Background

In AccountEdge, you can pay your business bills with a credit card and track the credit card liability. You can also track and pay interest owed or cash back rewards received.

Initial Setup

Step One - Create Liability Accounts

Create individual liability accounts for each of your credit cards.

To do this:

1. Go to Lists from the menu bar at the top of the screen
2. Choose Accounts from the drop down menu
3. Click the New button at the bottom of the screen
4. Make sure you select 'credit card' as the type and that it is a detail account
5. Enter an account number that isn't used
6. Hit tab and then type in the credit card name. Note: You'll want to create a credit card account for each of your credit cards.

Step Two (Optional) - Create Vendor Cards

Create individual vendor cards for your credit card companies.

1. Go to Lists from the menu bar at the top of the screen
2. Choose Cards from the drop down menu
3. Click the New button at the bottom of the screen
4. Make sure you select 'Vendor' at the upper right and designate it as a 'Company'
5. Enter the name of the Vendor (ie: Visa, Amex - do this for as many cards as you have)

Step Three (Optional) - Create Expense Accounts for Interest

1. Go to Lists from the menu bar at the top of the screen
2. Choose Accounts from the drop down menu
3. Select 'expense' as the type and that it is a detail account
4. Enter an account number that isn't used
5. Hit tab and then type in the account name - you could either call it Credit Card Interest OR make accounts for each (ie: Amex Interest)

Step Four (Optional) - Create Income Accounts for Cashback Rewards

1. Go to Lists from the menu bar at the top of the screen
2. Choose Accounts from the drop down menu
3. Select 'income' as the type and that it is a detail account
4. Enter an account number that isn't used
5. Hit tab and then type in the account name - you could either call it Credit Card Rewards OR make accounts for each (ie: Amex Rewards)

Track Expenses

Decide how you want to track the expenses. You can either do this through purchases or spend money.

Option 1

1. Enter a purchase. This would be for the purchase of items for sale as part of your business, or any activity that you want to show up in Accounts Payable
2. You would need to create a separate purchase to the credit card vendor if you owe interest
3. When it comes time to pay the bill, go to Pay Bills in the Purchases Command Center
4. Enter the vendor name you are paying
5. At the top left of the window, use the drop-down arrow to select your credit card to pay the bill. This will increase your credit card balance, and decrease the amount you owe the vendor

Option 2

Another option is to use 'Spend Money' from the Banking Command Center. With this option, you would use your credit card statement to book your expenses.

1. Go to Banking and click Spend Money
2. Using your statement, enter each line item on the statement. You can combine similar expenses. For instance, if you have 10 charges for restaurants, add them together and allocate to meals or entertainment expense
3. Book each type of expense on a separate line on the bottom of the check in the Spend Money screen. This will increase your credit card balance and increase your expense balances

Paying Your Credit Card Bill

When you are ready to pay your credit card bill:

1. Go to the Banking Command Center
2. Click Spend Money
3. In the Card field, select your Credit Card; the vendor card you have setup for this credit card
4. The 'Pay From Account' field should be the account you are disbursing from, typically your general checking account
5. Enter the amount you are paying in the amount field at the top of the check
6. In the lower portion of the check, enter the credit card liability account you have created for this card, and enter the amount you are allocating to the liability here. This will reduce your credit card balance
7. If you have any money going towards Interest include another allocation line choosing the Interest account
8. If you have any cash back rewards that are being applied to this bill, enter a NEGATIVE number in the allocation section again the cash back reward account created

Note: The scenario discussed here is not the same as Vendor Payments, which is an optional  Business Service