Accounts Payable Procedures
How the AP department moves an invoice from vendor setup through payment — and where each supporting SOP fits in that flow.
The Accounts Payable department owns four stages of work: setting up vendor master data, processing invoices, running payments, and reporting 1099 activity. This page maps the flow and points to the SOP for each stage.
The AP flow
Vendor master data → Invoice processing → Payment processing → 1099 reporting
Each stage depends on the one before it. A vendor set up without a Type ID can't be filtered into a payment run; an invoice approved without a vendor mapping won't export into Intacct. Most AP problems trace back to incomplete vendor master data.
Stage 1 — Vendor master data
Before a vendor can be paid, the vendor record must be complete enough to support both payment selection and 1099 reporting.
Stage 2 — Invoice processing
Any bill that arrives with an invoice image should be created through an invoice capture platform rather than entered by hand. Bills that would never have an image — rent, guaranteed payments — are entered directly in Intacct.
Stage 3 — Payment processing
Payment method drives which procedure applies. Two of these carry formal policy weight.
| Payment method | Procedure | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Check | Day-to-day AP in Sage Intacct | Procedure |
| Check (physical handling) | Stuffing and mailing checks | Procedure |
| Check (fraud control) | Positive pay file policy | Policy |
| ACH via Intacct | Enable ACH for a vendor | Procedure |
| Bank file / NACHA | Bank (NACHA) file payment processing policy | Policy |
| ACH via Plate IQ | Plate IQ ACH enrollment | Procedure |
Vendor banking information is the highest-risk data the AP team handles. Never update banking details from an emailed request alone — the NACHA policy requires a callback to the vendor, ideally confirmed by someone other than the person who submitted the change.
Stage 4 — 1099 reporting
There is no 1099 process SOP. The 4. 1099 Process folder in the source SharePoint library is empty, even though the vendor setup SOP refers to the W-9 Mail Merger workbook and to a What is a 1099 Transaction.docx reference that lives in a different folder. Writing this SOP is an open gap.
Until that SOP exists, the operative rules from vendor setup are:
- Identify potential 1099 vendors at setup time, before the first payment.
- Request a W-9 and attach it to the vendor record in Intacct.
- Add the vendor to
W9 Mail Merger.xlsx(SharePoint → Accounting Team → Accounting Documents → 1099 Reporting), completing columns A through H. - Note the date and method of the request in the vendor's 1099 Comment field.
Client-specific processes
Some clients run AP differently enough to warrant their own documentation. The source library holds per-client spreadsheets for Rose Restaurants and Urban Roots, and the MarginEdge SOP is written specifically for The Charter Oak Group. See Supporting materials for the full inventory.