The “Voucher Register,” or the “Accounts Payable Register,” as it is sometimes called, is the book of original entry in which the voucher and its distribution are recorded. This register is a journal so far as its scheme of debit and credit is concerned, but its record is not usually supplemented by a formal subsidiary ledger—though it may be—posting of it being limited to the general ledger. The register must provide columns for date, voucher number, name of creditor, explanation, amount, distribution, and payment. There are many different forms and rulings, the information desired never being quite the same in any two businesses, but a typical form of voucher register is shown on page 35.
Distribution of Vouchers
As soon as a purchase invoice has been approved, a voucher—sometimes called a voucher jacket where the original invoice itself is attached to it—is made for it, the distribution of the charges is authorized, and entry is made in the voucher register. All vouchers are numbered consecutively and entered in numerical sequence, which is usually also chronological sequence. The amount of the voucher is entered in the total column, Vouchers Payable or Accounts Payable, whatever the account title is on the general ledger. The next column, Purchase Discount, may or may not be merely a memorandum column, depending on the use made of it, as will be explained later.
Voucher Register (left-hand page)
Voucher Register (right-hand page)
From the Vouchers Payable column, distribution on the same line is made into the columns for the various accounts to be charged. To secure a complete distribution without waste of space, a Sundry Charges column is provided for entry in detail of all items of infrequent occurrence, each account to be charged being named in the explanation space to the right of this column. Following this comes the record of date and manner of payment, with a final column in which to extend at the end of the month all unpaid vouchers and so indicate the detail of the total outstanding liability. The voucher record is capable of almost indefinite expansion through the use of short-margin insert sheets. Provision can in this way be made for a large number of columns for analysis.
Posting of Summary Totals
At the end of the month, or oftener if desired, the voucher register is summarized and posted. Inasmuch as usually no subsidiary ledger is kept when the voucher system is in use, there is no day-to-day record on the ledger of the purchasing activities of the business. Accordingly, a complete double entry must be made by way of periodic summary. It was at one time thought desirable to make this summary entry through the general journal or, at any rate, by setting up a formal journal entry on the face of the voucher register. As the degree of analysis increased, the futility of such a procedure became apparent and now posting to the ledger accounts is made directly from column totals as shown in the illustration. The Sundry Charges column is posted in detail to the named accounts as indicated. Proof of distribution should always be secured by checking the total of the distributive column totals against the total of the Vouchers Payable column. In posting, the total of the Voucher Payable column is credited to its account, while the totals of the distributive columns are debited to their respective accounts.