Ben, Any over payment in theory should be returned to the customer. Any underpayment, maybe a discount taken, either gets written off or goes on the next statement for payment.
I guess I misunderstood your question based on my last response. Myron -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Ben Petersen Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2003 2:40 PM To: RBASE-L Mailing List Subject: [RBASE-L] - Re: Question for you accounting pros Hi Bill, My question really relates more as to how partial/over payments against invoices are treated in the general ledger for cash based systems, rather than billing. (What do you do with the cash?) But Thanks! Ben Petersen On 19 Aug 2003, at 9:57, William Stacy wrote: > I use a transaction view that includes a transaction table and a > transaction detail table. In the detail table, all chargable items have > an item number (that links them to other, item tables), a quantity, a > regular price/fee/amount per unit, a computed column that is the product > of the quantity and the price, and a final price (discounted/agreed amt, > etc). All payments and other credits receive negative signs and go in > the final price column, so the "balance" of a transaction is simply the > sum of the price column, which will be positive if a balance remains, > negative if a credit balance is created, and zero if the payment/credit > totals equal the charged amounts. This way I can create statements, > bills, insurance claims etc from this one view. > > bill > > Ben Petersen wrote: > > >Hi all, > > > >I'm down to the nitty gritty of an accounting package and wanted to > >make > >sure my take on accounts receivable for cash based customers was > >accurate. > > > >For straight up transactions where there is an invoice and a payment > >for that invoice nothing hits the GL until payment is made. But in > >the instance where someone _partially_ pays an invoice, or, over-pays > >an invoice, this is what I've been doing in past systems: > > > >Debit cash for the payment amount. > >Credit A/R for the payment amount. > >Debit A/R for the invoice total. > >Credit income accounts for the items on the invoice. > > > >In the case of under-payment this leaves an A/R balance. In the case > >of over- payment there is a negative A/R balance. > > > >In my re-write everything is driven by views, so it is possible to > >have a circumstance where new invoices work directly against the > >customer account to reduce the credit and not be posted through A/R. > >My concern is that while it makes the A/R portion of the GL cleaner, > >it is possible, for example, to have an invoice detailed in A/R at > >one moment, and not the next, if a new invoice brought the customer > >account to zero. While the transactions would explain "what happened" > >I don't know that this is acceptable. > > > >I'm looking for some outside confirmation and/or alternatives. > > > >Thanks > > > >Ben Petersen > > > >. > > > > > > >
