Posted by Ralphene on February 19, 1999 at 06:58:49:
In Reply to: Accounts Payable Files - File By Check or Category posted by Angela Meroney on February 17, 1999 at 15:44:49:
: I took over a job with our church in which the bills were attached to the duplicate checks and filed by category. If I wanted to find a particular check no., I had to look in the register for that payee, then find the correct check.
Then I tried filing them by month, still with the bills attached to the dup. checks, but then had to check each month's set of checks for that bill if I wanted to look at several bills to the same payee.
I finally decided to file the checks separately and file the bills in their own category. To do this, I got a self-inking stamp that shows the date paid and check no. I stamp each bill paid and file it accordingly. The checks are filed numerically by month. I just started that system this year. It is a little more filing and work being sure that the bills are stamped, but I can look up each set of bills more easily. By filing the checks by month, I can prepare my monthly reports to the church much easier.
I have always heard the rule of thumb, that if you only have 1-3 papers for a subject, you can file them in Miscellaneous. If you have more than that, you should create its own file folder.
Hope this helps. I currently type the checks, Currently I keep a paper register and use the duplicate checks to update Quicken on the office computer, which as you can see is double work. But hope in the near future to be able to use computer checks with my home computer, which will update the register and print the checks at the same time and save myself some work that way.