Invoices and Accounts Receivable

johnhandley-jh · ‎December 10, 2018

I am using QuickBooks to track HOA payments and pay bills. I do not send out invoices. When I enter deposits, it makes me assign an account from which it is being paid--Accounts Receivable is the only obvious choice. The deposit shows up as a negative amount in each customer file, and also as a negative in Accounts Receivable. I think this is because I am not issuing invoices. How can I correct this? I would like to eliminate Accounts Receivable altogether but it won't let me. Thanks.

michelle10 · ‎December 10, 2018

I'm having a similar problem. I'm entering all my deposits under receive payment directly to the appropriate bank account (no invoice). I have reconciled accounts yet when I look at profit and loss statements it is showing all my deposits in accounts receivable and as a negative number. How do I get them out of a/r without messing up my reconciled bank accounts.

qbteachmt · ‎December 10, 2018

You should never use Receive Payment with no open charges. That means you have no income and are creating generic AR credits. You have not charged anyone for anything, and are generically showing you are getting money. Reconciling the bank has nothing to do with income. You are confusing Cash Flow with Income; they are not the same. You need to create invoices listing what they are charged for and how much, then apply these payments to the invoices. Watch your dates , too. Sales need to happen before payments. This will not impact the bank, but will fix the income and clear AR.

michelle10 · ‎December 10, 2018

So what is the best way to do this now that I have all these a/r out there ? Create a generic invoice for each of the deposits with the same date? Can I do a months worth of a/r on one invoice and date it at the beginning of the month?

qbteachmt · ‎December 10, 2018

Not one invoice, but once invoice per customer name, and not monthly but by how and when you got paid. You use Sales Receipts because the date of sale also is the date of payment. You use invoice because as of the date of sale, this sale is not paid. Payment will follow at a later date. That is the step you jumped to, directly. You bypassed all sales functionality, and you cannot Receive Payments and expect this to be meaningful for the bookkeeping. You didn't even go directly to the deposit screen, which would have made less of a mess. I'm sorry, but you really need to use the Help system and get someone to provide a bit of training or at least an overview of the program, or you will just be spinning your wheels. The functions and tools exist because you are doing more than managing a bank account balance.

sherryellesson94 · ‎December 10, 2018

fwiw, there's a great book called QuickBooks - the Hidden Manual that's 800+ pages of great, detailed info on how to do things right and how to diagnose mistakes. It's not cheap but worth hours' worth of headaches.

qbteachmt · ‎December 10, 2018

Perhaps you mean "The Missing Manual?"

uswebworx · ‎December 10, 2018

Doesn't work when you make 1 deposit with multiple invoices, QB's can't sort what the bank doesn't show and no way to do it. I am at my wits end with QB and AR.

qbteachmt · ‎December 10, 2018

@clay.thornton You are supposed to use Receive Payment, not Deposit entries posting to AR.

"QB's can't sort what the bank doesn't show"

It helps if you start your Own Topic.

uswebworx · ‎December 10, 2018

@qbteachmt I did use receive d* payment and it still doesn't sort right and why create a new topic when this one shows up as active in Google?
I send invoice they pay via check I go deposit 5 checks to business account and use the split function and it puts EVERY deposit into AR no matter what and QB never captures the individual deposits even inside the split records it doesn't calculate the invoice number as being the payment I am entering. I have fought with this for 3+ years!

qbteachmt · ‎December 10, 2018

@uswebworx
"and why create a new topic when this one shows up as active in Google?"
Uh, because this is for How To Use QB for Mac 2014, posted from Feb 2014...

It won't apply to Anything Anyone is using, now.

"I send invoice they pay via check I go deposit 5 checks to business account and use the split function"

Stop Doing Deposit. You are skipping over Receive Payment. The First Step is to use Receive Payment, to show this pays specific invoices.

"and it puts EVERY deposit into AR"

You are confusing Data Flow with the Banking. Of Course this is Clearing the open AR balances. This is not Income to you. This is the banking that results from Making Sales. Your Invoices have created Income, already.

"no matter what and QB never captures the individual deposits even inside the split records it doesn't calculate the invoice number as being the payment I am entering. I have fought with this for 3+ years!"

Whatever you are doing is the Wrong place to start, then. You started with Invoices. Look at your Home Page and follow the Arrow to the Next Icon.

Michelle-Long-CPA · ‎December 10, 2018

Create batch invoices -- you do not have to send them out. Then Receive Payments and make deposits. Follow the proper flow in QB to avoid problems.

qbteachmt · ‎December 10, 2018

They would be Dues Income, not AR, since you never created the charges as AR.

I recommend you consider using either invoices or statement charges. The Dues item will be linked to your Dues income account, and now you have AR. Then, you use Receive Payment and do not go directly to the banking screen. You are bypassing the customer activities and jumping directly to manual banking.

SkinnyRaven · ‎December 10, 2018

You need a sales transaction assigned to the customer/job. Use an item on a sales receipt/invoice to record your income then make deposits.

FloridaSunshine · ‎February 02, 2019

Hello, Were you able to figure out how to record the monthly HOA payments? I am using Quickbooks online for the same thing. I wanted to set up one receivable account for the total to collect monthly for all 180 units. The residents are paying via ACH and check deposits. Once I figure out how to set up a monthly receivable, I am hoping to offset this with the ACH deposits and check deposits. My issue is that these are all in batches - is this possible? For example, the total HOA monthly receivable is $200K, throughout the month there are several ACH payments that come in, let's say one for $120K and one for $20K, and then "batches" of check deposits, for the example, we can say $10K is one and $10K is the other. How would I record these? My intention is that this receivable account would then show how much has been unpaid for the month? Please send suggestions of proper flow through Quickbooks online. Thank you!!

qbteachmt · ‎February 02, 2019

@FloridaSunshine

"I wanted to set up one receivable account"

Yes, this is All you need and this is All you can use in QB Online.

"for the total to collect monthly for all 180 units."

That's the Dues Service item, which is linked to your income account, listed on Invoice per Owner Name.

"The residents are paying via ACH and check deposits. Once I figure out how to set up a monthly receivable,"

It's One Invoice per Name, monthly.

"I am hoping to offset this with the ACH deposits and check deposits."

It's not Offset. You use Receive Payment, or for the ACH, you will assign this is Not a Deposit, but comprised of individual Payments by Name. You need to process the funds arriving as payments by Name, to show which amount applies to which open and unpaid invoice by that same name.

"My issue is that these are all in batches - is this possible?"

Yes; you assign it to Open Invoices, and allocate it by name.

"For example, the total HOA monthly receivable is $200K, throughout the month there are several ACH payments that come in, let's say one for $120K and one for $20K,"

You assign the Payments by Name.

"and then "batches" of check deposits"

You process the payments for the date you got those checks and make sure they go to Undeposited Funds, a Holding account in QB. You make the deposit selecting the transactions sitting in UF are part of this Batched deposit for that date. Now you have one Banking entry, which matches the fat envelope you took to the bank, for the date you went to the bank, which might b a date or two After the mail arrived with the checks. You get to date the checks for the Payment date, and the Banking for the Banking date.

"My intention is that this receivable account would then show how much has been unpaid for the month?"

AR management shows all Unpaid amounts. You run the AR Aging reports to see them Aging = by due date, so if someone didn't pay for 2 months, that also shows.

" Please send suggestions of proper flow through Quickbooks online."

It's the normal process of Unpaid sales = Invoice, then processing that the funds arrived and should show they apply to one of the unpaid invoices.

Topics

Training

Community

Resources

Invoices and Accounts Receivable