gnucash-docs maint: Add Help Doc for invoice bad debt write offs Bug 729265
Geert Janssens
gjanssens at code.gnucash.org
Sun Mar 20 14:12:05 EDT 2016
Updated via https://github.com/Gnucash/gnucash-docs/commit/0aa87e38 (commit)
from https://github.com/Gnucash/gnucash-docs/commit/bb525f98 (commit)
commit 0aa87e38af607f3c579d606c470fc1b04610c8fe
Author: Chris Good <chris.good at ozemail.com.au>
Date: Sun Mar 20 10:52:07 2016 +1100
Add Help Doc for invoice bad debt write offs Bug 729265
diff --git a/help/C/Help_ch_Business.xml b/help/C/Help_ch_Business.xml
index 4ea6808..517700c 100644
--- a/help/C/Help_ch_Business.xml
+++ b/help/C/Help_ch_Business.xml
@@ -986,6 +986,27 @@
<guisubmenu>Customer</guisubmenu><guimenuitem>Process
Payment</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.</para>
+ <tip>
+ <para>There is an alternative way of assigning a payment to (one or more)
+ invoices where the payment transaction already exists, say in the case
+ where transactions are imported from a bank.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>This can best be done starting from the asset account register
+ holding the imported payment transaction (like your bank account). In
+ that account, select the payment, right-click (control-click for Mac OS
+ X) and choose <guilabel>Assign as payment...</guilabel>. The payment
+ window will pop-up, partly filled in with the information from the
+ transaction. Fill in the missing information like the proper customer
+ and invoice to complete the payment.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>One caveat: the logic behind <guilabel>Assign as payment...
+ </guilabel> won't properly detect credit note reimbursements and will
+ wrongfully interpret such a transaction as a vendor bill.
+ </para>
+ </tip>
+
<para>The Process Payment application consists of:</para>
<itemizedlist>
@@ -1053,6 +1074,118 @@
</sect2>
+ <sect2 id="busnss-ar-partpay2">
+ <title>Partial Payments</title>
+
+ <para>Partial payments are possible too. Select the invoice to pay.
+ <application>&app;</application> will automatically suggest that invoice's
+ remaining balance as payment amount. Simply adjust that amount to what you
+ want to pay.
+ </para>
+
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2 id="busnss-ar-baddebt">
+ <title>Writing Off a Bad Debt</title>
+
+ <note><para>Please check with your accountant to ensure the following is
+ acceptable in your region.</para>
+ </note>
+
+ <para>The usual way to do this is to process a payment for the invoice to a
+ <emphasis>BadDebt</emphasis> account. Such an account would be an expense
+ account. However, in <application>&app;</application>, you can't process a
+ payment for an invoice directly to an expense account, so it takes two
+ steps:
+ </para>
+
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem><para>Pay the invoice to an asset or liability account, such as
+ your checking account.</para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem><para>Change the asset or liability account, in the <emphasis>
+ non</emphasis> Accounts Receivable split of the payment transaction, to
+ the BadDebt expense account.</para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ </itemizedlist>
+
+ <para>Specifically</para>
+
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem><para>Remove all transactions from the A/R account related to
+ the invoice, except for the invoice's transaction itself. This includes
+ any payment transactions, and transactions between your BadDebt and A/R
+ account.</para>
+
+ <para>In case the payment has associated lot link transactions
+ <link linkend="busnss-ar-baddeb-lot">(1)</link>, remove those as well.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>If all is well, your <guilabel>Process Payment</guilabel> window
+ for this customer should list the invoice the customer won't pay, and
+ no prepayments.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem><para>Pay your invoice to an arbitrary asset or liability
+ account. It can be your checking account. We will fix that in the next
+ step.</para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem><para>Open the account register for your A/R account. For this
+ invoice there should now be one payment transaction. If you are using
+ <application>&app;</application> 2.6.0 - 2.6.4 there will also be one
+ lot link transaction <link linkend="busnss-ar-baddeb-lot">(1)</link>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem><para> Select the payment transaction and change the transfer
+ account to your <emphasis>BadDebt</emphasis> account. Make sure to leave
+ the transaction (eg by clicking on another transaction) to save the
+ changes.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+
+ <para>If all is well, your <guilabel>Process Payment</guilabel> window
+ should still be clean: no pre-payments, and the bad debt invoice gone.
+ </para>
+
+ <note id="busnss-ar-baddeb-lot"><para>(1): <application>&app;</application>
+ versions 2.6.0 to 2.6.4 created lot link transactions which show in the
+ A/R account register. This came with its own set of subtle issues. It is
+ recommended to upgrade to the latest (or at least 2.6.6) version, which
+ fixes a lot of small problems. Version 2.6.5 had a flaw in the logic
+ cleaning up the lot links. Once upgraded, please run <menuchoice><guimenu>
+ Actions</guimenu><guimenuitem>Check & Repair</guimenuitem>
+ </menuchoice> on your A/R and A/P accounts to clean up most of the lot
+ link legacy. Don't forget to make a backup first just in case.</para>
+
+ <para>Lots are used internally for relating payments to invoices. Lots
+ themselves are invisible in the account registers.
+ To see them you need to open the lot viewer, which can be found in
+ <menuchoice><guimenu>Actions</guimenu><guimenuitem>View lots
+ </guimenuitem></menuchoice> while in any A/R or A/P account register.
+ Select a lot to see the <emphasis>Splits in lot</emphasis>.
+ </para>
+
+ <para><emphasis>Lot links</emphasis> are <emphasis>transactions</emphasis>
+ which you can see in your A/R and A/P accounts. They are unusual in the
+ sense that all their splits are in one account (A/R or A/P). Each split
+ in a lot link transaction is <emphasis>linked</emphasis> (hence the
+ name) to an invoice or payment transaction by means of a lot.
+ </para>
+
+ </note>
+
+ <para>See <ulink
+ url="http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Business_Features_Issues"
+ /> for more information.
+ </para>
+
+ </sect2>
+
</sect1>
<sect1 id="busnss-ar-invoicechange">
@@ -1518,6 +1651,28 @@ ________________________________________________________________________________
<sect1 id="busnss-ap-payment1">
<title>Process Payment</title>
<para>Eventually, you need to pay your bills. To do so, use the Process Payment application found in <menuchoice><guimenu>Business</guimenu><guisubmenu>Vendor</guisubmenu><guimenuitem>Process Payment</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.</para>
+
+ <tip>
+ <para>There is an alternative way of assigning a payment to (one or more)
+ bills where the payment transaction already exists, say in the case
+ where transactions are imported from a bank.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>This can best be done starting from the asset account register
+ holding the imported payment transaction (like your bank account). In
+ that account, select the payment, right-click (control-click for Mac OS
+ X) and choose <guilabel>Assign as payment...</guilabel>. The payment
+ window will pop-up, partly filled in with the information from the
+ transaction. Fill in the missing information like the proper vendor
+ and bill to complete the payment.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>One caveat: the logic behind <guilabel>Assign as payment...
+ </guilabel> won't properly detect credit note reimbursements and will
+ wrongfully interpret such a transaction as a customer invoice.
+ </para>
+ </tip>
+
<para>The Process Payment application consists of:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
@@ -1555,6 +1710,28 @@ ________________________________________________________________________________
comes from, such as a checking account.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
+
+ <sect2 id="busnss-ap-overpay2">
+ <title>Over Payments or Pre-Payments</title>
+
+ <para>If you wish to overpay an invoice or pay for goods or services before
+ they have been invoiced, Process Payment for the total amount payed.
+ <application>&app;</application> will then keep track of the over-payment
+ (or pre-payment) in the A/P account and you can use the residual in the
+ future.
+ </para>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2 id="busnss-ap-partpay2">
+ <title>Partial Payments</title>
+
+ <para>You may wish to partially pay a bill. Select the bill to pay.
+ <application>&app;</application> will automatically suggest that bill's
+ remaining balance as payment amount. Simply adjust that amount to what you
+ want to pay.
+ </para>
+ </sect2>
+
</sect1>
<sect1 id="busnss-emply">
Summary of changes:
help/C/Help_ch_Business.xml | 177 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 177 insertions(+)
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