known as "QuickBooks" - was written back in the 80s. 

At that time the majority of businesses paid by "Cheque" so "Write Cheque" as a title made sense.  Nowadays, it represents any form of payment OUT of the source bank account selected.    

The best advice is this ....

Re-create in your Reckon Accounts (Hosted) program exactly what you've done

eg if you've received a bill to pay - Enter Bill.  If you've paid a bill - Pay Bill

Bills v Cheques

Enter a “Bill” (& then “Pay Bill”) for expenses that you receive a supplier "invoice" for & / or will be paying after the fact.

Enter a “Cheque” for direct debits & till/EFTPOS receipts (eg Officeworks, Bunnings etc)  

Determine the source account that the funds are coming out of eg your main business bank account, a PayPal account, a Credit Card etc

Don't be confused by the different "Payment Method" options in Pay Bills. 

Here's what they mean:

• Cheque - Selecting this allows you to enter a Cheque number.

I always use this as I like to use "EFT", "BPAY", "DD" etc as the payment number.  Some like to enter the actual transaction number as per their online banking receipt.

• Credit Card - This allows you to use a "Credit Card" account to pay a bill & will change the Payment Account list dropdown options to Credit Cards you have set up in your Chart of Accounts.

DO NOT use this for payments you make using a debit card!  A debit card is still linked to funds held in your bank account.  A credit card is “Credit” (eg NOT your own money) !

• Direct Debit - Selecting this will auto-enter the bill payment number as "debit"

(OK if you want EVERY payment tagged as that.  Personally, I don't like it so never use it)

• Standing Order - Selecting this will auto-enter the bill payment number as "order"

(Not sure why this one is even in there still!)

• Bank Online – DO NOT use this simply because you are going to make an online payment (EFT/BPAY)! 

This is for creating a specific type of electronic file payment (“ABA”) that gets exported & uploaded into your online banking site.

• Cash - Selecting this will auto-enter the bill payment number as "cash"

Best used for Cash-only purchases out of a “Cash” bank account (eg Petty Cash)

(I still use “Cheque” & type in “CASH” as I’m pedantic about formatting & like to have all my payment numbers in capitals lol)

Paying Business Expenses with Personal Funds

Lastly, if you want to enter & track business purchases you’ve made using your personal funds, create a “Bank” account in RA/RAH (called “Owed to Me” or similar) to pay these out of.

This allows you to still Pay Bills or enter Cheques accordingly, whilst tracking the total owed back to you at any time.  (Note this will display as a negative figure in your Chart of Accounts.  This is because you’re spending with no available funds in this account to start with)

When you are ready to reimburse yourself, enter a Chq out of the source bank account (eg main business bank account) posting to your “Owed to Me”, no tax code.

I find the “Chq” entry preferable for transfers between financial/bank accounts as the “Transfer Funds” window doesn’t have a Ref/Chq No. & also a limited Memo for reporting.

Hope that helps to clarify.