It is becoming increasingly common for councils to use credit cards to facilitate purchases of minor or ad hoc items, replacing the use of petty cash or the reimbursement of expenses to staff. If a credit card is used it is important to understand how to record the transactions on Scribe.
A credit card permits you to borrow funds to pay for goods or services, with the promise to repay the provider.
Follow the below steps to ensure credit card transactions are managed correctly within Scribe.
We recommend setting up a separate bank account for your credit card that the transactions can be recorded against.
Navigate to Menu Setup -> Bank Balances and create an account for your Credit Card (the opening balance should be £0.00).
Ensure the transactions are recorded with the voucher date being the date the card is paid off, not when the item was charged to the card. Think of it in the same way of ordering goods on an invoice that is paid for later - the Scribe voucher date is not the invoice date, but the date the invoice was paid.
This approach is particularly crucial at Year-End. Only those purchases that are paid off before 31st March should be entered on Scribe for that financial year, as they wouldn't be accurate to be considered as unpresented items. If you make purchases in March, for example, which won't be paid off until the new financial year, they should be entered on Scribe in April or later.
If you finalise your Year End on an Income & Expenditure basis, you can accommodate these purchases using creditor adjustments.
When a payment is made or direct debit taken to top up the credit card, this should be entered as a bank transfer from the relevant bank account (e.g. the current account) to the credit card account.
The bank transfer against both accounts, as well as the transactions against the credit card, can be reconciled to the date that the credit card is paid off. The payments out and transfer in should always net off to give you a current balance of £0.00.
💡 Remember, the method of managing a credit card differs significantly from a charge card, especially considering the obligation to pay off the full balance at the end of each month for the latter.