Outstanding balance

The outstanding balance is what a customer still owes on an invoice. easySales shows it at the top of every invoice as Balance due, and uses it to decide the invoice’s status and whether it is overdue.

How it works

The balance is the invoice’s Grand total less the payments received and less the credit notes applied to it. Every time you record or remove a payment, or issue or cancel a credit note, the balance and the status are updated for you:

Nothing received — Unpaid.
Part received — Partial Paid.
Nothing left, cleared by payments — Paid.
Nothing left, and a credit note cleared some of it — Credited.

A payment reduces the balance and is counted in Paid. A credit note reduces the balance without any money changing hands, so Paid does not change. When the due date passes and a balance remains, the invoice is overdue and its due date shows in red in the invoices list.

Examples

Both examples include GST at 9%.

Crediting an invoice that was never paid

Invoice INV-13001 to Harbour Café is SGD 500.00 plus GST of SGD 45.00: SGD 545.00, and nothing has been paid. The price was wrong, so you issue a credit note for the full SGD 545.00 with the reason Over-invoiced. Here is what you will see.

The credit note applies SGD 545.00 to INV-13001 when you issue it. Balance due becomes SGD 0.00 and the status Credited.
The credit note has nothing remaining, so there is nothing to refund.
If someone later selects Unapply on that credit, INV-13001 owes SGD 545.00 again and the credit note shows SGD 545.00 remaining. That credit cannot be refunded, because the invoice never received any money; apply it back to the invoice instead.

Paying with credit alone

Harbour Café has SGD 218.00 of credit left on an earlier credit note, and a new invoice INV-14001 for SGD 100.00 plus GST of SGD 9.00: SGD 109.00. Here is how to settle it without new money.

Open INV-14001 and select Record payment.
Set Amount received to 0, and under Available credits tick the credit note for SGD 109.00.
Select Save receipt.

INV-14001 becomes Credited, and the credit note has SGD 109.00 remaining. No receipt and no receipt number are created, because no money arrived. Using credit this way needs Credit Note Edit as well as Invoice Edit.

Good to know

A payment on one invoice cannot be more than that invoice still owes. If a customer pays more, the extra stays on their account as unapplied money.
An invoice with no due date never becomes overdue.
You never set the status yourself. Record or remove payments and credit notes, and the status follows.

Terms

Grand total: The full invoice amount, including tax.
Paid: The sum of the payments recorded against the invoice.
Outstanding / Balance due: Grand total less payments and applied credit.
Due date: The date by which payment is expected.
Overdue: Past the due date with a balance still outstanding.

Common misunderstandings

A part-paid invoice is not settled. The rest is still due.
A credit note is not a payment. It lowers what is owed without money arriving.
Several payments on one invoice do not create several invoices. They all reduce the same balance.

Where to find it

Grand total, Paid and Balance due are at the top of each invoice, with the payments on its Payments tab. See Overdue and outstanding for the totals across invoices.