I love this program. As a creative, the admin side of my business is complicated and confusing at times, and I sometimes forget that I am still owed money!
I always require a 50% deposit before we start with any work. But I cannot find where/how to request for a deposit from clients.
Is there a way to do it with Manager?
Diana
Yes, you can issue a Sales Invoice and for the Account line use a Balance Sheet Liability account called “Deposits Taken” to store the deposits until the final sales Invoice is issued.
When you issue the final Sales Invoice the first Account line would be your normal sales item and on a second account line you would enter the Deposit paid and enter the amount as a negative (minus sign in front.
There is an easier way to handle deposits, @Diana_Ceramics, built right into the program. See this Guide:
https://forum.manager.io/t/customer-deposits-and-advances/7093
As for how to request the deposit, the designed method is via a sales quote. Unlike the approach @Brucanna suggested, which creates an account receivable for work the customer has possibly not yet agreed to, sales quotes have no impact on your balance sheet. You can also rename the sales quote to anything you like, such as Proposal, Pro Forma Invoice, or Deposit Request. See this Guide:
The above Customer Deposits & Advances is an acceptable solution but in your case it could distort your Balance Sheet based on the your comment “I always require a 50% deposit”
If you accept 10 orders, then you would have 10 negative Accounts Receivable balances.
If when an order is completed, the final payment is on delivery then there remains 9 negative balances + any new negative balances from orders received.
I’m not sure that running a constantly negative Accounts Receivable balance is best accounting.
Recording the deposits in a Liability account more clearly defines the position.
If you use Sales Quotes then this can be used to request deposit payments in lieu of a Sales Invoice but some business may still require a “Tax” Invoice before authorising payment.
On Sales Quotes you could always add a term like - If this quote is accepted, please use this document as your Tax Invoice for the Deposit.