A customer receipt records money a customer pays you and settles what they owe. You pick the customer, choose the bank or cash account the money lands in, then allocate that payment across the customer's open documents: their invoices. In the same document you can apply any open credits in the customer's favour, such as an Invoice Credit, against those open items. The cashier, the bookkeeper, the accountant, or the owner usually enters customer receipts.
A customer receipt is the settlement engine on the sales side. An invoice records what the customer owes, and an Invoice Credit records a credit in their favour, but neither settles anything on its own. It is the customer receipt that moves them: allocating a receipt (or a credit) to an open invoice is what moves that invoice from Open to Partial to Closed, and applying an open credit here is what uses that credit up.
Use a customer receipt to collect against balances you have already invoiced. It is not how you record a cash sale with nothing owing: for money that comes straight in with no invoice behind it (a fresh cash sale, income, or a customer advance before you have billed them), use a Bank Receipt instead, which books the sale and the cash in one document. A customer advance taken that way later shows up here as a credit you can apply.
Find customer receipts under Sales & Customer → Customer Receipt.
Before you start
- The customer who is paying must exist in Customers. Picking the customer sets the AR Account and the Payment Method to that customer's defaults and loads the two allocation tables from that customer's open items.
- The customer must have something open to settle. A customer receipt must allocate to at least one open document, so raise the invoice first if nothing is outstanding yet.
- A bank or cash account to receive into must exist in your Chart of Accounts. It is required, even when you are settling entirely with a credit.
- An Accounts Receivable account is required. It prefills from the customer and must be of type Accounts Receivable. It is the account the receipt credits, and it also decides which of the customer's open items appear to settle.
- A payment method is required. If it is a cheque method, the form asks for the cheque details (see the steps below).
- You need the Create Customer Receipts permission, granted per user under Permissions. List Customer Receipts lets you open the screen, and Edit, Delete, View, and Print Customer Receipts cover the rest. See Users, seats & permissions.
Record a customer receipt
Open a new customer receipt
Go to Sales & Customer → Customer Receipt and select New Customer Receipt. The form opens full screen.
Check the template
The Template picker sits in the toolbar at the top of the form. ZyncLedger pre-selects your default customer receipt template, so you can usually leave it. The template decides which fields the form shows (including whether the charges fields appear) and how the printed receipt looks; switch it here if you keep more than one layout. See Print templates for how these are set up.
Choose the customer
Select the Customer (required). ZyncLedger sets the AR Account and the Payment Method to the customer's defaults and loads the customer's open items into the two tables below. The customer's current Balance shows below the field, so you can see what they owe in total.
Confirm the AR account
Check the AR Account (required). This is the Accounts Receivable account the receipt credits, and it also filters the open items in the tables, so only documents posted to this account appear to settle. It prefills from the customer, and the list only offers accounts of type Accounts Receivable.
Choose the bank account
Select the Bank Account (required). This is the bank or cash account the money lands in. It is required even when you settle entirely with a credit and no cash actually moves.
Set the receipt date
Enter the Receipt Date (required). This is the date the receipt posts to the ledger, so it decides which period the money and the settlement fall in.
Choose the payment method
Select the Payment Method (required), for example cash, bank transfer, or cheque. See Payment methods for how these are set up.
- For most methods, a Reference No field appears for your own reference, such as a transfer reference. It is optional.
- For a cheque method, the form replaces the reference with Cheque No and Cheque Date. Enter the number on the cheque you received and the date written on it. Recording those here does not bank the cheque; it is tracked as a received cheque you clear separately (see A received cheque is banked in Cheque management below).
Set the transaction number
The Txn Number identifies the receipt. How you fill it depends on the number mode for customer receipts:
- Automatic (the default): the field shows Auto Generated and ZyncLedger assigns the next number when you save. Leave it alone.
- Manual: you type the number yourself. It is required and must be unique across all transactions.
See Document numbering to change the mode or set up a multi-series numbering scheme.
Customer receipts share the bank receipt numbering
A customer receipt draws its number from your Bank Receipt numbering settings, not a separate customer-receipt series. Change the number mode or series for bank receipts and customer receipts follow. This is deliberate.
Allocate the receipt to open dues
The Dues tab lists the customer's open items on the chosen AR account: their open invoices, plus any other unsettled amount the customer owes on that account, such as a journal debit or a returned cheque. Each row shows its Amount and its outstanding Balance Due. For each item you are settling, fill one or both of these columns:
Column What it does Apply Amount The cash from the bank account to put against this item. This is money coming into your account. Apply Credit An open credit to put against this item instead of cash. Fund it in the Credits tab (see the next step). Tick a row's checkbox to fill its Apply Amount with the full Balance Due, or type a smaller figure to settle part of it. You cannot allocate more than an item's Balance Due. At least one item must carry an Apply Amount or an Apply Credit before you can save.
Apply open credits (optional)
The Credits tab lists the customer's open credits on the same AR account: their open Invoice Credits, plus any other credit in the customer's favour on that account, such as an advance recorded on a Bank Receipt or a journal credit. Each shows its Available Amount. To use a credit, enter its Apply Amount (tick the row to use it in full), then go back to the Dues tab and enter the matching Apply Credit against the item or items you are clearing with it.
The total credit you apply on the dues must equal the total you draw from the credits, so the two tabs balance. The footer shows both running totals as Total Applied Credit and Total Available Credits; ZyncLedger will not let you save until they match.
Add charges (optional)
If your template shows the charges fields, use them to record a fee deducted from the money you receive, such as a bank charge on a transfer:
- Bank Charges and Bank Charges Account — the fee amount and the expense account it posts to.
- Other Charges and Other Charges Account — a second fee and its expense account.
A charge is booked to the expense account and comes out of the bank account, so the net amount landing in the bank is the cash you applied minus the charges. A charge does not change how much of the customer's balance the receipt clears (see What it posts below).
Add a note (optional)
Use the Receipt Note at the foot of the form to record anything about the receipt. If you keep standard wording, pick it from the note selector to autofill.
Check the totals and save
The footer totals the allocation:
Total What it shows Total Applied Amount The cash you are applying across the dues. Total Applied Credit The credit you are applying across the dues. Total Available Credits The credit you are drawing from the Credits tab (must equal Total Applied Credit). Total Receipt Amount The cash that comes into the bank account, which is the Total Applied Amount. Select Save to save the receipt, or use Save & New, Save & Print, or Save & Close from the save button. The receipt saves with a status of Posted and settles the allocated items immediately.
What it posts
A customer receipt splits into two parts: the cash the customer pays, and the credits you apply. It posts money for the cash and settles the rest. A receipt carries no tax of its own; any tax was already recorded on the invoice or credit it settles.
The cash part. For the Total Applied Amount (the sum of every Apply Amount), the receipt debits (increases) the Bank Account it lands in and credits (reduces) the Accounts Receivable account, clearing that much of what the customer owes. It also lowers the customer's balance by the same cash amount. The credit to Accounts Receivable always equals the debit to the bank, so the entry balances. It flows through to the Trial Balance, the General Ledger, the Balance Sheet, and your banking reports.
Any charges. If you entered a bank charge or other charge, the receipt also debits that expense account and credits the bank account for the charge, so the charge reduces the money that actually lands in the bank. A charge is your cost, not the customer's: it does not reduce the customer's balance or the amount the receipt settles, and it is not part of the applied total. So the customer's Accounts Receivable still clears by the full Total Applied Amount, while the net cash in the bank is that amount minus the charges.
The credit part. Applying a credit posts no new ledger entry and does not change the customer's balance again. The credit already reduced your Accounts Receivable and the customer's balance when you raised it, and the invoice already added to them when it was posted. Applying the credit here simply nets the two off against each other: it links the open credit to the open due, moving both toward Closed without any cash coming in.
What it settles. Each amount you allocate is recorded as a settlement against the item it clears, and that is what moves the item's status:
- An Apply Amount or Apply Credit on an open invoice settles that invoice, moving it from Open to Partial (settled in part) to Closed (fully settled).
- An Apply Amount drawn from an open Invoice Credit uses that credit up, moving the credit itself from Open to Partial to Closed.
Because every item is capped at its own outstanding balance, you can never settle more than is owed on an invoice, or apply more than is left on a credit.
The receipt is what settles an invoice, not the credit
Raising an Invoice Credit lowers the customer's overall balance, but it does not settle any one invoice on its own. It sits as an open credit until you apply it here. Allocating it on a customer receipt is what clears the specific invoice and uses the credit up.
Tips & gotchas
Customer Receipt, Bank Receipt, or an invoice?
Use a customer receipt to collect against invoices the customer already owes. Use a Bank Receipt for money that comes in with no invoice behind it: a fresh cash sale, income, a refund, or a customer advance before you have billed them. Raise an Invoice to create the receivable in the first place.
To take a customer advance, use a Bank Receipt
There is no advance or on-account option on a customer receipt: it must be allocated to at least one open item. To take money from a customer before you have invoiced them, record a Bank Receipt instead. On its Accounts tab, add a line that selects an Accounts Receivable account and carries the customer's Name, for the advance amount. The money lands in the bank and sits as a credit in that customer's favour. That advance then appears in the Credits tab here, ready to apply against the invoice once it is raised, exactly like an Invoice Credit.
Settling with a credit balances two tabs
When you clear a due with a credit, the total Apply Credit you enter on the Dues tab must exactly equal the total Apply Amount you draw on the Credits tab. If they do not match, ZyncLedger blocks the save. Settle a due fully with credit and its Apply Amount stays zero, so no cash comes in.
A received cheque is banked in Cheque management
Choosing a cheque payment method only records the cheque's number and date on the receipt. The cheque itself sits as cheque-in-hand until you bank it, which happens separately in Cheque management (a gated feature). Once a receipt's cheque has been deposited, you cannot edit or delete the receipt until you revert the deposit there first.
A reconciled receipt is locked
Once a customer receipt's bank line has been matched on a bank reconciliation, ZyncLedger will not let you change the amount or delete it, so reconciled history stays intact. Undo the reconciliation first if you need to correct it.
Deleting a receipt reverses its settlements
There is no reversing entry. Deleting a customer receipt sets its status to Deleted, removes its ledger entries, raises the customer's balance back by the cash amount, and unwinds every settlement it made, so the invoices and credits it touched return to their earlier status. ZyncLedger blocks the deletion if the receipt's cheque has been deposited, if its bank line has been reconciled on a bank reconciliation, or if its date falls in a period closed by the Ledger close date, so banked, reconciled, and locked history stays intact.
Related
- Customers are the parties who pay, and carry the default AR account and payment method the receipt uses.
- Invoice is the open document a customer receipt settles.
- Invoice Credit is the open credit you apply here against those invoices.
- Bank Receipt records money received with nothing owing, and is how you take a customer advance.
- Payment methods set how the money comes in, including cheque receipts.
- Chart of Accounts holds the Accounts Receivable and bank or cash accounts a customer receipt posts to.
- Document numbering controls the customer receipt's transaction number, shared with bank receipts.
- Banking reports list your customer receipts and what is still outstanding.
