What is the preferred workflow for receiving a payment from a customer that applies to several invoices? The Guide says to credit the payment to Customer Credits and it will be automatically allocated against open invoices, apparently FIFO. That works, but it creates additional ledger entries with long descriptions.
And to get there, I have to drill down through the Cash Accounts or Bank Accounts tab to get to a Receive Money button, and then I have to type the customer’s name twice, first in the Payer field and then again in the Customer field after selecting Customer Credits. Getting there through the more-intuitive Customers tab requires me to select an outstanding invoice first, then clear the pre-filled Accounts receivable line entry.
Is there a more efficient way both (1) to get to the Receive Money form, and (2) to credit the payment directly to Accounts Receivable for the particular customer but to have it allocated automatically across several invoices, without making an intermediate, superfluous Customer Credits entry?
One other question: When I originally enter a payment under Customer Credits, Manager displays a Customer Credit Allocation report that outlines which invoices the payment was applied against. I can’t seem to figure out how to get that report to display again. I’ve tried clicking on the amount in the cash account register, but it doesn’t display the allocation report. Any guidance?
What I use is bank receive, accounts receivable and then select the invoices that the client has paid. Its pretty similar to what you do, but then you don’t have additional ledger entries with long descriptions I guess. Not sure about reporting for this option though.
@dalacor: If I understand you correctly, the way you do it requires that you manually enter the amount that applies to each invoice. That’s not a good workflow. If a customer has outstanding invoices for $1,000, $2,000, $3,000, and $4,000 (oldest to newest), and he pays you $6,000, then your method apparently requires you to make entries for each of the first 3 invoices, figuring out the invoice number and amount for each. The Customer Credit method takes care of the invoice numbers and amounts automatically, but the accounting is messy.
I get the feeling that there’s a better way that I’ve used in the past, but I can’t seem to figure out what it is.
Shouldn’t all of this happen automatically? Or maybe there should be something akin to the Billable Time workflow (Customers > Uninvoiced' > New Sales Invoice’), where you could click on the Accounts receivable hyperlink in the Customers tab, and then see a list of all outstanding invoices with little check boxes, and then you could either click an Apply Payment to Oldest Invoices button, or you could select check boxes for the invoices you want a payment applied against, and then click a Receive Money box there?
Yes that was something that irritated me. Having to put in the amount manually. I would recommenda that @lubos change it to default to the amount of the invoice and people can overwrite this if they are not paying/receiving the full amount.
I think what would be a good option is to be able to tick invoices and select receive/pay - sort of like a bulk option.
I have only just started using the bank spend - accounts payable today so perhaps I am not the best person to advise you. In the past I have just been clicking each invoice and doing spend/receive, but my accountant says that if I pay multiple invoices in one transaction on my bank account, then I need to show this in Manager as well.
To what additional entries do you refer, @Jon? And why does that matter?[quote=“Jon, post:1, topic:5396”]
I have to type the customer’s name twice
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Be honest!. You only have to start the name twice. The auto search feature narrows the options pretty quickly. You just need to type slower so Manager can do the work for you.
Drill down on the Customer credits balance for a customer, either in the Customers tab or from the Summary. Then View. You can’t get there through the bank account that I know of.
In general, @Jon, you’ve hit the various methods. I typically work from the sales invoice because I so rarely have a customer make a payment for more than one invoice at a time. But if I had a multiple, I’d go with the Customer credits allocation approach. I suppose you could always clone one receipt and edit the sales invoice number, too.
I confess, I’m laughing out loud at you two complaining about entering payments for multiple invoices. Personally, I’d stand on one leg, rub my stomach, and sing the Hallelujah Chorus if that’s what it took to get payment from some of my clients. Compared to being the banker for a Fortune 500 company while their accounting department picks nits to improve their own cash flow, having to type in a name seems like small beer.
In future, general ledger will be simplified in relation to this. For example, you will debit Accounts receivable, select customer name and Manager will directly debit individual invoices. Customer credit account will be debited only if there will be actual credit.
This way general ledger for customer credit will be a lot easier to understand as it will not contain so much chatter.
Continue using Customer credits account. When new implementation is done, data will be migrated retrospectively without any downside.
In the past I have just been clicking each invoice and doing spend/receive, but my accountant says that if I pay multiple invoices in one transaction on my bank account, then I need to show this in Manager as well.
You only have to start the name twice. The auto search feature narrows the options pretty quickly. You just need to type slower so Manager can do the work for you. 
