Lesson #48
Receivables – Receive Payments function
Enter a payment and apply it to outstanding invoices in this function, whether the payment is for a single invoice or multiple invoices. RB can handle an unlimited number of invoices paid by one check or other type of payment, such as credit card, electronic payment, or retainer.
You can make adjustments, if needed, when applying payments to invoices, such as when a client sends you a check that is slightly less than the current balance of an invoice, and you don’t want to try to collect the difference, you can discount the difference on the posted invoice. Or if a client sends you a check for more than is owed, enter the excess as an overpayment. (RB tracks all overpayments so they can be refunded in the future.)
You can also enter late charges, finance charges, and credit card/PayPal processing fees. (If you receive a payment prior to when late charges would accrue, the Late Charges and Finance Charges fields in Receive Payments are grayed out and uneditable so you won’t accidentally penalize a client.)
When processing credit card payments, you can break out the usage fees associated with them. Set up credit card payment processing fee accounts in your business units, then when processing fees are applied to invoices in Receive Payments, they are included in the corresponding accounts for your company. You have 2 options for handling credit card fees in RB: If you pay the processing fee, you use the Processing Fee option; if your client will pay the fee in addition to the balance of the invoice, you use the Surcharge option.
If you are holding a retainer from a client, it will automatically appear when applying payments by that client so you don’t overlook it. If any money is left over, it remains in the client’s retainer account until you issue a refund check to the client.
Beyond payment types and adjustments, you can maintain a wealth of information about a payment from check number and date to third-party payer to transaction date (when you entered the payment) and debited account.
One Check One Invoice vs. Multiple Invoices
If a client is paying for a single invoice, you can use the streamlined One Check One Invoice sub-function to quickly enter the payment. If a client is paying for multiple invoices with one check or you don’t know what invoice they are paying, use the One Check Multiple Invoices sub-function which displays a client’s entire list of open invoices which you can search by job number, invoice number, or amount range. You can export the list as an Excel spreadsheet to save, print, or use in other applications.
After entering a payment and applying it to outstanding invoices, you can continue to add payments to other invoices or finish the payment process by posting the payment. If you have a lot of transactions to record, instead of posting payments as you go, enter them all first, then select a batch to post all at once.
All daily transactions are temporary until they are posted (i.e., closed out). And once posted, they cannot be modified nor deleted. Some RB reports, such as monthly journals, use the post date (not the transaction date) to select and group transactions on the report.
When you post a payment, it must match the total amount of the invoice(s) you applied it to. If the payment is more than the invoice balance(s), RB will not allow you to post it until you balance it with credits (such as the overpayment credit). One exception: RB does not require payment of late fees or finance charges to post, so if a client sent a check for the original amount of the invoice only even though there have since been late fees and/or finance charges applied, you can post the invoice and RB will zero out the fees and remove the invoice from your outstanding receivables.
If clients pay online through RB Connect, you do not have to enter payment information manually. RB9 automatically enters the payment, including the processing fee if you have set up processing fees in RB9. You can review and edit the payment if needed, then post it like any other payment.
Audit trail
Unposted payments remain in Receive Payments until they are balanced. RB tracks who entered a payment and when, so you have an audit trail of who is responsible for crediting payments to invoices. You can use this feature to filter unposted payments to see only those you entered to get a total amount and reconcile.
Information on who entered payments and when appears in the results when you search for unposted payments in Receive Payments so you can see it at a glance. Listings also display the payment type, transaction date, payer and if it was a third party (for example, if an insurance company paid for a bill their lawyer incurred for them), invoice amount, and its outstanding balance. Grand total and total outstanding balance amounts also appear in the results.
You can sort your results in the grid by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function, RB will revert back to the default order). Export the list as an Excel spreadsheet to save, print, share, or use in other applications.
You can pull up any unposted payment’s details from the results, either as a drop-down to quickly see all the invoices paid with one transaction, along with their fees breakdown and bill to/sold to information; or in a separate transaction screen.
TL;DR: Enter payments and apply them to one or more invoices, making adjustments as needed for overpayments, late charges, finance charges, and credit card processing fees. Maintain an audit trail of who entered which payments and when.
RB concepts in this lesson
Bill To Contact: The contact responsible for paying the invoice for a job.
Bill To Firm: The firm responsible for paying the invoice for a job.
Business Unit (BU): One of your company’s revenue centers or any entity in your business that you want to track separately.
Processing Fee: If you pay the credit card processing fee when a client pays an invoice by credit card, you record it as a processing fee in RB.
RB Connect: Online repository, calendar, and access to your office for clients and resources. More >
Sold To Contact: Contact that ordered the services on the invoice.
Sold To Firm: Firm that ordered the services on the invoice.
Surcharge: If you pass along the credit card processing fee when a client pays an invoice by credit card to the client, you record it as a surcharge in RB.
