Recording payments to your credit card can be done in different ways depending on how you have your credit card set up. The credit card can be set up with it's own register (recommended), as a GL account, or as a Vendor. In this article we will discuss 3 ways to record payments to your credit card:
Journal Entry
For this method, we recommend first setting up your credit card account under the Banks and Registers tab in the Accounting section to establish a register from which hard costs can be recorded.
- If you do not already have an existing Register set up for your credit card, you can create one using these instructions - How can I set up my Credit Card Accounts within CARET Legal?
- Once the register has been created, you can build up your credit card balance by creating your opening balance journal entry and credit card hard costs.
- To note any payments made to that Credit Card you can create a journal entry crediting the operating account and debiting the credit card account.
Hard Cost/AP Check
A hard cost, or AP check, will create a similar record on the General Ledger. By assigning a single line item on the check to the credit card account, you will see funds from the Operating Account, being applied to the credit card register.
Vendor Bills
If you do not wish to keep a running register for your credit cards, you can manage the credit card bills via our Vendor Bills Module.
First, create a Vendor for your credit card provider. Then moving forward, whenever you receive your credit card statement, you would create a new Vendor Bill. You can assign the line items to whatever accounts on your chart of accounts you need to for record keeping purposes. When you are ready, you can pay the vendor bill.
We recommend tracking all credit card activity using a register for that account. This allows you to easily manage the flow of activity and quickly add a payment when needed.