keeping track of outstanding amounts

[Smokeyone]

My latest query is what is the most efficient way of keeping track of outstanding amounts owing to the business from other firms.

These amounts, usually very small are created when a client asks
you to arrange something whereby your fee is paid months in the future direct from the other company concened. My client does not give me any monies. They settle the full amount direct to the other firm.

At the moment I issue a zero amount invoice to the client, but I do not actually post it to them, and make detailed notes on the invoice for the monies involved.

I then issue an invoice to the firm involved and again I do not post it, just file it away for reference. There would be no point in posting it to them..a, they would loose it, b, their system cannot cope with a bill!!!!...so I am stuck with being patient....

These are really tiny amounts eg two dollars but its a service...
and all the amounts add up.

Thanks in advance

Smokeyone

You are gonna love this! Go to preferences - Purchases and Suppliers - Company Preferences. make Inventory and purchase orders active.
Create a sevice item - "Charge" or similar. Description will change as it is entered so just give a simple description. Link to an Income account. No amount.
Using the dummy bank account you created, write a cheque to the customer who will be paying the actual charge. Make for NIL amount. Click on "Items" at the bottom. Enter the charge item and the amount.
Enter the description you need. In "Customer:Job" enter the customer who will be paying the bill.
On the next line enter the same item - but this time make a negative amount to bring the total back to zero. DO NOT enter the customer's name in the "Customer:Job" column.
Save the transaction.
When you go to the Invoice, Type in the customer's name who will be charged. Click on Time/Costs. You now have the amount ready to be billed when ready. In the meantime, the Income account will be zero. How's that?

[Smokeyone]

I will give it a try and see how long it takes me.

Thanks again

[gibbo]

That answer was from me - on another computer. Anything you are not clear on ar have a problem with, just ask.

It throws the transaction in and out of the income account - resulting in a nil amount in that account. When you charge the customer, it appears again in the income account.

Another option - not so clever, is to produce an invoice and mark it as "Pending". This does not send the invoice to the "accounts department". It holds it as non-posting. Create a report of pending invoices and you can see what is being held over. Then simply mark it as "Final" when charging it out. No where as clever as the first though - or as tidy.

[Smokeyone]

I tried out your idea and it seems to work fine - a lot easier than the way I was doing it. Could I clarify a couple of points please.

My write cheques page - I assume you mean write a dummy cheque to the company that will eventually pay me - not my client..........

Also my page does not have a "customer job" - I have written it like this at the bottom.........

item description cost nett amount class

tools client smith 1.80 1.80 tools
tools confirm smith -1.80 -1.80 tools

I assume I also need to enter who will be paying me but should not the dummy cheque be made out to them so that I will know.

Many thanks

Smokeyone

PS Am I the only person who has these sort of daft problems.
PPS I kid you not about the dollar eighty..........

[gibbo]

Being in another country on the other side of the world does not help. Our version may be slightly different to yours. I train on QuickBooks Pro so that is what is on all my computers. So there may be a slight difference from time to time.

On the bottom of my cheque I can select to charge to a Customer:Job. This allows me to charge customers for expenses I have incurred on their behalf. This is normally used for reimbursable expenses. You then have an option to reverse the expense when it is paid or to track the payment as income. What we do is reverse the entry, but it still leaves the original amount to be charged to the cutomer.

I have attached a screen grab of my cheque window so you can see how mine works.

You are not unique with these sort of problems. And they are not daft! You should see some of the things we can do. And a dollar eighty adds up when there are a few of them. (I still pick up sixpences from the ground!)

[Smokeyone]

Thank you for your assistance Gibbo. I will sort out all my odd outstanding amounts and straighten out my QB accounts.

I do have a few more problems but I will give you a break for the moment............

Thanks again

Smokeyone