Accounts Payable is what is unpaid to vendors for purchased goods or services.
After you purchase a service or a product for your business, the money you owe the vendor is part of Accounts Payable until you pay the vendor by check or credit card. We track this for tax purposes and to create the annual reporting of the 1099 misc forms. However, most business owners want to know how much owe to vendors. We also track payments to vendors to insure that there is no duplicate payments made.