Payments

The Payments option is used to record payments received from customers and to allocate them against outstanding invoices.  The Payments option can also be used to record early settlement discounts and to allocate previously unallocated payments and credit notes to invoices.

To access the Payments option select Tasks > Customer > Payments from the main menu or through the Customer section by clicking the Transactions button and selecting Payment from the menu.

The Payments window enables you to enter one payment at a time. You enter the information about the payment in the top part of the window and allocate the payment amount against outstanding invoices in the list in the bottom part of the window.

Toolbar

The options on the Toolbar at the top of the window are used to carry out tasks related to the payment you are entering or amending :

Click the Save button to record the payment you are entering.  Once saved, the form will clear ready to enter another payment.

Click the Save & Close button to record the payment you are entering and close the window immediately after completion.

Click the Abandon button to discard any changes made for a payment and for all the relevant entry fields and allocations to be reset.

Click the Auto button to automatically allocate the payment value you enter (into the Payment Amount box) against invoices starting from the oldest first and ignoring any transactions that are marked as On Query.

Click the Undo All button to undo all of the allocations you have made for this payment but maintaining the rest of the payment details.

To enter a payment complete the details on the form as explained below :

Bank Ref.

Select the bank account that you want this payment to be recorded to. This will default to the Default Bank Account setting in the Control Accounts page in Company Preferences. Click the down-arrow button or press Alt+DownArrow on your keyboard to drop-down a list of available bank accounts to select from. When you have selected your bank account, the account name will be displayed in the Account Name box under Payment Details.

Customer Ref.

Enter the reference of the customer you want to record the payment for. If you opened this option from the Customer section then the selected customer will be entered by default. Enter the reference directly or click the Look-Up button (magnifying glass) to search and locate the customer you want. Once selected, their name will also be displayed and all of the outstanding transactions for the customer will be loaded into the allocation list at the bottom of the window.

Date

Enter the date for the payment. This will default to today's (sign-in) date. Click the down-arrow button or press Alt+DownArrow on your keyboard to select a date from a calendar.

Reference

Enter a brief reference of up to 20 characters to identify the payment.

Details

Enter a description for the payment of up to 80 characters. This will initially default to the Default Payment Transaction Details setting in the Transactions > Customers/Suppliers page in Company Preferences.

Payment Amount

Enter the payment amount for the transaction. If you prefer for the software to calculate the payment amount based upon the total of the transactions that you allocate then leave this value as zero.

Allocating Transactions

The Payment form is very flexible in the options it provides to allocate a payment against outstanding transactions. There are two primary ways to allocate a payment :

1) Manual Payment Amount

Enter the payment value in the Payment Amount box and allocate this amount against transactions in the allocations list. You will be able to allocate transactions up to the value of the Payment Amount you have entered. The amount of money still available to allocate at any time is displayed in the Payment Balance box, displayed above the Payment Amount box.

2) Allocation Payment Amount

You allocate the transactions that are being paid and as you do so the Payment Amount is increased to the total amount you have allocated. To use this method you must NOT manually enter a value into the Payment Amount box. This is especially useful if you do not know the total payment amount during entry but want it to be based on the total of the invoices being paid.

Allocating a payment amount is not compulsory and any value on a payment which is not allocated against invoices during payment entry can be allocated later at your convenience.

Whichever method you choose to allocate your payment, the quickest and easiest way to allocate a transaction is to tick it's checkbox in the Pay column. If you have manually entered a payment amount this will fully pay the invoice provided there is enough money in the Payment Balance box to allocate it, otherwise it will Part Pay it with the value remaining in payment balance. If you have not manually entered an amount then the invoice will be fully paid and the Payment Amount will be increased accordingly.

Notice that as you allocate a transaction it's status will change accordingly although it will only be permanently changed when you save the payment.

Allocations Toolbar

Above the allocation list is a toolbar which contains key options related specifically to allocating the payment to transactions in the list :

Pay In Full

Click the Pay in Full button to allocate the full amount of the highlighted transaction in the list. This performs the same task as ticking the transaction's Pay box. If a Payment Amount has been manually entered the software will allocate the invoice up to the value available in the Payment Balance box.

Part Pay

Click the Part Pay button to enter a specific amount against the highlighted transaction in the list. This will pop-up a window to enter the amount into. The same result can also be achieved by manually entering the amount you want to allocate to the transaction directly into it's Paid column.  

Undo Allocation

Click the Undo Allocation button to remove any allocation from the currently highlighted transaction. This performs the same task as unticking a transaction's Pay column. If you have manually entered a Payment Amount then this will increase the Payment Balance value to enable you to allocate this value against other transactions.

Enter a Discount

Click the Enter a Discount button to allocate a payment amount against a transaction along with a discount. Once selected, the Payment Discount window will pop-up asking you to enter a payment amount and a discount value to allocate to the selected transaction. This is useful where an early settlement discount is being taken for a transaction and you need to allocate it without it being part of the payment amount. For example a transaction has a total value of 100.00. There is an early settlement discount being taken of 5.00 so you have actually received 95.00 to pay this transaction. In this instance you would click the Enter a Discount button, enter 95.00 for the Payment and 5.00 for the Discount. Any discount amounts entered will be saved as a separate Discount transaction when the payment is saved.

Lookup

Click the Lookup button to show the full details of the selected transaction. This performs the same function as clicking the magnifying glass next to the transaction in the list.

Allocating Payments & Credit Notes

An important function which you can perform in the Payments option is to allocate previously unallocated payments and credit notes to outstanding invoices.  

When you select a customer, all of their outstanding transactions, including unallocated payments and credit notes, are displayed in the allocations list. You are able to tick these as allocated (or use the other allocation tools as explained above) just as you can with invoices except that when you allocate a payment or credit note, the Payment Balance increases and you can then use that money to allocate against outstanding invoices.

If you are not entering a new payment but want to allocate a credit note or a payment to one or more outstanding invoices then take the following steps :

• Leave the Payment Amount as zero. You can leave the other details as they are as no payment transaction will be recorded.
• Tick the Pay box for the credit note or payment you want to allocate. Notice when you do this, the Payment Amount remains zero but the amount of the credit note/payment increases the Payment Balance amount - this is now available to be allocated.
• Tick the Pay box (or use the Part Pay button) for all of the invoices you want to allocate the payment or credit note against until the Payment Balance is zero. Ensure that the Payment Amount is also zero - if it isn't a payment transaction will be recorded for that amount.
• Check that you have allocated everything, that the Payment Balance and Payment Amount are zero and click Save & Close.

Please note : For straightforward allocations, a quicker and simpler method of allocating transactions is to use the Quick Allocate facility in Transaction History. For more information see the Quick Pay & Quick Allocate topic.