Entering a transaction in an A/P register

You can enter bills and vendor credits directly in your accounts payable(A/P) register instead of using the Enter Bills window to create the transactions.

There are several reasons why you might prefer to work directly in an A/P register:

Accounts payable

The record of all your outstanding bills. Accounts payable is called A/P for short. QuickBooks uses a single account on the chart of accounts to track all outstanding bills.

To enter a transaction in an A/P register:

  1. Open the register for your A/P account.
  2. Click in the blank entry at the end of the register.
  3. Enter the date, transaction number, and vendor in these fields:
    • Date: Transaction date.
    • (Optional) Number: Number of the transaction.
    • Vendor: Name of the vendor. Choose the vendor from the list. If the name is not on the list, type the name in the Vendor field and press Tab. When QuickBooks informs you that the vendor is not on your Vendor list, click either QuickAdd (to add just the vendor's name to your records) or Set Up (to add more information about the vendor).
  4. (Optional) Change the date that QuickBooks fills in the Due Date field.
  5. Enter the amount of the bill or credit:
    • For bills: Enter the amount in the Billed field.
    • For credits: Enter the amount in the Paid field.
  6. (Bills only) Enter the name of the account you use to track this type of expense.
    • If you are distributing the entire bill to one account and you don't need to assign the amount to a customer, job, or class, choose the account from the list.
    • Otherwise, click Splits. How to enter split detail.
  7. (Optional) In the Memo field, enter a note about the transaction.

    The memo appears on all reports that include the transaction.

  8. Click Record.

Did the transaction disappear?

QuickBooks sorts transactions by date. If you dated your transaction earlier than today, it may disappear from your view because QuickBooks moves it to its correct chronological position in the register.