"Dollars Paid" is a transaction type in the JC Transaction file.  "Dollars Paid" transactions are created when a check or electronic payment is made against a cost invoice, 

The detail data captured in the Transaction record for a "Dollars Paid" transaction includes the Vendor ID, Invoice, Distribution Sequence, Commitment, Commitment Line Item, Bank Account and Check Number, among other detail, including the Accounting Date (the date of the payment).

By now you've probably deduced why YTD COST can be different than DOLLARS PAID. Hint: A cost invoice (YTD COST) could be entered with an accounting date in a prior year, and the payment (DOLLARS PAID) transaction could be recorded in the current year.

Art Minds
Senior Independent Consultant
Pasadena, California
Serving Sage 300 CRE clients nationwide
[email protected] 626-792-2477

thank you. attached a completed project and YTD COST is accurate. in this case the DOLLARS PAID = YTD COST. would you please to explain why the DOLLORS PAID has the highter number? 20220722142922.pdf

Lily, to answer your question requires access to your data files. You would need to examine the Dollars Paid transactions and Cost transactions in your JC Transaction file for this job. When you run the "Cash Flow Variance Report" there is a checkbox to "include extras". Be sure that is checked.  Have you moved any transactions to history? Could there have been some negative amounts entered in JC > Tasks > Enter Direct Costs? 

I suggest you go to the JC > Reports > Entries and select "Entries by Job".  You will run this report TWICE. Leave the "Date from" and "Date to" blank to include ALL transactions (you may have. a transaction with an unexpected or irregular date, and this will assure you pick it up in your report). 

1 On your first run of this report, select "Transaction Type "Costs" from the drop-down list and use the "Ranges" button to select your job 22-018;  This report will show you the cost detail transactions and should total the amounts your other report show for JTD Costs.

2.On your second run of this report, Select "All" from the Transaction types drop-down list, but then click  the "Conditions" button, and in the pop-up box that appears, click the "Add" button without changing anything else.  In the next box that appears, under the "JC. - Transaction" panel at the left scroll down and select "Transaction Type", then in the center panel be sure "Equal To" is selected, and in the right panel drop-down list, select "Dollars paid" and click "OK". Click OK twice and then Preview and print your report.  

Compare the totals and the detail that appears on both reports to find the reason for the difference in totals of Costs vs Dollars Paid.

Art Minds
Senior Independent Consultant
Pasadena, California
[email protected] 626-792-2477

I need to clarify that the reports I sent in the previous email were updated and accurate. it was a small project set up a few months ago and completed recently. there is no adjusting entry in JC and no history file. so the total JC suppose equal to COLLARS PAID on all the reports. the COST from JC ENTRIES BY JOB is correct, same as the other reports. However, the total DOLLARS PAID shows a lower amount than the CASH FLOW VARIANCE REPORT. it only picks up the number paid in AP, not payroll. from these reports, I still can't figure out where the extra $5189.09 of DOLLARS PAID came from.
the extra figure appears on every project, it's my first time seriously asking for help. I very much appreciate your answer and advice. do you think this is a bug that Sage has not noticed yet? I don't mind sharing the data file with you if you could find the error on my end.JC - Cost.PDFJC - Dollars Paid.PDF

Lily, you may have just identified the source of the difference by mentioning PR cost.  Payroll cost is NOT included in the Dollars Paid transactions. Dollars Paid transactions are created solely from payments against AP invoices.  Some reports in Sage include a formula that ADDS payroll cost to the "Dollars Paid" accumulated amounts stored on the Category, Cost Code, Extra and Job records for specific report purposes.  I believe the summary reports you sent may include that formula when reporting Dollars Paid. However, Payroll cost should already be reflected in Job Cost to Date (perhaps not YTD Job Cost, if the payroll was incurred early in the project in late 2021.  But all costs to date are included in the JTD costs.  Again, the best way to resolve this is to look at the detail JC transactions for the job, with transactions types of "Cost" and "Dollars Paid".  

I should also mention that your system could have had "hiccup" somewhere along the way.  Occasionally stored accumulated totals do not always reflect the total of transactions when a posting or processing operation has a hiccup due to electrical or computer network gremlins.  You should always review the report generated by the system when you perform JC > Tasks > Close Month.  That report reveals whether a job may be out of balance with transactions, and in certain cases you need to manually adjust the stored totals to balance with the transactions totals.

Art MInds
Senior Independent Counsel
Pasadena, California
626-792-2477

Thank you for the quick reply. yes, I agree the total cost = AP cost + PR cost, DOLLARS PAID = AP cost only = $15,251.06. but the DOLLARS PAID appears 28070 on the CASH FLOW VARIANCE REPORT, which is much more than the JC of 22,880.91. I've done all the research digging the extra DOLLARS PAID. it seems you don't believe it's a bug. I will spend more time analyzing DOLLARS PAID on a few more other completed projects in the next few weeks. talk to you soon.

Lily,

When I replied earlier to your most recent message, I failed to notice your attachments. As your attached report of "Dollars Paid" transactions shows, "Dollars Paid" for Cost Code 1-033 Project Labor totals $5,687 while the Cost entries totals $13,317.35.  Only category "LS" originated from AP and is included in the "Dollars Paid" transactions, although it is coded as "Labor" cost. When I total the "Dollars Paid" transactions on your detail report, your actual "Dollars Paid" total is $15,240.27.  The earlier report you included  showed "Dollars Paid" as $28,070.  That amount shown on that report takes all Dollars Paid transactions and adds Payroll cost.  As you can plainly see from your transaction report showing "Dollars Paid", Category LS totaling $5,687.50 is already included as "Dollars Paid".  Therefore, when the total Payroll cost of $13,317.35 is added to the Dollars Paid total of $15,240.27, it is overstated by $5,687.50. 

Therefore, if it is standard operating practice in your company to code amounts originating in AP as "Labor" costs, then your reports will all be overstated in terms of "Dollars Paid" by the amount of Labor costs originating from AP.

You may need to customize your reports to reflect your current operating procedures or no longer code AP entires to a Category that accumulates as Labor cost type.

You can review the accumulated totals on the job by going to JC > Setup > Jobs and selecting the current job. Look at the amount shown under the "Dollars Paid" heading on the "Cost Totals" and "Cost Totals (Extras)" tabs.  Add them together to confirm the total JTD Cost including Extras.  Then look at the "Dollars Paid" tab and "Dollars Paid (Extras)" tab to see the distribution by cost type of the accumulated "Dollars Paid" amounts.  Note the amount on the Labor line. Then texamine is the "Accumulation Period Totals" and "Accumulation Period Totals (Extras)" under the "Labor" column.  That is the amount that is added to the accumulated "Dollars Paid" (including amounts already reported as Dollars Paid because the cost came from AP as cost type = Labor".

I hope this helps you understand what is being reported on the standard reports you are using.

Art Minds
Senior Independent Consultant
Pasadena, California
626-792-2477

Lily,

Your reply ignores the details I provided in my later reply below. Please see for details.  The difference between your $22K total cost and $28K Dollars paid is explained below, and solely accounted for the the double addition of the "Labor" costs generated from AP.  That amount is added to the amounts from Payroll in the "Labor" cost type accumulator. Therefore, the AP Dollars Paid is double-counting some of the "Labor" cost accumulated amounts that is being added to the AP Dollars Paid.

Art Minds

thank you for a detailed explanation. I finally understand how the transaction data is being picked up for the DOLLARS PAID. I have fixed the setting in AP vendor, JC cost code, and category for the independent contractors. I'm expecting accurate reports for future projects.

sorry, this email was sent before read your last email. now I fully understand how the cost for independent contractors is being calculated in both AP cost and labor cost, I've fixed the setting. looking forward to the accurate cash flow variance report in next projects.

Thank you for your great support. very good experience at Sage City.

t doesnt include any "Enter direct cost" items you put in the system. For example if you paid something on a credit card and just manually entered it instead of going through AP. DOLLARS PAID is only picking up cash out through AP and PR.

Hi Lily,

This is also discussed in this knowledgebase article:

https://support.na.sage.com/selfservice/viewdocument.do?noCount=true&externalId=41136

Thanks!