Receivables & Dunning

The Receivables console: post invoices, record and allocate receipts, aged debt, customer statements, payment reminders and credit control.

The Receivables Console

The Receivables console is the accounts receivable desk: invoice what has shipped, post invoices and credit notes, record and allocate receipts, see aged debt, send statements and reminders, and keep every customer's credit in hand. It is built for the credit controller and the receivables clerk, not for architects.

Where to find it

Admin Panel → Receivables:

Receivables — the receivables desk; the badge counts invoices and credit notes raised and not yet posted

Architect Panel → ERP - Sales:

Dunning Levels — the reminder ladder as a datastore
Dunning Notices — every reminder produced; the badge counts reminders that failed to send

Who can open it

Admin-tier users whose group holds ERP: Receivables, and architects. As everywhere in the ERP, the company grant decides the rest: read access to a company shows its invoices, ageing and statements; write access lets you raise documents and send statements and reminders; post access is needed to post invoices and record cash, because both write to the ledger.

The figures

Owed to us (net): open invoices less cash and credits not yet applied.
Overdue invoices: invoices past their due date, before unapplied cash is set against them, so it can exceed what is owed while cash waits to be allocated.
Unapplied cash and credits: received or credited, not yet set against an invoice.
Days sales outstanding: worked out on the last 90 days of invoicing.
Invoices to post: invoices and credit notes raised and not yet posted.

Each figure opens the tab that explains it. Choose one company in Company, or All my companies to see the group in one currency.

The tabs

Invoices & credits: every invoice and credit note with what is still open. Filter with Show, Status (including Not yet posted), Customer, dates, a search box and Overdue only.
To invoice: shipped deliveries and service orders not yet invoiced, with an Invoice button per row.
Receipts: record cash and allocate it, and see every receipt recorded.
Aged debt, Statements, Dunning and Credit control: covered in the other articles of this section.
Customers: the customer master, where credit terms are set.

Record a receipt at the top of the screen opens the Receipts tab.

Sending invoices in a batch

Below the invoice list, the card Invoice run - e-mail invoices and credit notes sends a period's posted documents to customers in one go.

Choose the Company and the Dated from and to dates. Leave Only those not sent yet ticked.
Press List them. Each row shows the customer's Billing e-mail and when it was Last sent.
Tick the documents, or press Tick every one with an e-mail.
Press E-mail the ticked documents and confirm. Each goes as a PDF to the customer's billing e-mail and is recorded on its history.

A customer with no billing e-mail is skipped and named; one failure never stops the rest. The result says how many were sent, skipped and not sent.

Keeping Paid status right

An invoice moves to Paid when it is fully settled. Cash allocated elsewhere, for example in the ledger console or from a bank feed, is picked up when the console loads. To keep statuses right without anyone opening the console, switch on the scheduled task Receivables: Paid status sync (hourly, ships switched off; see Tasks).

What goes wrong

"You cannot record cash here": you have no post access to any company in view. An ERP administrator grants it in ERP Setup.
An invoice stays Posted after it was paid: the cash was allocated outside the desk. Open the console, or switch on the Paid status sync task.
The invoice run skips customers: they have no billing e-mail on the customer record.

Worked example

On the first working day of the month the receivables clerk opens Receivables. Invoices to post shows 4, so they open it, check the drafts and post them. They then list last month's posted invoices in the invoice run, tick every one with an e-mail and send 37 invoices; two customers without an e-mail are named, and they print those two. Finally they open To invoice and invoice the three deliveries that shipped over the weekend.

Recommendations

Clear Invoices to post daily; a draft invoice is not in the ledger or the ageing.
Run the invoice run with Only those not sent yet, so nobody receives an invoice twice.
Grant post access deliberately; it is what lets a person record cash.
Switch on the Paid status sync once bank feeds are allocating cash.

Receipts and Allocation

A receipt records money a customer has paid you and sets it against the invoices it settles. Part payments, overpayments and cash that arrives before anyone knows what it is for are all normal: whatever is not allocated stays on the customer's account as unapplied cash, ready to be set against invoices later.

Where to find it

Admin Panel → Receivables:

Receivables — the Receipts tab: record a receipt, allocate it, and see every receipt recorded

Before you start

Post access: recording a receipt posts to the ledger, so you need ERP: Receivables and post access to the company. Without it the tab says "You cannot record cash here".
A bank account: the company needs at least one bank account in its chart of accounts. If it has none, Paid into says "No bank account is set up for this company". Bank accounts are set up by Finance (see Setting Up a Bank Account).
Posted invoices: only posted invoices can be paid. A draft invoice is not yet owed.

Recording a receipt

Open the Receipts tab, or press Record a receipt on the console, on a customer, or on a posted invoice (which fills in the customer for you).
Choose the Customer. With more than one company in view, every customer is offered with its company, and choosing one sets the Company to theirs.
Enter Amount received, Received on and Paid into (the bank account). Currency defaults to the customer's.
If the receipt is in a different currency from the bank account, a Bank credited box appears: enter the amount on the bank statement, or leave it empty to convert at the day's rate.
Add the Reference the customer quoted, if any.
The open invoices are listed oldest due first. Press Allocate oldest first, or type amounts into the Allocate column yourself. Clear the allocation starts again.
Check the summary line: Received, Allocated, and Left on the account (unapplied). It turns to Over-allocated by if you have allocated more than was received.
Press Record the receipt.

The confirmation names the receipt journal, what was allocated, what was left on the account and which invoices are now paid in full. Each of those invoices moves to Paid. Pressing the button twice, or retrying after a lost connection, does not post the money twice: the second attempt reports that the receipt was already recorded.

Unapplied cash and credits

When you choose a customer, any cash received and not yet allocated, and any posted credit note not yet applied, is listed under Unapplied cash and credits. Press Set against invoices on one, enter how much to apply to each invoice, and confirm. Nothing new is received; the open items are matched off, and invoices settled this way move to Paid.

Receipts recorded

Below the form, Receipts recorded lists every receipt banked in the companies in view, newest first, with Paid into, Reference, Amount and what is still Unapplied. A receipt that came from matching a bank statement line is labelled as such. Where cash is still unapplied, the row offers to set it against the customer's invoices.

Receipts can also arrive through bank reconciliation, where a statement line is matched to a customer's invoice. Those appear here too. Bank feeds and reconciliation are covered in Accounting & Bank Feeds.

What goes wrong

"The allocations come to more than the amount received": reduce an allocation or correct the amount.
"More than is open" beside an invoice: you allocated more than its remaining balance.
The customer list is empty for a company: that company has no customers of its own and no shared customers. Add one under Customers.
The posting is refused for a foreign receipt: there is no exchange rate for the day. Enter Bank credited or add the rate.

Worked example

A customer owes three invoices of 1,200, 800 and 950, oldest first, and pays 2,500 with the reference "REMIT 4471". The clerk chooses the customer, enters 2,500, the date and the current account, and presses Allocate oldest first. The first two invoices are allocated in full and 500 goes against the third, leaving nothing unapplied. They record the receipt; the first two invoices move to Paid and the third shows 450 open. A week later the customer's credit note for 450 is posted, and they use Set against invoices to clear the third invoice.

Recommendations

Allocate oldest first unless the remittance says otherwise.
Record unidentified cash anyway and allocate it later; it is better in the ledger than in a drawer.
Always enter the customer's reference; it is what you will search for later.
Clear unapplied credits weekly so statements and reminders show the true position.

Aged Debt and Statements

Aged debt shows who owes what and how late it is, by customer, for one company or the whole group. A customer statement is the same picture for one customer over a period, printed or e-mailed as a PDF, and a statement run produces every customer's statement at period end in one go.

Where to find it

Admin Panel → Receivables:

Receivables — the Aged debt and Statements tabs

Admin Panel → ERP - Setup:

ERP Documents — the Output & letterhead tab, which sets what every statement carries

Aged debt

Open Receivables → Aged debt.
Choose a Company, or All my companies to see the group converted into one display currency (each row then shows its company).
Set As at to age the debt on another date, for example the last day of the previous month, and press Show.

Each customer's balance is split into Not yet due, 1-30 days, 31-60, 61-90 and Over 90 days past the due date, with Unapplied cash and credits shown separately and a Total. Click a customer to see the open items behind the figures: each document with its date, due date, days overdue, amount and what is still open. Click a document to open it.

Ageing is worked out from the ledger's open items, so a draft invoice does not appear and a receipt only reduces the buckets once it is allocated. An invoice's due date comes from the customer's payment terms when it was posted.

One customer's statement

Open Receivables → Statements, or press Statement on a customer.
Choose the Company and Customer, and the period From and To (the default is the last 90 days).
Press Show the statement.

The statement of account shows the balance brought forward, every item in the period with debit, credit and running balance, the amount due split into current and overdue bands, and the total due. It carries the company's letterhead and its bank details, so the customer knows how to pay. From the statement you can print it, save it as a PDF, or send it to the customer's billing e-mail with Send the statement.

The statement run

On the Statements tab choose the company and the period, then press Every customer with a balance.
The Statement run lists each customer with something on the account: their Billing e-mail, what is Overdue and the Balance (company currency).
Press Print all n statements to open every statement on its own page, ready to print or save as PDF, or E-mail n statements to send each one as a PDF to its customer's billing e-mail. Each send is recorded on the customer's record.

Reading a company lets you view and print its statements. E-mailing them needs ERP: Receivables or ERP: Finance and write access to the company; without it the run says you can print them instead.

What goes wrong

"Nobody to send a statement to": no customer of this company has anything on the account in the period.
Some customers are not e-mailed: they have no billing e-mail. The run says how many, and you can print theirs.
The statement shows no bank details: the company's letterhead has none. Fill in the payment section of its letterhead (see Document Output & Letterheads).
Ageing looks too high: receipts have been recorded but not allocated. Check Unapplied and allocate them.

Worked example

At month end the credit controller ages the UK company's debt as at 30 September and sees three customers with balances over 90 days. They click the largest and find one disputed invoice. They then run statements for September for every customer with a balance: 112 are listed, 108 have a billing e-mail, so they e-mail those and print the other four to post.

Recommendations

Age as at month end for reporting, and as at today for chasing.
Allocate cash before running statements, or customers will see payments as unapplied.
Complete each company's letterhead before the first statement run.
Keep billing e-mails current; they serve invoices, statements and reminders alike.

Payment Reminders (Dunning)

Dunning sends customers reminders about overdue invoices, climbing a ladder of levels you define: a friendly reminder, a second reminder, a final notice. You preview who would be reminded about what before anything is sent, and every reminder is kept with its outcome.

Where to find it

Admin Panel → Receivables:

Receivables — the Dunning tab: preview and send reminders, see reminders sent, and edit the reminder levels

Architect Panel → ERP - Sales:

Dunning Levels — the levels as a datastore
Dunning Notices — every reminder produced; the badge counts reminders that failed to send

The reminder ladder

Three example levels ship: Friendly reminder at 7 days overdue, Second reminder at 21 days and Final notice at 45 days. They are set to record only, so nothing is sent until you choose how each level goes out. The shipped ladder is shared by every company; a company can have its own.

Edit a level under Reminder levels on the Dunning tab:

Level number (1 to 9) and Name.
Days overdue: how late an invoice must be to reach this level.
Minimum overdue: a customer whose overdue total is below this is not reminded at this level.
Fee and Fee income account: a charge raised on the customer's account with the reminder. A fee needs the account.
Send by: E-mail, Letter, E-mail and letter, or Record only (print it yourself).
From mail account: required for e-mail; the system never guesses one. Letter account: a letter provider set up in Messaging (see Letters & Physical Mail); without one, letters are prepared for printing.
Subject and Message: placeholders include {customer_name}, {customer_code}, {company_name}, {total_overdue}, {currency}, {level}, {as_of}, {fee} and {items_table}, which lists the overdue invoices.
Level is in use: untick to stop using a level without deleting it.

Saving a level for a company that is still using the shared ladder first copies the whole shared ladder to that company, so changing one step does not drop the others. Changing the shared ladder itself is for ERP administrators.

Running reminders

Open the Dunning tab, choose the company and the Overdue as at date, and press Preview the run.
The preview lists each customer due a reminder: the level, how it will be sent, their billing e-mail, the overdue total, any fee, and each invoice with its days overdue. Customers left out are listed under Not reminded with the reason.
Untick any customer you do not want to remind today.
Press Send the reminders and confirm. E-mails and letters go out and fees are posted; this cannot be undone.

The result says how many were sent, prepared for printing and failed. Reminders sent lists every notice with its level, channel, recipient, total, fee and status, with a printable letter for each.

The rules the run follows

One level at a time: an invoice moves up at most one level per run, and not before the gap between levels has passed since its last reminder.
Excluded customers: a customer with Never send payment reminders ticked is skipped. Use it for a dispute or a payment plan.
One fee per level: a level's fee is not charged again while an earlier fee at that level or above is still live for items still open.
Fees do not escalate: a reminder fee appears on the next reminder as money owed, but never climbs the ladder itself.

Withdrawing a reminder

A reminder that failed, or one that was only prepared and charged no fee, can be withdrawn from Reminders sent. You are asked why, and the reason is kept.

Running it on a timer

The scheduled task Receivables: dunning run (send) runs the same reminder run daily for every company at its own levels. It ships switched off and in preview mode; switch it on only once the levels are right (see Tasks).

What goes wrong

"An e-mailed reminder needs the mail account it is sent from": choose a From mail account on the level.
"A fee needs the income account it is credited to": fill in Fee income account, using a code from the company's chart.
Reminders show Failed: open the notice for the error, usually a missing billing e-mail or a mail account problem, then withdraw and re-run.
"Sending reminders is for Accounts Receivable": sending needs ERP: Receivables (or Finance) and post access to the company.

Worked example

The UK company wants e-mail reminders with a fee on the final notice. The credit controller edits level 1, sets Send by to E-mail and the accounts mailbox as From mail account; the shared ladder is copied to the UK company. They do the same for level 2, and for level 3 add a fee of 40.00 to the other income account. Previewing as at today shows 14 customers due a reminder and one skipped because it has Never send payment reminders ticked. They untick a customer who called yesterday and send the other 13.

Recommendations

Preview before every run, and read the Not reminded list.
Write the levels in your own voice; the shipped wording is a starting point.
Use Never send payment reminders for disputes rather than deleting reminders.
Switch the task on last, after a few successful manual runs.

Credit Control

Credit control is the list of customers who need a decision: on stop, over their credit limit, overdue, or with orders waiting for credit approval, worst first. It is also where a customer is put on stop or released, always with a reason that is kept in the customer's credit history.

Where to find it

Admin Panel → Receivables:

Receivables — the Credit control tab, and the credit terms on each customer

Admin Panel → Sales:

Sales — the On credit hold figure, which opens the orders waiting for a credit decision

Who decides

Credit terms are Accounts Receivable's. Only holders of ERP: Receivables or ERP: Finance can set a credit limit, put a customer on stop or lift it, or switch reminders off. Salespeople see the credit position on quotes, orders and customers but cannot change it. Releasing an order held for credit is a separate permission, Approve sales credit, described with sales orders.

The Credit control tab

Each row is a customer with the reasons it is listed, shown as labels: On stop, Over limit, Overdue and Credit Hold. The columns are:

Exposure: what the customer owes plus what is ordered and not yet invoiced.
Limit and Over by: the credit limit (or none) and how far exposure exceeds it.
Overdue: the overdue amount and its oldest age band.
Orders on hold: links to each order waiting for a credit decision.
Action: Put on stop or Lift the stop.

Click the customer's name to open the customer, with its Credit position, recent documents and Credit history.

Putting a customer on stop

On the Credit control tab press Put on stop on the customer's row (or use the same button on the customer).
Answer Why is ... going on stop? in up to 250 characters. Salespeople see this reason when an order is refused, so write it for them: "Two invoices over 60 days; call accounts before taking orders".
Confirm. The customer is marked On Stop.

While a customer is on stop, no order can be confirmed or sent for credit approval for them, and the Sales console's order editor only lets the salesperson save a draft. Quotes and existing invoices are unaffected. To release the customer, press Lift the stop and give the reason; it is kept in the credit history too.

Setting a credit limit

Open the customer from the Customers tab and set Credit limit under Trading terms, in the customer's currency. 0 means no limit. Confirming an order is refused when what the customer owes, plus open orders and unposted invoices, plus the new order, would pass the limit; the salesperson can then ask for credit approval.

What goes wrong

"Putting a customer on stop is for Accounts Receivable": you do not hold ERP: Receivables or ERP: Finance.
"You may not change customers of that company": you lack write access to the customer's company.
"Nothing needs a decision": no customer is on stop, over its limit, overdue or waiting for credit. Good.
A customer looks over limit because of old drafts: unposted invoices and open orders count towards exposure. Post, cancel or close the ones that are finished with.

Worked example

The credit controller opens Credit control on Monday. A trade customer is listed as Over limit and Overdue, with one order on hold. Its oldest invoice is 75 days overdue. They press Put on stop with the reason "Overdue 75 days; payment plan being agreed", which also blocks the held order from being approved. On Thursday the customer pays; they record the receipt, press Lift the stop with "Paid in full 9 Oct", and the salesperson can confirm orders again.

Recommendations

Write stop reasons for the salesperson, who will read them when an order is refused.
Review the tab daily; it is ordered worst first.
Set limits on new customers from the start; 0 means unlimited.
Combine with reminders: a stop and a final notice together get attention.