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ArtistCAK
Level 1

Cannot use more than one A/R account for a bill; only using one but need to divide between four customers

I have a hotel bill I paid on my credit card.  It is to be divided between myself and three customers equally (family members but in QB they are 'customers').  I have an A/R account for 'Due from family' and need to divide the bill to show each family member paying the amount they owe me. 

 

I cannot enter the bill and use the 'Due from family' account since it will only allow me to use one Customer:Job, and I keep getting the error message "cannot usre more than one A/R or A/P account per transaction - even though it technically is only ONE A/R account.  Nor can I enter their payments to me as a deposit for the same reason - only one A/R account per deposit. 

 

How do I enter this bill and show what the other three owe and record their payments?

Solved
Best answer August 02, 2021

Best Answers
BigRedConsulting
Community Champion

Cannot use more than one A/R account for a bill; only using one but need to divide between four customers

Actually you can't use ANY A/R accounts on a Bill, because you can't use more than one total instance of an A/R or A/P account on a transaction, and a Bill already uses the A/P account.

 

In this case, enter the Bill using an appropriate account in the detail area for hotel expense. You can also split it between your hotel expense and an asset account, as you are owed for part of it from three different people.

 

Then, enter three A/R invoices - one for each customer. On the invoices, create and then use an item that uses the same account you used on the Bill, which will wash the total to 0.00 on your financial statements when you record the invoices.

 

When the customers pay you, record payments received as you normally do against invoices.

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8 Comments 8
BigRedConsulting
Community Champion

Cannot use more than one A/R account for a bill; only using one but need to divide between four customers

Actually you can't use ANY A/R accounts on a Bill, because you can't use more than one total instance of an A/R or A/P account on a transaction, and a Bill already uses the A/P account.

 

In this case, enter the Bill using an appropriate account in the detail area for hotel expense. You can also split it between your hotel expense and an asset account, as you are owed for part of it from three different people.

 

Then, enter three A/R invoices - one for each customer. On the invoices, create and then use an item that uses the same account you used on the Bill, which will wash the total to 0.00 on your financial statements when you record the invoices.

 

When the customers pay you, record payments received as you normally do against invoices.

ArtistCAK
Level 1

Cannot use more than one A/R account for a bill; only using one but need to divide between four customers

Thanks BigRedConsulting.  The error message really got me flustered that I couldn't figure out what it was trying to tell me.

 

But I actually misspoke - it wasn't a bill I was entering but a credit card charge, but same principle I suppose.  What I don't understand is why the CC chg will allow me to use the AR account and apply it to one of the customers, but it won't let me enter two lines, using the same AR account, just using a second Customer:Job.  That I don't understand.

Kristine Mae
Moderator

Cannot use more than one A/R account for a bill; only using one but need to divide between four customers

I've replicated your concern, ArtistCAK. Let me share how QuickBooks works.

 

You're unable to use more than one A/R account when creating a credit card charge. You'll want to record a separate transaction per customer instead. 
 

I'll include this article to help you learn more about entering cc charges: Set up, use, and pay credit card accounts.

 

If you have more questions, don't hesitate to reach out to us again. We're around 24/7 to assist you. Take care!

BigRedConsulting
Community Champion

Cannot use more than one A/R account for a bill; only using one but need to divide between four customers

@ArtistCAK 

RE: What I don't understand is why the CC chg will allow me to use the AR account and apply it to one of the customers, but it won't let me enter two lines, using the same AR account, just using a second Customer:Job.  That I don't understand.

 

QB allows up to one AR and/or AP account on a transaction. It doesn't allow more because it can't (hasn't been made to) handle it. Each accounting row that uses an AR or AP transaction contributes to the customer or vendor balance and also to reports by customer or vendor that often include the details of the transaction.

 

For normal cases like Invoices and Credit Memos and Payments, this make more or less obvious sense, since all of the details for each sale belong to one customer, and they appear on reports like "sales by customer" and such.  If, for example, you could add a detail line to an invoice that also uses the AR account, and somehow ascribe a different customer to it, there would be chaos: Where should the sales appear on reports?  Did one customer's balance just pay another customer's balance? Which sales tax item to use? How would AR statements work?

 

For more edge cases, like what you're doing to try to use a company Credit Card charge to establish or increase a customer AR balance, the reasons the limit is in place aren't as obvious because some of the issues above don't apply. For example, none of the rest of charge's details will appear on sales reports in any case.

 

I suspect the reasons have to do with the complexity it would introduce to the data and the QuickBooks programming to handle the cases for all related features.  These would include the code that records the transactions, links them to each other (like a payment to an invoice), reports that use the data, and so on and so forth.

ArtistCAK
Level 1

Cannot use more than one A/R account for a bill; only using one but need to divide between four customers

Thanks Kristine - but in this case, what would I do?  Ask the hotel to divide the room rate into four different transactions so I can enter it in QB as a separate transaction for each person?  Obviously not.

I don't recall having this issue on much older versions of QB desktop.  Having to jump through hoops to make out an invoice for each person, plus enter a new item to use on these invoices, just to follow the paper trail is time-consuming and to me, defeats the purpose of having the Customer:Job column option in transactions.  But I can see that this structure is necessary.  It's just not as easy as I'd like it to be.

ArtistCAK
Level 1

Cannot use more than one A/R account for a bill; only using one but need to divide between four customers

BigRed - thanks again.  I understand what you're saying and it makes sense.  But as I mentioned to Kristine, who also answered, it seems if I was able to use the Customer:Job in these transactions and allot the correct amount to each customer, QB should be able to follow the trail.  But wishful thinking obviously.  

Thanks for taking time out to help me figure it out.  

Watt
Level 1

Cannot use more than one A/R account for a bill; only using one but need to divide between four customers

I am having the same problem for an even simpler situation.  A friend needed multiple car repairs.  I put them on my credit card.  Most repair items I'm doing as a loan, but a few repair items I'm doing as a gift. 

 

So, I thought I would enter each repair item in the credit card charge screen of QB.  The loan items are A/R; the gift items are an expense.  Note that there is no problem with a credit card entry that has, e.g. one line item as a loan and one or more line items as expenses; that is not the issue.

 

The issue is that if I itemize the loan-item repairs resulting in two or more lines with THE SAME A/R account and THE SAME customer name, I get the same warning message under discussion here.  The only way around this is to total up the loan items and post them as a lump sum on one line of the credit card screen.  Not really a big deal, but it would be convenient to itemize them in case my friend contests which is which later on. 

RenjolynC
QuickBooks Team

Cannot use more than one A/R account for a bill; only using one but need to divide between four customers

Thank you for joining in on this thread, Watt.

 

I do agree that it would be convenient to itemize the loan item repairs. For now, you'll want to combine them as one. In any case, I'd recommend sending feedback to our developers. They'll review this idea and might consider updating it in the future.

 

Here's how you can send feedback:

 

  1. Go to Help > Send Feedback Online > Product Suggestion.
  2. Enter your request and click the Send Feedback button.

To explore our articles and video tutorials, please feel free to visit our general help topics page. 

 

If you have any additional questions or need assistance on other task with your QuickBooks account, you can post a reply here. I'll be around to help you out.  Have a good day ahead!

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