Use the Create Recurring Accounts Payable Vouchers screen for vouchers that recur on a periodic basis and are similar each time they recur. You can use recurring codes to group vouchers together according to the frequency with which they recur. You must create a template for each voucher that will recur. This template contains all the header information and the recurring code with which it is associated, as well as the starting and ending fiscal year/period/subperiod in which the voucher is valid.
After you create the recurring code and the template voucher, you must run the Create Recurring Accounts Payable Vouchers screen to create the vouchers.
To set up recurring vouchers, complete the following steps:
Set up recurring Accounts Payable voucher codes and link codes to periods.
You must set up recurring codes and link them to periods on the Manage Recurring AP Voucher Codes screen before you can enter a voucher template. You use recurring codes to define two variables:
The frequency with which a group of vouchers should be created
The periods in which the group of vouchers are valid
Examples of recurring codes are:
Monthly — If you set up a Monthly recurring code, you are likely to link it to the first subperiod of all periods in a given fiscal year.
Weekly — If you set up a Quarterly recurring code, you are likely to link it to the first subperiod of periods 1, 4, 7, and 10.
Use care when you select the periods to which a code is linked. Costpoint prevents vouchers from being created in periods that are not linked to the code entered on the Manage Recurring AP Voucher Codes screen. For example, you set up a Monthly recurring code and link it to all periods in a given fiscal year except period 5, which you inadvertently missed. When you attempt to create recurring A/P vouchers using the Monthly recurring code with a destination period of 5, Costpoint does not create the vouchers because period 5 is not linked to this recurring code.
You must link any new periods that are added to Costpoint for new fiscal years to existing recurring codes. This should be an integral part of the new fiscal year procedures, as none of the recurring vouchers will be created if they are not linked to the periods in the new fiscal year.
Set up a template A/P voucher.
The next step is to set up a template voucher on the Manage Accounts Payable Vouchers screen. You should complete all header and line information. Identify the voucher as a template by selecting the Template check box on the Manage Accounts Payable Vouchers screen.
If you select the Template check box, you must complete the Recur tab of the Manage Accounts Payable Vouchers screen. The recurring vouchers are created from the template vouchers. The template vouchers are never posted by Costpoint. The Recur tab contains information regarding the recurring code, the fiscal year/period/subperiod of the last voucher created for this template, the template number from which this voucher was created, and the date ranges that are valid for this voucher. Only the Recurring Code field is required. Costpoint fills out the template number and the last date created when you run the Create Recurring Accounts Payable Vouchers process.
Use the valid date ranges to establish a beginning date, ending date, or both for the voucher. None of these fields is required. However, you can use any one of them alone. Use these dates to limit the time period for which an individual voucher is created without having to establish a new recurring code. For example, the voucher will not be created before a beginning date entered or after the ending date specified. After the ending date is reached, the template voucher will never be recreated but will remain in Costpoint. You must manually delete the template voucher if it is no longer of use.
Costpoint populates the Last Voucher Created group box on the Recur tab of the Manage Accounts Payable Vouchers screen when you run the Create Recurring Accounts Payable Vouchers process. The process looks at this group box to determine whether or not a voucher was already created for this destination fiscal year/period/subperiod combination. If it finds that the last Fiscal Year, Period, and Subperiod fields in the template voucher are the same as the destination Fiscal Year, Period, and Subperiod fields on the Create Recurring Accounts Payable Vouchers screen, the voucher will not be created. This is done to prevent duplicate vouchers from being created. If you inadvertently delete a voucher that was created by Costpoint but is not posted, you can use the Clone feature to reestablish the recurring voucher from the template.
Only Costpoint can select the Recurred Voucher check box on the Header Info tab of the Manage Accounts Payable Vouchers screen. Costpoint selects this check box when a voucher is created by the Create Recurring Accounts Payable Vouchers process; this identifies the voucher as one that was created from a template voucher. The Template field on the Header Info tab identifies the template voucher number from which the recurring voucher was created.
Create recurring Accounts Payable vouchers.
Costpoint retrieves all the template vouchers with the specified recurring voucher code, voucher numbers, fiscal year, and entry user ID and creates a recurring voucher for the specified destination Fiscal Year/Period/Subperiod provided on the Create Recurring Accounts Payable Vouchers screen. After you create the vouchers, you can edit them on the Manage Accounts Payable Vouchers screen. During this process, Costpoint updates the last created fiscal year, period, and subperiod, enters the template voucher number into the Template field, and selects the Recurred Voucher check box (both on the Header Info tab of the Manage Accounts Payable Vouchers screen).
If you enter a starting voucher number on the Create Recurring Accounts Payable Vouchers screen, Costpoint assigns voucher numbers beginning with the voucher number entered and continue in ascending order.
You must identify the starting voucher number each time the process is run if you use the Manual method to assign voucher numbers on the Configure Accounts Payable Voucher Settings screen.
If you leave the starting voucher number blank and you use the System method of assigning voucher numbers, the process uses the last system voucher number from the Configure Accounts Payable Voucher Settings screen and continues in ascending order.
You can specify an invoice number, invoice date, and due date on the Create Recurring Accounts Payable Vouchers screen. If you enter this information, Costpoint uses it on all vouchers created during the process. You can edit this information on the Manage Accounts Payable Vouchers screen after creating the vouchers. If you leave these fields blank, Costpoint uses the information on the template voucher.
All other information comes from the template voucher. If you have a recurring voucher for which information changes periodically, you must update the template voucher for these changes because the create process looks at the template voucher only.
The three additional ways you can group recurring vouchers are by template voucher number, by entry user ID, and by fiscal year.
If you have multiple accounts payable clerks, you may want to consider grouping recurring vouchers by Entry ID so that each clerk can create recurring vouchers without affecting other users' vouchers. You can also group vouchers by template voucher number within each user ID. This allows you to create groups of vouchers for posting at different times. You can also assign vouchers to different fiscal years for additional grouping purposes.
The fiscal/period/subperiod combination that you enter in the Select Destination Subperiods group box on the Create Recurring Accounts Payable Vouchers screen becomes the period information in the header of the created voucher. If you specify a range of subperiods, a voucher is created in each of the subperiods specified. Because of this, you should exercise caution when selecting the range option for subperiods.
Costpoint compares the destination period information with the starting and ending periods in the template voucher, as well as the linked periods for the Recurring code when creating vouchers. If the destination fiscal/period/subperiod provided on the Create Recurring Accounts Payable Vouchers screen is not linked with the recurring voucher code entered, no vouchers are created. If the destination fiscal/period/subperiod provided on the Create Recurring Accounts Payable Vouchers screen falls outside of either the beginning or ending dates existing on a template voucher, that voucher is not created.
The report printed at the conclusion of this process lists the vouchers created. This report is not intended to be an edit report. If you need an edit report for recurring vouchers, you can print one on the Print Voucher Edit screen. Select the Recurring check box in the Recurrence Status group box of the Print Voucher Edit screen to obtain a report that lists only recurring vouchers with all the detail of the vouchers. You can also print only templates.