>Hi Jim,
>I will take inpuut from anyone. I appreciate any input.
>
>I oversimplified because it really is a lot simpler than you think. It is not really a credit card transaction and there is no Sears or any other such entity involved.
>
>My question is really about the concept. To boil it down, the question is: Is it necessary to create the 3 separate records or would I be making a mistake if I only create the 1 record but it is viewed as different "things" (for lack of a better way of saying it) depending on whether you are looking at it from the Account or from Payables.
>
>Thanks again,
>John

I don't know this business situation very well, but I will try to answer from the database design perspective.

In general, if most of the data is the same, you might use a single record. Also, if there is a one-to-one relationship, you might add additional fields to the same record.

You must think whether the one-to-one relationship is really guaranteed under all circumstances. As an example, for an "invoice" you might have a corresponding "payment"; you might think of simply adding the date it was paid, or leave it blank if it isn't paid yet. However, the client might make partial payments; so the idea of saving the payment together with the invoice fails in this case.

Company policies might not allow partial payments; but consider that this situation can change in the future.