Overview
This article covers how to record that a payment has been received in Emersion.
This is known as a manual payment. Manual payments are payments that have been instigated and completed outside of the Emersion platform. This can be any payment method including cash, cheque, bank deposit, credit card using a POS facility, BPAY, etc.
If you subscribe to the Automated Payments module, recording payments for any of your supported automated payment methods using the Receive Payment function should only be done if the payment was for products and services not billed by Emersion, or on the advice of Emersion support staff.
Take Payment or Receive Payment?
While both functions record that a payment has occurred, they function very differently and it is very important users know which function to use in each case.
| Function | Description |
|---|---|
| Receive Payment | When the user wants to record a payment has been received from the customer where it was initiated by them. All manual payments are recorded this way. |
| Take Payment | When the user wants to be the party to initiate (take) the payment to be taken from the customer's credit card or bank account using the payment gateway. See this article how to take a payment in Emersion. |
There are two places in Emersion where a payment can be received:
| Navigation Path | Access Control | Recommended Roles |
|---|---|---|
Finance > Accounts Receivable > Receive Payment | From here, a user can access all payments across all customer. | Suited to accounts receivable staff |
| Customer > Payments > Receive Payment | From here, a user can access all payments for a customer. | Suited to customer service staff |
Receive a Payment
The Accounts Receivable Customer list page will display a list of customers. Use the search criteria and list filters at the top to find the customer.
Once the customer is found, click the Receive Payment link in the Action column on the right. This will take the user to the Receive Payment page which shows a list of all outstanding invoices for the selected customer with the oldest invoice shown first.
Invoices that have been paid in full will not appear in this list.
Complete all required fields.
Enter the total amount of the payment in the Total field.
Tick the Auto Allocate check box to automatically allocate the payment against outstanding invoices. Alternatively the payments can be manually allocated. Learn more about allocating payments to invoices.
Enter the Payment Reference, if applicable.
Select the Payment Method from the drop list.
If the Can Modify Ledger Payment Date power is enabled, the Ledger Payment Date can be modified.
Depending on the payment method selected, the system may display credit card related fields. If you've chosen one of these, select the credit card type from the Card Type drop list.
Enter the Payment Date.
Enter an optional Payment Note.
Internal Payments
Ticking the Internal Only check box will stop the payment being pushed to any accounting integration, such as Xero or Quickbooks.
In addition, internal only payments can only be allocated to internal only invoices or invoices prior to the invoice sync start date. The Allocated Amount input box will be disabled in this scenario.
'Internal Only' Payments can only be allocated to 'Internal Only' Invoices or invoices prior to 'Invoice Sync Start' date
The flag cannot be unchecked once the payment has been taken. In all cases, proceed with caution and consider the impact to the account balance in both Emersion and the accounting integration.
If an error is made, reverse and void the payment then recreate the payment with the checkbox unchecked.
Payment Surcharges
The system will show any default surcharges that apply in the Finance Charge (%) and Finance Charge ($) fields.
Click the Create Surcharge check box to override the default payment surcharge details. The fields will then be put into EDIT mode.
If the Create Surcharge box is not checked, a surcharge cardline will not be generated.
Enter either a finance charge in (%) or ($) form in the respective fields.
Submitting the Payment
Click the Submit button. A window will appear showing the payment details, along with any surcharges, to confirm the payment.
When the payment has been confirmed the system will:
- create the payment record
- associate the payment against the customer's account
- update the customer's account balance
- create a transaction in the ledger
- refresh the page.
Troubleshooting
When attempting to receive a payment, you encounter the following error:
Could not gather the period information about your invoice - allocating the payment has failed. Please contact Support.
This means the system is unable to find an Account Invoice Period that surrounds the payment's Ledger Payment Date (of which itself cannot be prior to the most recent invoice posted to the account ledger, nor can it be in the future)
In this circumstance, the most common reason is because the account is either PreActive (ie. never used), has been marked Inactive or Cancelled. A non-Active account will no longer have account invoice periods generated and as such cannot have payments made against it.
To see if account invoice periods are generating, navigate to the account and click on Dashboard and observe the Billing Information section (or navigate to Details > Trading Terms)
No valid "current invoice period" - normally as a result of a non-Active account.
In order to receive a payment for an account in this state, you can;
- Make the account Active
- Either wait for the backend billing processes to generate any missing account invoice periods or Bring Billing Up To Date manually
- Again attempt to Receive Payment
If after ensuring a current invoice period exists you continue to receive this error please contact Emersion Support and ensure you provide a screenshot of your payment details before submitting.