Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central for Bookkeepers

Data Management Features for Bookkeepers in Dynamics 365 Business Central

Bookkeepers are essential for handling a small business’s day to day financials. When it comes to managing invoices, billing, bank statements, and more, bookkeepers need access to the right data management tools. Not all software is up to the task.

With Dynamics 365 Business Central, bookkeepers can accomplish their daily tasks quickly and easily. Thanks to the integration between Microsoft Outlook and Business Central, it’s possible to enter and automate purchase invoices directly from your email client.

In this blog post, we’ll look at how Business Central can make a bookkeeper’s job faster and easier than ever before. In particular, we’ll look at:

● Entering a purchase invoice

● Automating the entry of purchase invoices

● Reviewing vendor balances

● Paying vendors

...all with the help of Business Central.

Is your business ready to transition to Dynamics 365 Business Central? JourneyTEAM has the knowledge and skill set to help. To learn more, visit our Business Central page.

Entering a Purchase Invoice in Dynamics 365 Business Central

First, we’ll look at how a bookkeeper can manually enter a purchase invoice within Microsoft Outlook.

For many businesses, turnover is a fact of life. Imagine that you’ve hired a new bookkeeper. Rather than training them to use an entirely new program, why not provide them with an integration that allows them to enter purchase invoices directly from their email client? That’s precisely what Business Central allows you to do.

From within Microsoft Outlook, open an email containing a purchase invoice. From here, click the Contact Insights button in the top ribbon. Thanks to the integration between Outlook and Business Central, you’ll be provided with an overview of the vendor statistics associated with the selected email.

In the Business Central pane that opens, click the plus sign, and select New. Immediately, Business Central analyzes the body of the email and suggests the appropriate line items based on the purchase invoice from the vendor. Review these to ensure that they’re correct, and then click OK. Finally, enter the vendor invoice number, select the ellipsis, click Post, and then confirm by clicking Yes. If you log into Business Central and search for the purchase invoice number, you’ll see that the invoice is now entered into the system.

Automate Purchase Invoice Entry

What if a vendor sends an invoice as an attachment, rather than including it in the body of an email?

With the email open, click the Contact Insights button again. Select the plus sign in the Business Central pane, click Send to Incoming Documents, and select OK. Now, open Business Central and select the Incoming Documents tile. On the next screen, you’ll see the invoice you’ve just forwarded.

Open this invoice, review it to ensure it’s correct, and then select the Send to OCR Service button in the top ribbon. OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition. This service will scan the invoice for the appropriate data and automatically fill in a purchase invoice for you within the Business Central system. In just a few seconds, you’ll receive a message indicating that the invoice was successfully analyzed. 

Click OK, then select Create Document from the top ribbon. Open the new purchase invoice, and click the Post button to post the invoice.

Reviewing Vendor Balances

What about when it comes to reviewing vendor balances? This is easier than ever with Business Central. From the dashboard, click Vendors and select the appropriate account. From here, you can drill down into the vendor’s balance with a single click, giving you the ability to quickly review the vendor’s invoices.

Paying Vendors in Business Central

Paying vendors is easy, too. From the Business Central dashboard, select Cash Management and click Payment Journals. Click the PMT REG journal line, then select Suggest Vendor Payments from the top ribbon. This will automatically suggest payment lines, saving you the time of entering them manually.

Dynamics 365 Business Central for Bookkeepers

Dynamics 365 Business Central is the perfect tool when it comes to bookkeeper data management. It reduces the initial learning curve associated with learning an entirely new system, all while reducing data entry, improving your control over business data, and cutting down on errors.

Are you ready to get started with Business Central? JourneyTEAM was chosen as the 2019 Microsoft US Partner of the Year for Dynamics 365 Business Central. Our knowledge and expertise when it comes to Business Central is second to none. We’ll help your business make the transition efficiently and affordably. Contact us now to get started.