Sub-Account Maintenance
What is a Sub-Account?
When the Account number is not enough to code an entry, then the Sub-Account is used to further code the entry. For example, if we have some accounts that need to be broken down between locations (Abilene, Austin, or Dallas), then we would define a Sub-Table to define this group. It is the glue that works behinds the scenes that defines which account(s) require a Sub-Account from this group to be coded when that account is used, and it is a “container” or way to group the Sub-Accounts together.
Accounts can either have a Sub-Table associated with them or not. If they have a Sub-Table, then any coding done requires a Sub-Account from that Sub-Table to also be coded. If they don’t have a Sub-Table associated with them, then they won’t have a Sub-Account coded at all (i.e. system automatically skips that field).
On accounts such as Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable, where the amounts need to be broken down by Vendors and Owners respectively, Pak Accounting uses the Sub-Account field to do this breakdown. Typically, a separate Sub-Table is used for each (Vendors in Sub-Table 20, and Owners in Sub-Table 101).
On the other hand, most companies will typically have 1 to 3 cash accounts. In this environment, cash accounts typically will not have a Sub-Table associated with them. An exception may be companies that have a hundred different cash accounts will probably want to setup one Account and then associate it with a Sub-Table that then identifies each bank account
Each Sub-Table will contain one or more Sub-Accounts. Sub-Accounts code itself can be numeric or alphanumeric (mixture of letters and/or numbers). Sub-Accounts can be up to 10 characters long and the Sub-Account code can be setup in different Sub-Tables and mean something different depending on the Sub-Table.
Depending on the type of Sub-Table, sometimes it is advantageous to use alpha characters as the Sub-Account code. This is a common practice when setting up companies and individuals such as setting up vendors, customers and owners. The more consistent that you are in defining the Sub-Account code, the easier it is for others to code items without having to memorize long lists of things.
A common example could be a coding scheme that is made up of 3 characters of the last name followed immediately with 3 characters of the first name. For example:
ADAJOS - Joshua Adams, GUTALI - Alice Gutters,
SMIBET-Betty Smith, HAIMAR - Mark Hailed
Just as a Cash Account is usually setup without a Sub-Table, the Accounts Receivable is just the opposite and is always associated with a Sub-Table. Even small companies want to have more than one customer! In our example, Account “1210 A/R-Customers” will be associated with Sub-Table 10, and Sub-Table 10 will contain Customers. So the four Sub-Accounts above - ADAJOS, GUTALI, SMIBET, and HAIMAR - would be associated with Sub-Table 10 - Customers.
The coding of an entry to Accounts Receivable for Betty Smith would be 1210-SMIBET. If you weren’t sure which Smith it should be coded to, there is an easy way of getting a list of possible values by keying in “SMI?” By pressing the /? Key, a lookup window will pop-up and start with displaying the Sub-Accounts that start with SMI.
Once the Accounts are defined (see Account Maintenance), and Sub-Table added or changed (see Sub-Table Maintenance), the Sub-Accounts can be entered using the [F12] hotkey. Sub-Accounts are logical sub-divisions of accounts. For example, rather that have a separate Accounts Receivable account for each customer who buys from the company, you could have one A/R account, with Sub-Accounts that represent the individual customers.
There are many places within Pak Accounting that an individual or company’s name and address fields are used for several important functions including:
- Billing/AFE
- Payments/Checks
- Correspondence to owners, vendors, or customers
- 1099-MISC/1042 reporting
- Escheat/Unclaimed Property reporting
- Various internal reports
To enter a new Sub-Account, select Add in Sub-Account Maintenance.
Sub-Table | The Sub-Table that will contain the Sub-Account | ||||||||
Sub-Account |
Enter the Sub-Account's 6-10 character (default) alphanumeric code. To change the character code length, select the option in Company Maintenance. Also see our Training Video General Ledger > Sub-Account > Mass Changing Sub-Account Codes. The following 7 characters are invalid ' * / ? ; ( ) |
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Name |
Only enter in one name. If 2 names are on the account, use the NAME #2 field. Do not use any punctuation or abbreviate the first word of a company’s name. Not only is punctuation discouraged at the post office, it is typically not allowed on the 1099 or Unclaimed Property files. On internal reports, names will print as they are entered into the Name field. For this reason, you may want to consider entering in the name using the LastName*FirstName method. The name field can be up to 40 characters long. However, some reports have limited space and cannot print the entire 40 character name. In those cases, the name would be cut off. If the name has been entered in using the previously mentioned method, then at least the last name would show on the report.
Example: Sir John Z Doe Jr would be entered as Doe*Sir John Z*Jr Note: See Special Considerations for Escheat below for more information on setting up names. |
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Name #2 |
The Name #2 field does not have to be populated. This field should only list out a second name or an additional owner, as applicable. If not needed for an additional name, leave it blank. This is especially important for the 1099 and Unclaimed Property processes which need to list additional owners separately. Do not use the “*” in Name #2 as suggested for the Name field.
Will Print as: |
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Address |
The address fields can be up to 40 characters long; however, the United State Postal Service (USPS) recommends a maximum of 30 characters. Based off the Postal Services rules, here are some recommendations from Pak Accounting:
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Region | Region can be used for location, area, region, etc. This will allow users to setup Financial Groups by this field. This field looks at the Region Sub-Table found in General Ledger > Master File Maintenance > Company Maintenance > Company > Financial Reporting tab > Advanced tab > Region Sub-Table field. | ||||||||
View Change History button | Shows changes made to the owner's Sub-Account Maintenance. | ||||||||
Print W-9 Letter button | Clicking on this box will print a W-9 letter a cover letter to the printer or to a PDF file. See Sub-Table Maintenance on how to add notes to the cover letter. Box 7 of the W-9 will populate with the Company Code, Owner Sub-Table, AR account number, and Sub-Account code to help you easily identify upon return. |
TECH TIP:
- If you add City, State, and Zip on Address line 2 instead of in proper fields, the A/R statement will print USA.
- The system will not allow the possibility of the Master Record to be deleted if documents are associated with it. The record can be made inactive on the Active Dates tab. In addition, If a Sub-Account has prior activity (transactions). Pak Accounting will prevent the deletion of the Sub-Account. The system will provide a warning that transactions exist and must be recoded to delete the Account or that the Sub-Account can be made inactive.
Special Considerations for Escheat
The Additional Owner Name Info tab in Unclaimed Property Reporting > 52 Owner Maintenance will not appear unless the Name #2 field is set correctly. Please see the section for Name #2 field for more information.
- If the Name or Name #2 field does not contain Or/And/& as stated in the Name #2 instructions, then it will be assumed that the field is part of the Address and will print accordingly.
- Owners with a Tax Class of Individual/Sole Propriety and include the following keywords in the Name field will be reported as a Company. Company names will show in the Last Name field.
Associates | Estate | L L C | Society |
---|---|---|---|
Assoc | Foundation | Limited | Tr |
Company | Fund | LP | Trust |
Co | Incorporation | L P | Trustee |
Corporation | Inc | Partners | |
Enterprise | LTD | Partnership | |
Est | LLC | Resources |
Notes tab – check box “Contacted”. The contacted box triggers a time/date stamp note for the user to create a notation in regards to what form of contact was made with the owner. If the Contacted box is not check marked, the note will not trigger a restart of the dormancy period. The note will just serve for informational purposes. Any Contacted check boxes during the dormancy period triggers a restart on the dormancy period for that particular owner, meaning they would not be escheated in the current escheat process.
See A/P Options and Coding Tab
Insurance Tab
Record the insurance information for vendors, sub-contractors, and/or vehicles. Also, use the Print Insurance Letter to print a letter to your sub-contractors requesting insurance certificates. CGL (Commercial General Liability) coding allows you to code contract labor vendors as Contract or Service. The Checks by Payee listing in Bank Reconciliation can be printed based on the coding. A listing of Sub-Accounts with expired insurance can be printed in A/P > Reports > Insurance Reports.
See A/R Options Tab
ACH Tab
Enter the ACH information per Sub-Account (owners, vendors, etc) on the ACH tab. ACH files can be generated for checking, savings. loan payments, and bank GL type transactions.
NOTE: The Special Instructions fields are memo fields for notes.
Open ACH bank Maintenance | Button to set up ACH bank accounts |
Bank | Customer and/or Vendor's 6 digit bank account set up in ACH bank accounts (i.e. this is a Pak Accounting code not from the bank) (Note: You will be prompted to validate your bank if it is not listed in the ACH Bank Master.) |
Account | Customer and or Vendor's account number at their bank. Additionally, the system will not allow the input of special characters (-, ", :, etc.) when entering account information. Only numeric values may be entered. |
Type | Type of account transferring to or from: Checking,Savings, Loan Payment, or Bank GL. |
# days due | Entering a number in this field turns on the ACH feature for this customer/vendor. If you leave this field as 0, the extract will not include this Sub-Account. The # you enter will add that number of days to the GL effective date and extract those invoices (for example, an invoice with a GL effective date of 7/2/24, a #1 in this field will extract invoices through 7/3/24) |
One Time $ | If you would like to NOT extract the full amount of the A/R or A/P, enter a dollar amount in this field and that one time it will only extract the dollar amount entered (i.e. partial payment). |
Prenote Date | Also see Prenote under Accounting Terms. |
ACH Type | Indicates whether the ACH type is for an individual (PPD) or business (CCD). |
Override Bank Account Name | GL ACH will use the bank in this field if specified instead of the Sub-Account description / name. |
Contact Info Tab
Record the contact information for the vendor or customer. Users that are added are considered active. Right-clicking on the user provides the option to deactivate a user if necessary. If the user is deactivated, they will not appear on any lookups or reporting that provides contact information.
- Note: The Email field is validated for a proper email address.
- Comments: Any comments are contained here and do not print on any reports.
- Statement Email: Enter an email address for this customer in order to send an A/R statement by email. If sending to multiple email addresses enter a semi-colon (;) after each email address. See A/R statements. This field is also used for GL ACH statements that are being emailed as well.
- A/R Statement - Attn: Entering a name on this line will print an attention line on the A/R statement. This will help you direct the statement to the correct individual at a company.
Groups Tab
If the Sub-Account belongs to a group, then the groups associated with the Sub-Account will be displayed. See Financial Summary Groups.
NOTE: If the check box option to print the property information on property level reports only is checked, then when running financial reports at the group level, the property information will print only on the individual property reports and not on the group total report.
Active Dates Tab
Set the Sub-Account as active or inactive by setting the dates. NOTE: If a vendor is no longer used, do NOT delete the vendor so you can keep the history. Mark the vendor inactive by entering an inactive date. The vendor will no longer show up on reports. NOTE: To make a Sub-Account active when it was previously inactive, enter 12/31/9999 in the Property Inactive Date on the Company Options tab in Property Maintenance.
Notes Tab
Enter any date sensitive notes related to the Sub-Account. Click on the "+" sign in the middle of the screen to access the field in which to add the note. Click on the "check mark" button in order to save the note when finished.
This tab also contains a check box for Contacted. This allows you to indicate whether contact has been made with the customer/vendor or owner and will be associated with a note entry that is date and time stamped. This is used with the Unclaimed Property process. Any Contacted check boxes during the dormancy period triggers a restart on the dormancy period for that particular owner, meaning they would not be escheated in the current escheat process.
List gives the ability to filter Notes to Print Associated Docs, see All, Yes-Checked or No-Unchecked.
Documents Tab
Pak Accounting’s scanning option gives the user the ability to scan documents with any Sub-Account defined in Sub-Account maintenance. An unlimited number of documents can be stored for each Sub-Account as Documents, Pictures, or a W-9. When a W-9 is scanned on the Documents tab, a box called "Has W-9" will be checked on the A/P Options tab to alert you that the W-9 exists and has been scanned for this vendor. A user provided name for each document (one or more pages) provides for a great deal of flexibility and for easy retrieval. Some examples would be:
- Accounts Payable – vendor contracts
- Accounts Receivable – customer information - written changes of address or other pertinent information explicit to one particular customer
- Payroll – employee information - all entrance and exit forms such as Drivers License, Social Security Card, Application, Resume, Letter of Accommodations, Signed Authority for Payroll deduction
- Leases – Contracts with land owners, maps
Sub-Account Maintenance has an A/P Invoice Scan Setting and Duplex Options. These settings are used when scanning in accounts payable invoices. There is no need to change them on this screen. If you change the scan settings when scanning an invoice, the system will automatically remember the new setting for that Vendor. For example, if a vendor has invoices with detail on both sides, but has preprinted verbiage on the back you don’t want scanned. Then before scanning the invoice, override the “Auto-Detect” Duplex Option with the 1 Sided setting. In the future this vendor’s custom setting will be remembered. The "Global Default" option points back to the settings that were selected for scanning in the Utilities Module > Global > #96-Default Scan Settings. See also Scanning Master Documents.
Fees Tab
The fees tab is used in Revenue/Billing and is only visible on the Owner Sub-Table. Also see: Check Fee.
List See: Listing and Labels, Sub-Account Views
Also See: Sub-Account Utilities and Owner Maintenance.