A customer is anyone you sell to. The customer record holds their name, contact details, and tax number, and it is the party you pick on every sales document, from a Quotation through to an Invoice and a Customer Receipt. The bookkeeper or accountant creates customers once, and everyone selects from the list when they raise a sale.
A customer record does more than store contact details. It carries the defaults that prefill each sale (a receivable account, payment method, payment term, sales rep, discount, and price level), a credit limit you can read against their balance, and a login for the customer portal. Setting these once on the customer means every document for that customer starts correct, so you type less and post fewer mistakes.
Before you start
A new business starts with no customers. Add them as you take on each one, or import them in bulk.
Several fields on the customer point at other master files. You do not have to set them up first, but the customer form only prefills them if they already exist:
- A Customer Type to classify the customer.
- A receivable account from the Chart of Accounts for the Default AR Account.
- A Payment Method and Payment Term for the sales defaults.
- A Sales Rep to credit the sale to.
You need the create customers permission to add one, the edit customers permission to change one, the approve customers permission to approve it, and the delete customers permission to remove one. These are set per user under Users, seats & permissions.
Defaults prefill from your workspace
When you open a new customer, ZyncLedger prefills the Default Payment Method, Default Payment Term, Default Sales Rep, and Default AR Account from your workspace defaults, set under Organization settings. Those defaults flow onto the customer, and the customer's defaults then flow onto each sale you raise for them. You can override any of them on the customer, and again on an individual document.
Create a customer
Open the Customers list
Go to Sales → Customers. The list shows every customer with its Customer Code, name, balance, Credit Limit, and Status (Active or Inactive, and Approved or Pending).
Start a new customer
Select Add Customer. The Create New Customer panel opens from the right.
Enter the code and name
The Customer Code identifies the customer. If your workspace generates customer codes automatically, this field reads Auto-generated and fills itself on save. If it is set to manual, type a unique code (required). You set this mode under Document numbering.
Type the customer's Name (required).
Classify the customer (optional)
Use Customer Type to group the customer, for example as Wholesale or Corporate. Only types that are Active and Approved appear in the list. Leave it blank if you do not classify customers. See Customer Types.
Set the contact details and login
Enter the customer's contact details. The email and password also create a login for the customer portal.
Field What it does Email Required. Becomes the customer's portal login, so it must not already belong to another user in your workspace. Phone Number Optional. Up to 15 characters. Password Required for a new customer. Type one, or use the refresh icon to generate a strong password and the eye icon to reveal it. When editing an existing customer, leave this blank to keep their current password. Add addresses (optional)
Enter a Billing Address and a Shipping Address. Both are optional and print on the customer's documents.
Set the credit limit and parent (optional)
- Credit Limit is the outstanding balance you are willing to carry for this customer. ZyncLedger shows it next to their balance on sales screens for reference (see the note below). Leave it blank for no stated limit.
- Parent Customer nests this customer under another, for example a branch under its head office. Search for the parent and select it, or leave it blank for a top-level customer. A customer cannot be its own parent.
Set the sales defaults (optional)
These four fields decide what a new sale for this customer starts with. Each one is optional and can be changed on the document.
Field What it does Default Payment Method Prefills the payment method on the customer's receipts. Default Payment Term Prefills the credit term, which sets the due date on invoices. Default Sales Rep Prefills the Sales Rep credited with the sale. Default Discount % Prefills a line discount on the customer's sales. A product's own default discount overrides this on that line. Set the accounting and tax details
- Default AR Account is the receivable account this customer's invoices post to. The search lists only accounts of the receivable type from your Chart of Accounts. It prefills from your workspace default and flows onto each invoice.
- Tax Number is the customer's tax registration number, printed on their documents. Optional.
Set the pricing and status flags
Three checkboxes finish the record:
Field What it does Apply Wholesale Price Off by default. When on, sales lines for this customer default to each product's wholesale price instead of its normal price, where the product has one set. Active On by default. An inactive customer stays for history but is not offered when you pick a customer on a document. Approved Off by default. A customer is only offered for selection once it is both Active and Approved. Ticking this needs the approve permission, and once approved the box is locked. Save
Select Create Customer. The customer, and their portal login, are created, and once approved the customer appears in the Customer search on sales screens.
The credit limit is a reference, not a block
ZyncLedger displays the customer's Credit Limit alongside their outstanding balance on quotations, sales orders, invoices, delivery orders, and receipts so you can see where they stand. It does not stop you saving a sale that takes them over the limit. Treat the limit as a prompt to check, not an automatic control.
Opening balances are set separately
This form does not capture what a customer already owes you at go-live. A new customer starts with a zero balance. Enter what they owe as an opening balance, either with the Import Opening Balance action on the Customers list or as part of your opening balances setup, not on this form.
Approval gates availability
A new customer is created as Pending until someone with the approve permission approves it. Until then it will not appear when you pick a customer on a document. If a customer you created is not showing up, check that it is both Active and Approved on this screen.
Edit, deactivate, or delete
Select the edit icon on any row to change a customer's details, defaults, or flags. The email you set is a live login, so changing it changes how that customer signs in.
To stop a customer being used without losing their history, clear the Active flag rather than deleting the record.
Heads up
Deleting a customer also deletes their linked portal user account and cannot be undone. ZyncLedger blocks the delete if the customer has child customers beneath it, or if the customer is referenced by any posted transaction such as an invoice or a receipt. Because those documents point back to the customer, removing it would break that history. Deactivate the customer instead, or reassign and remove its children first.
Related
- Customer Types — classify customers for grouping and reporting.
- Chart of Accounts — the receivable account a customer's invoices post to.
- Payment Terms and Payment Methods — the credit and settlement defaults a customer carries.
- Sales Reps — the person a customer's sales are credited to by default.
- Invoice — where a customer's defaults prefill the sale.
- Customer Receipt — record a payment against a customer's open invoices.
