AR-C Record Payments

Purpose of Program

Use this program to record payments made by customers, to apply outstanding credits, or to record NSF (insufficient funds) checks.  You can enter prepayments, take discounts on invoices paid, or apply outstanding credits toward invoices.  You can also enter partial payments on your invoices or spread a payment over several invoices any way you choose including splitting a single payment across multiple customers.

Multi-Currency Processing

If you have multi-currency processing enabled in IM-A  International Configuration, you can invoice and receive customer payments in foreign currencies. General Ledger posting is as follows.

If the Pay option in IM-A  International Configuration is set to N, a credit (in source currency) is made to the AR Control Account.  The offsetting debit (in source currency) is made to this currency's Bank Account.

If the Pay option in IM-A set to Y, there are two GL transactions.  The first one is the same as in the paragraph above.  The second is a currency conversion transaction whereby the amount of the payment is converted to your base currency using the exchange rate maintained in IM-C  Enter Currency Exchange Rates.  This base currency amount is then credited to this currency's F/E Gain/Loss-Trxns account and the offsetting amount is debited to this currency's F/E Gain/Loss-Conversions account.  Thus, the gain or loss is recognized at the time of transaction rather than when the Convert to Base Currency routine is run.

Credit Card Processing

If you have installed X-Charge credit card processing software and entered the credit card processing path and login information in SD-P Customer/AR Defaults, then once the customer has been selected and the cursor advanced to the Date field, a Credit Card button will appear in the lower left corner.  Click the button and a window will open showing the customer credit card information (which can be edited if they want to use a different card or do not have a card on file and it is a one time charge).  Verify the card information and enter the payment amount and click process.  If the charge is approved, the approval code prefixed by V (Visa), M (MasterCard), A (American Express) or D (Discover) will be entered as the Check number and you can then enter a Deposit code and process the payment normally.

Field Explanations

Customer Code

The code of the customer making the payment.

The fields below are filled in automatically from the Customer file.

Customer Name

The customer's name, from the customer file.

Telephone

The customer's telephone number.

Last Sale

The date of the last sale to this customer.

Last Payment

The date of the last payment made by this customer.

Outstanding Amounts

Credits

The total dollar amount in outstanding credits for this customer, if any.

Out Deposits

The total dollar amount in outstanding deposits for this customer, if any.

Out Invoices

The total dollar amount in outstanding invoices toward which payment may be applied.

 

PAYMENT FIELDS

You will enter the actual payment information in the following fields.

Payment Date

Enter the date payment was received.

Check Amount

Enter the amount of the check here.  If this is an NSF check, enter this as a negative amount.  To apply credit to invoices when no actual cash is received, enter $0.

Check Number

The check number.  This is a twenty character alpha-numeric field.  If you are entering a credit card payment or wire transfer or other payment that is not a true check with a check number, enter a unique reference such as a date code.  Do not use the same number repeatedly as this reference is used to identify the transaction in the case of a reversal.

Deposit Number

The deposit number, which is a user defined number used to identify the deposit to clear it from the check register through GL-J  Reconcile Check Register.  This is a six digit numeric field.

General Program Operation

The first step in recording payments is to enter the code of the customer making the payment.  You can enter the customer code or select one from a lookup window by pressing the F2 key (or clicking on the Lookup button).

The customer code you choose is then placed in the Customer Code field.  Press  <Enter> and the customer name, telephone number, and outstanding credits or invoices are displayed.  Enter the payment date, check amount, the check number (required) and the deposit number (required).  This information will be used during check reconciliation (GL-J  Reconcile Check Register) to identify that the check has cleared the bank.

If the customer has prepaid the invoice and you now want to apply customer credits, then enter 0 for the payment amount.  The program allows this only if there is an outstanding credit amount.  You must still enter a check and deposit number but you can use any number as no entry will be made to the check register since the cash amount entered was $0

NOTE:  If this program is used to record an NSF check returned from the bank or to correct an erroneous entry, enter the amount as a negative number, i.e., -100.00, etc.

 

After you enter the deposit number you are asked if you want to use all unapplied credits.

Answering Y automatically selects all existing credits for use in payment of invoices.

If you answer N, you must select which credits you want to use.

Next you must choose which invoices to pay.  You are asked if you want to apply payment to all outstanding invoices, oldest first:

If you answer Y, the program will automatically allow any discounts if paid within the early payment discount time frame.  As many invoices as possible will be paid until the payment amount is exhausted.  You will also be able to change previously recorded payments if you use this option.

Choosing an Individual Invoice for Payment

Your other option is to record individual payments or partial payments on individual invoices.  All outstanding invoices and unapplied credits for this customer are displayed in a window on screen two.

Highlight the invoice to which you want to apply payment, and press <Enter> or click on it.  An entry window will open near the bottom of your screen, showing the invoice number, description and amount, with a space to enter your customer's discount and the amount you wish to apply toward the invoice.

Your cursor is placed in the Discount field.  Enter the discount (if one applies), then enter the amount you wish to apply to this invoice.  This amount can be all or any part of your total of payments and unapplied credits.  Repeat this operation with any other invoices to which you wish to apply payment until you have used all the funds you wish to use.

If you want to change a line item which is out of the entry window, select the invoice and press <Enter> or click on it.  This will place it in the entry window for editing.  Either change the discount or amount paid, or, if you no longer want to apply payment against the invoice, enter zeros in the Discount and Applied fields.  You can also press <Ctrl> and U simultaneously to clear an entry field.

To mark this transaction as complete and save your choices, press <Esc>.  At this point if there is any payment amount remaining  you will be asked if you wish to apply it to open items,  If you answer N, you are asked if you wish to post the payment.  Answer Y and you are asked if the unapplied portion should be posted to a different customer.  If Y, you will be returned to the first screen to enter the customer code for the next customer and continue applying the payment.  If N, you will be asked if the balance should be saved as a Deposit.  If Y, it will post to the GL crediting the Customer Deposit liability account and make an entry to the customer account as Deposit on Account.  If N, it will post to the GL crediting Accounts Receivable and make an entry to the customer account as "Unapplied credit".

If you answer Y when asked if all of the entries are correct, you will be shown a list of bank accounts (if you have more than one), one of which you must choose to record your deposit.  Your payment transaction is then saved and the customer, check register, and Accounts Receivable files will be updated.  You are then returned to the Customer Code field to begin another payment record.

During processing AR-C adds a deposit to the check register and updates the credit and invoice balances and the last payment date in the customer file.

Recording a Deposit

Deposits are defined as advance payments for orders that are not yet invoiced.  You can enter deposits directly through AR-N  Enter/Print Sales Order Deposits or through this program.  If you enter the deposit through AR-N, you may designate it as belonging to a particular sales order so that it will automatically be applied to the invoice(s) that get generated from that sales order.  If you enter the deposit through this program, you will have to manually apply the deposit to the eventual invoice.

Before entering a deposit, make sure you have a GL account specified for Customer Deposits in AD-A  General Ledger Defaults.  Deposits get posted to that account so that the dollars are kept separately from Accounts Receivable.  The default deposit account is a liability account, for technically you are holding someone else's money until an invoice materializes.

To record a deposit, enter the customer code, the date, the check amount, the check number, and the deposit number (bank deposit number).  When the window comes up with the open invoices, don't apply any money.  Press <Esc>,   you will be asked if you wish to apply it to open items.  Answer N, you are asked if you wish to post the payment.  Answer Y and you are asked if the unapplied portion should be posted as a Deposit.  If Y, it will post to the GL crediting the Customer Deposit liability account and make an entry to the customer account as Deposit on Account.  If N, it will post to the GL crediting Accounts Receivable and make an entry to the customer account as Unapplied credit".

For a listing of outstanding deposits by customer, go to AR-N  Enter/Print Sales Order Deposits.

Entering a Reversal or NSF Check

Reversal of a payment entered in error or entry of an NSF Check are both entered as negative amounts.  The only difference between the way the program processes them is that a Reversal is always posted to the same date as the original entry while an NSF check can be posted to the date you are notified by the bank that the check did not clear.  In either case, the amount entered is verified against the check number entered and, provided it matches, the original invoices paid by the check are returned to the open Accounts Receivable.  If there are multiple entries for the customer with the same check number, you will be prompted for the original payment date in an effort to find a unique match.  If no unique match can be identified or the amounts do not match, you will be asked to use a different check number and if no match for the check number is found at all, a new voucher entry will be made rather than reversing prior entries.  Commissions processed by the original payment will not be reversed.