Some thoughts on Manager

[random]

Hey there,
Coming from Zero Experience on accounting, burning a hole in my pocket buying Tally then pulling my hair out, moving to Quickbooks and being lost, I decided to find a human accountant who pointed out Manager.io (as my accounting needs are basic he said) … and boy this ware has grown on me. I can finally use something and wrap my head around it.

However,
Nothing is perfect, so here are a few issues I seem to be facing with no resolution, yet.

1. Under the invoices tab, when sorted by invoice number (from 100 to 1) … the invoices of the Same Date, do not follow the order… ( it goes like 90, 89, 88, 86, 85, 87, 84…), where 87, 86, 85 have the same Date, but seem to arrange themselves out of order. Cant seem to fix this.

2. Upon receiving money against invoice number x,
   choosing bank transaction → we have only “Pending & Cleared”

Now, this might suffice some, but in my line of work, in recent times, Cheques have been dis-honored, returned due to insufficient balance and/or signature mismatch.
In such cases we tend to charge the customer, or the customer prefers to settle a portion by cash and return a portion of supplies back…

Either case scenario, the option of Bounced cheque, with bank charges against the customer’s invoice carried forwarded to his account and/or settled portion by Cash, should be an option.

If it exists, Would appreciate a way to apply it.

3. Invoicing,
   Sometimes, there are additional un-billed expenses, absorbed by us, associated with an order. These charges are often recurring (such as delivery, fines, penalties). It becomes difficult to record these having a reference to the invoice associated with that order.
   So would appreciate a way to record un-billed expenses associated with invoice, then accounted within “less expenses”.
   A way of doing it, is create an expense group then expense account of Delivery to it. But doesnt work invoice-wise.

4. Total amount in words
   I have shown the Invoice generated by manager to a couple of accountants, and they said this is “not acceptable” as per UAE’s FTA laws.
   Ive searched extensively on the forum, and only response is find a programmer. Is there a DIY guide or something, to get started?

5. Notification center
   Notifdying the status on deposited cheques, overdue payments, expenses etc

Other than this, I pretty much love this ware.

[Tut]

@random

when sorted by invoice number (from 100 to 1) … the invoices of the Same Date, do not follow the order

How did you sort? Did you click the column heading?

@random

we have only “Pending & Cleared”

And until a cheque clears satisfactorily, it is pending. Think about it: what would you do with a Bounced-status check that you cannot do with a Pending-status cheque? Remember, this is an accounting program, not a customer relationship management program or a delinquent debts tracking program.

As for bank charges against a customer’s invoice, this would be incorrect accounting. The bank charges are assessed to your business, not to the customer, and certainly not as an addition to a prior invoice. Now, you can choose to charge the customer for collection costs, but those are new transactions.

As for your complaint about associating unmilled expenses with an invoice, that, too, would be incorrect accounting. A sales invoice records a specific demand for payment. If you have other things to invoice at a later time, those are new transactions.

@random

I have shown the Invoice generated by manager to a couple of accountants, and they said this is “not acceptable” as per UAE’s FTA laws.

Then provide a link to UAE official government sources showing requirements that Manager does not meet. A detailed reading of the law shows that Manager is compliant.

@random

Notifdying the status on deposited cheques, overdue payments, expenses etc

Cheque status is visible under the Bank Accounts tab. Invoice status is listed, in full color, under the Sales Invoices or Purchase Invoices tabs. What you mean by status of expenses I can’t guess.

[sharpdrivetek]

@random

the invoices of the Same Date, do not follow the order… ( it goes like 90, 89, 88, 86, 85, 87 , 84…), where 87, 86, 85 have the same Date, but seem to arrange themselves out of order.

@Tut looks like another user who is affected by the absence of timestamps in Manager.

[random]

@Tut

How did you sort? Did you click the column heading?

Yes, I clicked the “#” where it sorted in descending order.
I did realise… Manager tends to sort Invoices With the same date, in order of the payments received. (I think so)
I created 4 orders today of which 3 payments were received, and invoices got arranged in order of the first payment received,… despite being in the invoice tab.

@Tut

As for bank charges against a customer’s invoice, this would be incorrect accounting. The bank charges are assessed to your business, not to the customer, and certainly not as an addition to a prior invoice. Now, you can choose to charge the customer for collection costs, but those are new transactions.

Ok,
But when viewing a customer account, where invoice and payment against invoice is recorded in chronological order, when asked by teh customer, I usually present them with a print out of this account statement (earlier in ms excel)…

Then, wouldnt it be wise, if the statement reflected, X cheque, against Y invoice, bearing chq number aaaaaa, dated ad/cd/tuvw was dis-honored, thus bank charges of $XX has been applied to your account.

Especially if its a credit customer.

If not, then could you recommend me a way of doing it ?

@Tut

As for your complaint about associating unmilled expenses with an invoice, that, too, would be incorrect accounting. A sales invoice records a specific demand for payment. If you have other things to invoice at a later time, those are new transactions.

Agreed.

@Tut

Then provide a link to UAE official government sources showing requirements that Manager does not meet. A detailed reading of the law shows that Manager is compliant.

unfortunately, I do not have this. Im just a trader & service provider, who is using the software for my requirements. But then come these highly qualified professional accountants, who tell me “the tax invoice” needs Billed amount in words, disclaimer footer, Receive and dispatch signature columns etc…

Anyhow, my present solution is stick to Excel Template for invoicing, and manually store each invoice as attachment in Manager.

@Tut

Cheque status is visible under the Bank Accounts tab. Invoice status is listed, in full color, under the Sales Invoices or Purchase Invoices tabs. What you mean by status of expenses I can’t guess.

Its just a thought.
The opening page of Manager is the Summary.
Where Assets, net income, less expenses etc are displayed.
There could be a section below, Notifying, Pending cheques, overdue payments for the day, etc (like an action center)

For instance, some days we are caught up, and forget to check on the status of the cheque deposited a day prior. Or follow up with a customer whos bill is overdue for today, or email an invoice, etc…

If manager could notify to Input The status of cheque, follow up on payments and other stuff… it could bring in a lot of convenience. Similar to Androids notification pane.

[Tut]

@random

If not, then could you recommend me a way of doing it ?

Adding bad-cheque charges to a customer’s account can only be done with a sales invoice for such a new charge. The charge from the bank is still your expense. You may be able to recover the expense from your customer, but only as a separate transaction. You might decide to handle bad cheque charges as billable expenses. See these Guides:

https://guides.manager.io/5503
https://guides.manager.io/9652

Even then, you will need a new sales invoice.

[ismail]

@Tut

If not, then could you recommend me a way of doing it ?

@random May be this will work for you.
Go to the Chart of Accounts and under the Revenue Group an item as “Late Payment Service”.
Edit the invoice and add a line , leave the item code blank, select “Late Payment Service” and input the value - This way you will have a single invoice and penalty included.
When the Bank charges, record it under the bank charges in P&L Expense.

[Tut]

@ismail’s idea will work from a technical viewpoint. But editing sales invoices after they have already been presented to the customer is poor business practice. You have two versions of the same document in circulation, with no way to prove the customer ever received the revised one. That could lead to disputes. Giving the customer a corrected invoice when an actual error was made and the correction is in the customer’s favor is workable if the invoice is clearly marked as a corrected version. (A customer will happily pay a lesser amount.) A revision that costs more could easily be ignored, especially by a customer who already gave you a cheque with insufficient funds.

[ismail]

@tut is right too. Document correction for any reason should have the revision tag. And as a best practice should get the acknowledgement from the receiver. As Manager invoice number is editable just add a tag ‘_Rev1’. If @random using auto generated invoice number, then he should take care in the very next new invoice only not to follow the rev tag. format. So simple

[ismail]

Hi, you can create a debit note in this case to the customer. no need of invoice.

[Joe91]

And the difference between a Debit Note to a customer and an Invoice to a Customer is?

[Tut]

Sorry, @ismail, but debit notes can only be issued to suppliers. Even if you create a supplier that is identical to a customer, the resulting subsidiary ledgers in Accounts payable and Accounts receivable will not be linked. And, if they could, you cannot post a debit note to Accounts receivable, so there would be no way for the charge to be allocated to the account of the customer.