Lesson 4 of 7 · 3 min

Recording a payment

Money in from a customer: in full, in part, or across several invoices, oldest first, with anything over kept as credit.

  1. Record a payment

    When money comes in, record it: Record payment on the invoice, or Record a payment in Sales → Payments received. Who it's from, how much, the day, which of your accounts it was paid into, and how: cash, bank transfer, cheque, card or a wallet. Ledger doesn't take the money itself; it writes down what arrived.
  2. Green Valley Mart paid Rs 100,000.00 of Rs 151,720.00, so NT-0042 now reads Part paid, with Rs 51,720.00 still to pay. Nobody sets that: it's worked out from the payments against it.
  3. What it pays starts at their oldest invoices first: the one due first, then the next. Change an amount to choose yourself, or put it All on account. If they pay more than they owe, the rest stays on their account as credit, for what they owe next.
  4. Posted as

    In the books it's one entry for the whole payment: your bank goes up, and what the customer owes comes down. Which invoices it pays only decides which read as paid, so Change what it pays, on the payment, never touches the books.

Try it

Opens Ledger. You'll be asked to sign in first; new businesses get a free week, no card needed.

Record a payment

Quick check

2 quick questions. Pick an answer and Leo will tell you how you did.

1. Green Valley Mart pays Rs 50,000.00 without saying which invoice. Where does it go?
2. A customer pays Rs 5,000 more than everything they owe. What happens to it?

Try it in Ledger, free for a week

Every lesson's Try it opens the real page, with Leo pointing the way.

Free for the first week · no card to start · Rs 1,500 a month afterFree for the first week · no card to start · £5 a month afterFree for the first week · no card to start · $6 a month after