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On Account Receipts and Prepayments - Prepayments

A Prepayment Receipt is usually used where a Customer has paid a deposit against a Sales Order, before an Invoice has been raised for that deposit.

For each Customer likely to pay deposits, switch on the On Account check box on the 'Terms' card. Then specify a control or suspense Account on card 2 of the Account Usage S/L setting, using the On Account A/C field. A separate suspense Account can be set for each Customer Category.

A Prepayment by the Customer is entered as a Receipt, but leave the Invoice Number blank. Instead, a Prepayment Number should be specified on flip D. This can be a number of your own generation, the number allocated to the prepayment by the Customer or, preferably, the number of the Sales Order against which the deposit has been received. Using 'Paste Special" from this field will open a list of Sales Orders from which the correct one can be chosen. If you want to ensure that only Sales Order Numbers can be used, switch on the Use Sales Order No for Prepayments option in the Down Payments setting in the Sales Orders module. If a Sales Order Number is used, the Customer Number on flip A will change to that from the Sales Order and the Received Value will be changed to the Order value. Change this to the value of the deposit if this is different:

The special Account for on account Customers is 806, since receiving a Prepayment creates a liability. The Nominal Ledger Transaction generated when the Receipt is approved and saved will credit the Received Value to this Account. The debit Account is taken from the Payment Mode as usual:

When a sale is made, an Invoice can be raised. When this is done, the Prepayment can be allocated to that Invoice so that it can be treated as paid.

If you used an Order Number as the Prepayment Number, it is likely that you will create the Invoice from the Order screen using the 'Invoice' Operations menu function. When the 'Invoice: Inspect' window is opened, you will be warned that an open Prepayment (i.e. one that has not yet been allocated to an Invoice) exists in the Customer's name. This will remind you to allocate the Prepayment to the Invoice. If you enter the Invoice directly to the Invoice register, the same warning will appear when you enter the Customer Number. In this case, add the Items sold to the grid area in the usual way.

When you are certain that the Invoice is complete, select 'Connect to Prepayment' from the Operations menu. In the first blank row of the grid area, a reference to the Prepayment is entered. Enter the Prepayment Number of the Receipt row representing the Prepayment, using 'Paste Special' if necessary to bring up a list of open (unallocated) Prepayments. This list shows open Receipt rows with a Prepayment Number and without an Invoice Number. Receipt rows that do not have a Prepayment Number or an Invoice Number will not be in this list: please refer to the On Account Receipts page for details of allocating these to Invoices.

Select a Prepayment from the list by double-clicking. The Prepayment Number is shown in the special Prepayment row. An amount will also be shown. This will be the whole open value of the Prepayment, or the value of the Items including VAT (i.e. the Invoice value) whichever is the lower. This figure will be credited to the Debtor Account when the Invoice is approved and saved, so the Invoice will be treated as paid to that extent.

When the Invoice is approved the consequent Nominal Ledger Transaction will combine the usual Invoice postings with those incurred by allocating a payment against the Invoice. This maintains a correct Sales Ledger for the Customer (the example illustrated includes a cost accounting element):

The status of the Invoice and of the Prepayment will now be as follows:
  1. if the Invoice value is the same as the whole open value of the Prepayment, the Invoice is treated as paid and will not appear in the Open Invoice Customer Statement. The Prepayment is fully used up by the Invoice, so it is no longer regarded as open;

  2. if the Invoice value is less than the whole open value of the Prepayment, the Invoice is treated as paid and will not appear in the Open Invoice Customer Statement. The Prepayment is not fully used up by the Invoice, so the remaining outstanding amount is still regarded as open; or

  3. if the Invoice value is more than the whole open value of the Prepayment, the Invoice is treated as part-paid. The Prepayment is fully used up by the Invoice, so it is no longer regarded as open.
Note that it is important to ensure that the Invoice is complete before selecting 'Connect to Prepayment' from the Operations menu. The function calculates the amount shown in the special Prepayment row: this is the amount which will be credited to the Debtor Account and therefore the amount which goes towards paying off the Invoice. If the Invoice is incomplete when the function is selected to the extent that its total is less than the open value of the Prepayment, the Invoice total will be the amount shown in the special Prepayment row. When the remaining Items and/or Freight are added to the Invoice and it is then approved and saved, this is the figure that will be credited to the Debtor Account. So the Invoice will not be paid off to the extent that it should be, and a proportion of the Prepayment value will remain open.

If you select 'Connect to Prepayment' before the Invoice is complete (it may be that a late change is required) you can either change the amount shown in the special Prepayment row or you can delete the special Prepayment row and use 'Connect to Prepayment' once again. If you choose the former option, you will be prevented from entering an amount that is greater than the open value of the Prepayment, or greater than the Invoice total.

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Ensure the Invoice is complete before using 'Connect to Prepayment'.


If you have used 'Connect to Prepayment' and you are unable to save the Invoice, the probable reason is that the date of the Prepayment is later than that of the Invoice. The date of the Prepayment must be the same as or earlier than that of the Invoice.