Returned Payment, Returned Deposit

[Derek Atkins]

Hi,

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Pablo Francesca <rshgeneral at yahoo.com> writes:

> I'm not sure I understand this suggestion. You can't have a negative total for
> an invoice. You can't have a negative amount for a payment.                   
> I think this was suggested on the message boards, but someone had written that
> it would inflate earnings.  To which account would the invoice transfer?      

You don't need a negative invoice.  An invoice will debit AR, a payment
will credit AR.  All you need to do is create an invoice to your
Checking account in order to credit your checking and debit AR.  This
will "reverse" the payment.

-derek

> --- On Tue, 10/27/09, Derek Atkins <warlord at MIT.EDU> wrote:                   
>
>     From: Derek Atkins <warlord at MIT.EDU>                                      
>     Subject: Re: Returned Payment, Returned Deposit                           
>     To: "rshgeneral" <rshgeneral at yahoo.com>                                   
>     Cc: gnucash-user at gnucash.org                                              
>     Date: Tuesday, October 27, 2009, 10:59 AM                                 
>                                                                               
>     rshgeneral <rshgeneral at yahoo.com> writes:                                 
>                                                                               
>     > I've searched the forums and found a couple of relevant links, but not  
>     much                                                                      
>     > resolution to my issue.This seems to be merely an accounting question.  
>     >                                                                         
>     > I've recorded a deposited check for a customer.  The check cleared, but 
>     then                                                                      
>     > the deposit was reversed a few days later due to a hold on the          
>     customer's                                                                
>     > account.                                                                
>     >                                                                         
>     > I'd like to reflect this payment history on a customer report, but the  
>     > aforementioned links seem to indicate that this cannot be done.  So I'll
>     > have to delete the payment.                                             
>     >                                                                         
>     > Okay, this means the customer wont see the payment or the rejection of  
>     the                                                                       
>     > payment.  Its a minor irritant, but its acceptable. However, I'd like to
>     at                                                                        
>     > least reflect the payment action on my checking account.  I've pondered 
>     a                                                                         
>     > dummy account (Returned Payments-Asset Account) to make this happen, but
>     it                                                                        
>     > just seem clumsy. I'm wondering if someone has a better idea.  I'd like 
>     to                                                                        
>     > record something like this:                                             
>     >                                                                         
>     > Post debit to Checking, transfer from (???-Credit to Returned Payments).
>     > Post credit to Checking, transfer from (???-Debit to Returned Payments).
>     >                                                                         
>     > Returned Payments account would show offsetting transactions and have a 
>     0                                                                         
>     > balance.                                                                
>     > Checking account would reflect the relevant statement history and have  
>     no                                                                        
>     > net change.                                                             
>     >                                                                         
>     > DOES ANYONE HAVE A BETTER IDEA?                                         
>                                                                               
>     Issue a new Invoice for the reverse check?                                
>                                                                               
>     -derek                                                                    
>                                                                               
>     --                                                                        
>            Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory           
>            Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)           
>            URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH           
>            warlord at MIT.EDU                        PGP key available           
>
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-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
       warlord at MIT.EDU                        PGP key available