Sometimes we send a cheque to pay for an order prior to receiving the goods and the invoice. In the meantime I record the cheque payment. Prior to receiving the invoice this cheque is meant to pay we could receive another invoice that will be paid either immediately or later. When I enter the second invoice the program assigns the payment for the first invoice to the second invoice. Why is this and can it not happen?
This happens because you have an undesignated debit lodged in the supplier’s subaccount under Accounts payable. You have, in effect, paid a deposit to the Supplier. Manager allocates this to your next obligation to that supplier. For more information, see Record supplier deposits and advances | Manager.
There are several ways to handle this. One is to use special accounts to avoid automatic allocations. Read this Guide: Avoid automatic credit allocations with special accounts | Manager.
That could be more effort than it is worth. Once all purchase invoices have been entered and payments recorded, the supplier’s account will work itself out, as long as you don’t allocate payments to specific invoices. (If you allocate a payment after an automatic allocation has occurred, you’ll get an overpaid situation. For more on that, see https://www.manager.io/guides/12951.)
Another thing you could do is forego the purchase invoice and just enter the payment. Purchase invoices are meant to record purchases on credit. When you pay in advance of receiving goods or invoice, that is a cash purchase. The only disadvantage of this is that the payment is not tied to the supplier’s Accounts payable subaccount and, therefore, will not appear on supplier statements (if that matters to you).
Thanks.