Settle transactions and undo settlements

  • 13 minutes

You can use the Settle transactions page to make changes in transactions for customers. Only unapplied transactions are available for editing. The following procedures explain how to complete the following tasks:

  • Settle invoices and payments
  • Specify a cross rate between invoices and payments
  • Reorganize transactions with new due dates

Settling invoices and payments

You can settle invoices and payments in the Settle open transaction page if, for example, the invoice and payment are not settled when you create the payment.

The following information is relevant to settling invoices and payments:

  • If the amount paid is more than the amount due, then the system settles the invoice and the payment transaction remains open for the amount by which the payment exceeded the amount due. If the over/underpayment feature is being used, it can force them to be equal and close the transaction.
  • If the payment amount is less than the amount due, then the system subtracts the payment from the amount due and the invoice remains open.
  • If the amount paid equals the amount due, then the system generates a payment transaction for the payment amount and then closes the transaction.

To enable automatic settlements, select Accounts receivable > Setup > Customer posting profiles. Select the relevant customer posting profile and, on the Table restriction FastTab, select the Settlement check box.

In some cases, it is convenient to allow for an automatic settlement of invoices and payments.

For example, if a company must handle numerous small customers who have few payments, such as subscribers to magazines, automatic settlement can be an efficient solution to posting payments.

You can use a cross rate when you settle a payment with an invoice and the payment and invoice lines are in different currencies. When you select an invoice and a primary payment, you can enter a cross rate for the invoice line. The cross rate is the exchange rate between the currencies for those transactions as of the settlement date.

Credit card payment refractory

The Credit card payment refractory feature enables you to have a central place to check and resolve errors. The cards payment process is split into multiple stages:

  • Creating customer invoice for the sales order.
  • Issuing cards payment (such as debit card, credit card, gift card).
  • Generating payment posting in general ledger.

The status of each stage is centrally logged and monitored per invoice and sales order. Therefore, in case of failures in the process after the customer invoice is posted, you can check the failure reason and recover payment process.

Reorganizing open transactions

You or a customer might pay one invoice on multiple dates or use multiple payment methods, such as a check and cash. In this instance, you can reorganize an invoice into several parts and assign a separate payment method to each part. After reorganizing the invoice, you can settle each new invoice line with a separate payment.

Alternatively, you can reorganize the due dates by using a payment schedule. Select the Payment schedule button, select a payment schedule and a starting point, and then select OK. The Payment schedule configuration key must be selected to reorganize transactions according to a payment schedule.

Placing an accounts receivable transaction on hold

To make data entry more flexible, you can enter a transaction on one date, and then put it on hold to prevent users from posting it until a specified date. This functionality is useful if you have an agreement with a customer about when a transaction can be posted.

To prevent a transaction from being posted until a specified date, enter a release date. The transaction is on hold until the release date occurs. You can edit and save transactions that are on hold, but you cannot post them unless you first remove the hold.

On hold transactions in different time zones

If your organization includes users who work across different time zones, the date and time when a transaction is released from a hold is based on the time zone of the user who most recently modified the Release date value. Because the transactions release at midnight on the specified date in that user's time zone, the actual date and time of the release adjust accordingly for users in other time zones.

For example, on December 31 in New York, a user puts a transaction on hold at noon Eastern Time and enters a release date of January 1 (the next day). The user sets up the transaction to be on hold until midnight Eastern Time, so the user must wait 12 hours for the transaction to be released.

Users in London, which is five hours ahead of New York, also must wait 12 hours. However, because the transaction was put on hold at 5:00 PM Greenwich Mean Time on December 31, the transaction will not be released until 5:00 AM Greenwich Mean Time on January 1.

For users in Seattle, which is three hours behind New York, the transaction was put on hold at 9:00 AM Pacific Time on December 31. When the transaction is released 12 hours later (at 9:00 PM Pacific Time), it will still be December 31 for these users.

Undo settlements

When you work with reverse settlements, consider the following information:

  • You can use the Closed-transaction editing window to edit fully applied or settled transactions that are in history.
  • You can use reverse settlements if the bank does not honor a payment, or if you used the wrong date or settlement amount.
  • An unsettled invoice is considered unpaid and is handled together with collection letters.

Watch the following video to learn how to settle and undo settlements in Accounts receivable: