Entering a credit

[Robert G Palmer Jr]

Yes, you could record as a payment, which is my current work around.   
I created a "Income:Misc Credits" account and make payments using  
that as the Income account.  The problem is that this is NOT correct  
double entry book-keeping.  A payment INCREASES the amount in an  
INCOME account.  This credit should really DECREASE the amount in the  
A/R account.

Since my situation is so simple, a payment is acceptable (i.e., even  
if I were audited, the number of transactions and where they go/come  
from is small enough that I wouldn't have a problem).  However, the  
correct way is a CREDIT which, as I said, DECREASES the amount in the  
A/R account.  (I'm a bit of a perfectionist and like to do things the  
"right" way) To be able to use this for a business, it seems that  
CREDITS are a critical feature (am I wrong?).

Robert

On Jan 12, 2009, at 5:07 AM, Robert Stocks wrote:

> I dont use the business stuff myself but could you not just record
> this as a payment?
>
>
> 2009/1/12 Robert G Palmer Jr <robertpalmerjr at mac.com>:
>> Specific example:
>>
>> I manage my daughter's soccer team.  Each family owes for club dues
>> and team fees.  Team fees are an ESTIMATE of how much it will cost to
>> attend all tournaments for the season.  As I near the end of the
>> season, I figure out how much it ACTUALLY cost to attend the
>> tournaments.
>>
>> I want to issue a credit for the difference between the ESTIMATE and
>> the ACTUAL cost.
>>
>> Unpost and reposting is not a good option for two reasons:
>> 1. the family already has a copy of the invoice
>> 2. the credit will NOT appear in the customer report as a line item -
>> the change in the customer report consists simply of the invoice
>> value changing (by the credited amount) so the total owed by the
>> customer does change, but I want them to see the credit in the
>> Customer Report.
>>
>> I really like the Customer Report because it shows how much each
>> family is expected to pay AND all payments (and hopefully credits)
>> they made/received during the season.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Robert
>>
>>
>> On Jan 11, 2009, at 7:38 PM, Cam Ellison wrote:
>>
>>> Robert G Palmer Jr wrote:
>>>> I think this question may have gotten lost in the middle of the  
>>>> other
>>>> questions I asked.
>>>>
>>>> How do you enter a credit in GnuCash?
>>>>
>>>> If I create an Invoice for a given amount: e.g. $100, and post the
>>>> invoice
>>>> Later, for whatever reason, I decide that the customer only owes  
>>>> $50.
>>>>
>>>> How do I enter a $50 credit in such a way that it appears on their
>>>> Customer Report as a credit?
>>>>
>>>>
>>> If you did not actually issue the invoice to the customer, the
>>> simplest
>>> thing is to unpost the invoice and correct it.  If the customer has
>>> received the original invoice, you could still do this, and send the
>>> replacement.
>>>
>>> If the customer has already paid, that's more complicated.  If this
>>> is a
>>> repeat customer, and there is a new invoice, you might unpost the
>>> original invoice as above, and correct it.  There would then be a
>>> credit, which should show up on the Customer Report.  I'm
>>> speculating at
>>> this, because I rarely run the Customer Report.  The difference  
>>> should
>>> show in the total, but only if you unpost and amend the original
>>> invoice.
>>>
>>> HTH
>>>
>>> Cam
>>>