Documentation/ Checking the document header/ Due date and payment terms
Due date and payment terms
Three header fields decide when and how a document is paid: the payment method, the terms and the due date. The list's due date column comes out of them.
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The fields
| Field | What is in it | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Payment method | How it gets settled. | Read off the document, or from the supplier record |
| Payment terms | The term agreed. | Read off the document, or from the supplier record |
| Payment date | The due date. | Read or worked out |
| Settled in cash | Flags the documents paid out of the till. | You tick it |
Payment methods
The field takes the usual ones:
| Bank transfer | Direct debit |
| Promissory note | Cheque |
| Cash | Card |
The payment method does not change the due date: it is information for managing receipts and payments, and it is passed on to your management system.
Payment terms
The term agreed, which does set the due date:
| On receipt | 7 days | 15 days | 30 days |
| 45 days | 60 days | 90 days | 120 days |
When the document does not state them, the ones on the supplier record are used. Keeping that record current is what stops documents arriving with no due date.
How the due date is worked out
In this order:
- The date the document states, if it states one.
- The document date plus the terms the document itself gives.
- The document date plus the terms on the supplier record.
- The planned payment date, if one has been set in the payment planning.
The list's due date column says which of the four it came from, and that is what tells you where to correct it when a date does not look right. It is described in Due dates and payments.
Settled in cash
The settled in cash box flags the documents paid out of the till on the spot. Its effect is not just informative: it produces the payment entry, using the supplier's or customer's sub-account and the bank account set on their record.
That is the case with receipts, cash purchases and anything settled without credit.
The bank account
Without a bank account there is no payment entry. If the customer's or supplier's record does not have one set, the application says so outright: the document is recorded, but the entry waits until the account exists.
You set it on the entity's record, under Clients / Companies. It is worth putting in when you first create each entity, precisely so you do not meet that warning document by document.
What to check
| Situation | Where to fix it |
|---|---|
| The due date is wrong on one document | On that document's own record. |
| The due date is wrong on all of one supplier's | In the payment terms on their record. |
| The document has no due date at all | Neither the document nor the supplier record gives any terms: add them to the record. |
| A warning that the bank account is missing | On the entity's record, under Clients / Companies. |
| The payment method is not the one agreed | On the supplier record, for future documents. |
The rule is always the same: if the error keeps happening, fix it on the record; if it is a one-off, fix it on the document.