How to Record Past Supplier Pay Bills

Overview:

Recording past supplier pay bills allows businesses to establish historical supplier payment transactions that contain unapplied payment balances, such as supplier advances or prepayments, before the accounting start date. This process is commonly performed during system migration, opening balance setup, or when transferring records from a legacy accounting system.

Past supplier pay bills are recorded to carry forward unapplied supplier payment balances into the new system for supplier balance tracking, aging continuity, and payment reconciliation purposes after migration.

Depending on business requirements, past transactions may be recorded either as:

• Consolidated balances per supplier, or

• Itemized historical payment records based on original references

When recording historical transactions, ensure that:

• The transaction date is earlier than the accounting start date

• Unapplied balances are verified against prior accounting records

• Related historical bills, debit notes, or credit notes are also considered to maintain accurate supplier balances

The Accounts Payable opening balance is derived from the net effect of:

• Past Supplier Bills

• Past Supplier Debit Notes

• Past Pay Bills

• Past Supplier Credit Notes

Only unapplied supplier payment balances before the accounting start date should be recorded.

Scenario:

Your company is migrating from a legacy accounting system to N3 AI Accounting for the January to December 2026 financial year. As part of the migration, the company needs to record all unapplied supplier payment balances dated before January 1, 2026, so that supplier balances and Accounts Payable reports remain accurate in the new system.

Some suppliers have a single unapplied payment balance, while others require individual historical payment records to be recorded for tracking and reconciliation purposes.

Prerequisites:

• Supplier master records must already exist in the system.

• The financial year and opening balance period must already be configured.

• Unapplied supplier payment balances must be verified against the previous accounting records before migration.

Procedure:

1. Prepare the list of unapplied supplier payment balances from the legacy records or prior accounting system.

2. Verify that the payment balances represent unapplied amounts as of the accounting start date.

3. Review whether the credit notes will be recorded as:

• Consolidated balances per supplier, or

• Individual historical payment records

4. Confirm that the transaction dates of the past pay bills are earlier than the accounting start date.

5. In the navigation pane, go to Account Payable > Pay Bills.

6. Click Add to create a new past past pay bill entry for each required supplier record.

7. Enter the document date first (must be earlier than the accounting start date). The system automatically classifies the document as a past pay bill.

8. Select the supplier and applicable historical payment details, such as:

• Document Number

• Payment By

• Ref No.

• Description

• Balance

9. Review the entered amounts carefully and Save the transaction.

10. Repeat the process for all remaining unapplied supplier payment balances.

11. After all entries are completed, review the reflected opening Accounts Payable balance in General Ledger > Opening Balances to verify that the recorded balances match the historical records from the previous accounting system.

Application (General Use Cases):

• Establish opening Accounts Payable payment adjustments during system migration

• Transfer unapplied supplier payment balances from a legacy accounting system

• Maintain supplier aging continuity after go-live

• Support historical balance reconciliation

• Help maintain continuity and accuracy of Accounts Payable reporting

• Retain reference to historical supplier payment records for audit and tracking purposes

System Scope: QNE AI Cloud Accounting / N3 AI Accounting