Should a credit card payment be recorded as a bill or a journal entry?

[KJ23]

I have a very small retail business that I started from scratch and I wrote an ERP, including basic accounting software, to be able to run it efficiently. I've learned a lot about accounting, but am a far cry from a real accountant and have a basic question for you.

Under the accounting section of my ERP, I have these areas:

Bills (for business purchases)
Purchase Orders (for ordering inventory)
Journal Entries (for recording bank transfers and *currently* CC payments)

General Ledger (shows all of the bills, purchase orders, and journal entries in one place)
Chart of Accounts (just your typical chart of accounts)

I have been recording credit card payments by making journal entries, crediting my bank account and debiting my credit card account, but it occurred to me today that this might not be the "right" way to do it. What I'm doing works fine, but I'm wondering if I should really consider a credit card payment to be a bill?

What do you think?

 

[Samir]

I think what you're doing sounds right. Credit cards are a short-term AR, so when you get them, you reduce your AR and increase your bank account.

The question is, how do you book chargebacks and merchant fees as a lot of these come 'included' in deposits into your bank account?