Understanding Invoice related dates

dsky227 · ‎October 03, 2022

I'm kinda new to this. We're using Qucikbooks Desktop... not one of the product choices.

I work for a non-profit. We have a number of grantors... and we use classes to track activity by grantor. After a month closes, I look at the expense activity by class and then generate an invoice to cover this activity, e.g. net income by class for each month will eventually equal zero.

I wait 5-7 business days for expenses to come in after the close of the month.

Generate a draft invoice. The project manager approves it... and the invoice doesn't get printed/sent to the grantor/customer 'til about the 15th or even later.

Now all invoices are dated as of the last day of the month... regardless of when they are printed/sent.

The instructions from the prior bookkeeper was that this is necessary to get the revenue associated with the invoice to align with the expenses from which the invoice was derived. However, this *really* throws off the A/R aging... as aging seems to begin with the invoice date... not the print date.

Is what I'm doing... or instructed to do... the best method? Any suggestions on how to improve this?

ReymondO · ‎October 03, 2022

Good day, @dsky227.

The A/R Aging Summary report summarizes unpaid invoices in accounts receivable, grouped by customer and billing period. This report shows what the customer owes for the current billing period and what they haven't paid from previous billing periods.

If you need a second opinion on how to handle your transactions, you can look for another accounting professional and ask for their advice. Click this link to find one: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/find-an-accountant/

Here's an article that you can read to help streamline the reporting process and get the most out of QuickBooks’ financial reporting capabilities:

Additionally, here's also an article you can read to learn more about the Account Receivable (A/R) workflows in QuickBooks Desktop: Get started with customer transaction workflows in QBDT.

As you notice, the links above are intended for the US region. You can still follow these articles as they use the same steps when handling QuickBooks.

Don't hesitate to post again if you have additional concerns about recording transactions. I'm always here to assist you. Have a good one!