How to track credit card purchases at the time the credit card bill is paid in Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting (898562)

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Small Business Accounting has built-in functionality that lets you track your credit card purchases as they occur. This method is used for accrual-based accounting because this method tracks your credit card liability. For more information about how to enter credit card charges and how to pay the credit card bill, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: However, you can also track your expenses or the items that you buy at the time that you pay the credit card bill if you use cash-basis accounting. When you use this method, you do not list the credit card charge as a separate transaction. You enter everything when you write the check to pay the credit card bill. To do this, follow these steps:

1. On the Banking menu, click Write Checks.
2. In the Bank account box, select the account that is associated with this check.
3. In the Pay To box, select the credit card vendor.
   
   Note If you have to create a credit card vendor, select Add a new, and then select Vendor in the Type box. For more information about how to create a vendor, see Microsoft Small Business Accounting Help.
4. In the Items and Expenses pane, click the Type column, and then select Item.
5. In the Name box, select the item that you purchased.
   
   Notes
   • If the item is not available, click Add a new Item to create the new item.
   • If you select a non-inventory item, the expense account that is associated with this item is used to offset the cash account when you save the check. If you select an inventory item, the inventory asset account that is associated with this item is used to offset the cash account when you save the check.
6. In the Unit Price box, type the amount that is associated with this item.
7. Repeat step 4 through step 6 for each item that you purchased.
   
   Note Instead of selecting the items that you purchased, you can leave the first column set to Expense. You can then select the expense account that is associated with each item that you purchased instead of selecting the item itself. However, you cannot select an inventory asset account.
   
   For example, consider the following scenario. You purchase supplies for $50 from your supplier. To track this expense, you select the supplies expense account, you enter 1 in the Qty column, and then you enter $50 in the Unit Price column. When you purchase gas for your company car for $25, you select the fuel expense account, you enter 1 in the Qty column, and then you enter $25 in the Unit Price column. The whole check amount is $75.
8. In the Amount box, enter the amount that you want to appear on the check.
9. Click to select the To be printed check box if you want to print a check for this payment.
10. Click Save and close.
    
    Note If you click Save and Close, and the amount in the Amount box is different from the line total, you receive the following error message:
    The amount on the check has to match the total line amount.

When you use this method, the accounts that you selected in the Item and Expenses pane are debited. The bank account that you selected is credited. This method also creates entries in and out of the accounts payable account because you paid a vendor. However, the accounts payable balance does not change.