Customer deposits can be entered on a sales order and posted on an invoice to a special liability holding account that allows you to track cash received for items not yet invoiced. This Customer Deposit account is credited with the deposit amount when the Accounts Receivable Cash Receipts Entry update is performed, and debited when a sales invoice with a customer deposit is updated. Customer Deposit account postings are detailed with reference and customer name information. If the Asset Account field in Accounts Receivable Payment Type Maintenance is left blank, the Customer Deposit account specified at the Customer Deposits Account field on the Sales Order Options Additional tab is used.

To process customer deposits

1 On the Sales Order Setup menu, click Sales Order Options. Click the Additional tab.

2 Select the Post Customer Deposits by Division check box to use separate deposit accounts for each division. Clear the check box if you do not want to use separate accounts.

3 At the Customer Deposits Account field, enter the general ledger account established in your chart of accounts.

4 Although the customer deposit information is entered in Sales Order Entry and Invoice Data Entry, all cash receipts, including customer deposits, must be entered using Accounts Receivable Cash Receipts Entry. Enter each customer deposit separately as a cash deposit type, even if the customer deposit was paid by credit card (select Cash at the Deposit Type field in the Cash Receipts Deposit window). Use the G/L Account field on the Accounts Receivable Cash Receipts Entry Lines tab to distribute the deposit amount to the Customer Deposits account. Make sure you enter the Customer Deposits account specified in Sales Order Options or Accounts Receivable Payment Type Maintenance.

NOTE If the payment type used is not Check, you can enter the payment type at the Check Number field.

The Customer Deposits account is credited with the deposit amount when the Cash Receipts Entry update is performed. The balance of the Customer Deposit account at any time represents the total outstanding deposits (deposits received for sales orders that are not invoiced).

5 On the Sales Order Main menu, click Sales Order Entry.

6 On the Totals tab, enter the following information depending on your selection at the Payment Type field:

Check Number and Deposit Amount
Credit Card Number
Reference Number

The reference number is reflected on the sales order as a memo amount. The deposit amount is printed on the sales order acknowledgment and listed on the Open Sales Order Report.

NOTE General ledger postings and adjustment of the customer balance are not made until the order is invoiced.

7 On the Sales Order Main menu, click Invoice Data Entry.

8 At the Invoice Number field, enter an invoice for the sales order. The deposit amount entered on the sales order is recorded against the invoice. For a one-step invoice that does not have a sales order, on the Invoice Data Entry Totals tab, enter the Deposit Amount and Check Number. The deposit applied is printed on the invoice and also reported on the Deposit Recap and the Daily Sales Journal. The deposit available also appears.

When the invoice is updated to the Open Invoice file after the Sales Journal is printed, the invoice balance is the invoice total less the deposit amount applied.

General ledger postings from the invoice update debit the deposit amount to the Customer Deposit account and credit the Accounts Receivable account.