Recording Bounced Check

[Wm...]

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 16:33:26 
<SN2PR0801MB56088CB1B10A8653F8FD3BBC9140 at SN2PR0801MB560.namprd08.prod.out
look.com>
Mark Seeba <mseeba at streamwrite.com> wrote...

>I have been using GnuCash for years and have never had a bounced check 
>before! How do I record the bounced check properly?

One way is
a) find the bounced payment in the AR account and delete it
b) add a new invoice to the account for any charges you want to add, 
this might be the returned check fee plus a handling charge if allowed 
in your jurisdiction

Inv   100
Inv    10 charges
Bal=110

Or
a) leave the bounced cheque as is
b) add a new invoice; the first line being a minus reversing the bounced 
payment; the second the bank's charges passed on, etc

Inv   100
Pay       -100
Inv   110
Bal=110

>What I would like to do is record it as a negative against the original 
>invoice so the original payment stays and add another new line for the 
>returned check fee and send the invoice back out.

The original invoice stays the same, what you'd be sending out is a 
statement of account aka Customer Report stuff

>Does this make sense? If so, how do I do this? If not, what should I do?

If you keep an eye on how long moneys have been owed to you notice that 
leaving the bounced check on record means the original invoice is marked 
as paid.  So if you re-invoice you should produce two invoices.  One at 
the original date and amount and a second at the date you incurred the 
bank charges for just that amount.

Inv   100
Pay       -100
Inv   100 re-inv orig date
Inv    10 charges recent date
Bal=110

Also bear in mind that customer relations come into this too.  Was it 
accidental that the chq bounced? Is the value of the bounce 
insignificant considering on-going business, etc.

Should give you something to work on, hopefully.

-- 
Wm...