Steve, thanks for that. I'll comment below to help with context, as this is pretty confusing for simple guys like me.
On Thursday 04 July 2002 15:46, Steve Doerr wrote: > Hi Richard. > > Richard Lyons wrote: > > > Steve: Thanks. But I was unable to access the demo properly. When I > > clicked on any report on the menu panel, I got: > > > > Error! > > > > Can't locate users/demo.conf in @INC (@INC contains: > > /usr/local/lib/perl/5.6.1 /usr/local/share/perl/5.6.1 /usr/lib/perl5 > > /usr/share/perl5 /usr/lib/perl/5.6.1 /usr/share/perl/5.6.1 > > /usr/local/lib/site_perl .) at /var/www/cgi-bin/sql-ledger/menu.pl line 65. > > Thanks for telling me. I had a couple of those and I'm looking into it. Just > try again, it's still there. > > > Anyway, I think the credit note problem is a little different. It is in fact > > easy to enter a credit note -- it is just a matter of entering an invoice > > using a negative amount. > > > > 3 examples: > > (a) one issued by a supplier to cancel from an already issued invoice an > > item which has been returned - this will be used to partially pay the > > invoice > > (b) one issued by a supplier to cancel a whole invoice > > (c) one issued by a supplier to recognise some other damage which may > > result in a credit great enough to "pay" more than one invoice and > > may including partially paying another invoice (I had one that offset > > roughly three and two thirds invoices) > > > > The problem is that when using the "payments" routine, there is no way to mark > > the debit and credit amounts that offset one another except to use a cheque > > to pay them. This then results in the case (a) in the bank account showing a > > larger credit for the whole invoice and a debit for the credit note, rather > > than the actual amount of the cheque paid. In (b) you have to invent a > > non-existent cheque and pay both the invoice and the credit note with it, > > creating two spurious entries in the bank account listing. In (c) you get a > > stack of virtual credits and a debit to cancel a proportion of it, rather > > than the actual amount of the cheque paid. All of this makes the apparent > > turnover of expenses higher than it really is. What one needs to do is > > simply credit the accounts payable (which the use of a negative amount as > > above succeeds in doing) and then to mark the component transactions (of > > which there are three in case (a), two in case (b) and many in case (c)) as > > closed. So what we really need is a tick box for "closed" in the payments > > screen and a routine that will check that the items ticked do in fact > > balance. An added help would be if SL recognised the negative amounts and > > printed some indication that they are credit notes (or even just put them in > > red). > > I paid the Fred Flintstone invoices 12245 and 4421 with check number 1234 on the > demo. In reality, these credits (and debits for A/P) and taken on a check. The > systems of the people you're doing business with should do this also. > > You get a $75 check to pay invoice 12245 for $125, and invoice 4421 for -$50. > Both are closed with the receipt of the one check. Actually, these are shown as cash not cheque payments, but no matter. This demonstrates what I'm talking about. The 1010 account now shows 07-04-2002 12245 Fred Flintstone 125.00 07-04-2002 4421 Fred Flintstone 50.00 whereas I would be looking for a single payment of 75.00. (I'm ignoring the other two amounts shown there at the moment which I assume were someon playing to try it out). It's clearer if I look at what happens when I pay the balance due with my cheque for �30.00, after the supplier has invoiced me: invoice 10001 for 200.00 invoice 10002 for 138.00 invoice 10003 for 100.00 credit note 9994 for 408.00 I've set this up on the demo (now runs for me - thanks). If I pay these all with the same check, I am going to have to enter four separate amounts to close the four transactions, but the actual amount of the check will not appear in a checking account listing, just the four separate and quite different amounts. Similarly, if I receive a credit note cancelling a transaction exactly, I shall have to invent a spurious cheque whose total will be zero, but which will be used to close two transactions. OK, the answer has come to me while writing this. I need a 'balancing' or 'contra' account of type bank which I use to pay suppliers when multiple items are involved, followed by a single general ledger transaction to debit that contra bank and credit the real bank. The listing for this contra bank account (with the running balance column that I have added) will always show zero balance after each group of transactions. So all I need is to add a 'total due' to the 'payments' screen, to simplify reconciling my listing with the supplier's monthly statement. I can do that. -- richard ------------------------------------------------------- This sf.net email is sponsored by:ThinkGeek Caffeinated soap. No kidding. http://thinkgeek.com/sf
