Entering a credit

[Robert Stocks]

2009/1/13 Robert G Palmer Jr <robertpalmerjr at mac.com>:
> Well, this sounded like the perfect approach, it would allow me to continue
> to use the exact same pair of accounts: Income:Fees and Asset:AR then just
> post an invoice with the credit amount.  In the original invoice, I'm taking
> money out of Income:Fees and putting it into Asset:AR and in the credit, I
> would be doing the opposite (due to using negative numbers).  However, when
> I try to post this invoice, I get an error dialog:
>
> ---> "You may not post an invoice with a negative total value."
>
> The problem with a trying to post a payment is that, while Asset:AR is
> available, no income accounts are available (only Asset and Liability
> accounts) so I can't reverse the Income:Fees to Asset:AR transfer that was
> created with the invoice.
>
> So I guess I'm back to square one.

almost - this is a nasty hack but could you not process the credit as
a payment to a tempory Asset Account maybe "Assets:Credits"  then
create an ordarany transaction to move the money from there to where
ever it should be.


or and this works but what affect it might have I dont know,

 post the payment to a TEMP asset account then manualy edit the
payment to change the split to the income account.

See attached file for an example of this.




>
> Again, the question - isn't the ability to post a credit a pretty critical
> requirement for a business?

I would have thought so - but i don't run a business.,

>
> Robert
>
> On Jan 12, 2009, at 12:33 PM, gnucash at ew.ewheeler.org wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, 12 Jan 2009, Robert G Palmer Jr wrote:
>>
>>> 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.
>>
>> Create a new invoice with a qty of -1 and a dollar amount in the amount of
>> the credit (or, qty=1 and negative dollar amount).  You could apply this to
>> the Income:Misc Credits account which will go negative to reflect that your
>> total income is sum(income)-"misc credits"  This is perhaps better than
>> creating a negative payment since creating an invoice does effect AR.
>>
>> -Eric
>>
>>>
>>> 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
>>>>>>
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>
>



-- 
Robert
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