Make Deposits records a trip to the bank. The customer payments you have received but not yet banked wait in Undeposited Funds; a deposit takes the ones you choose, adds anything else going in on the same deposit slip, subtracts any cash you keep back, and puts the total into the bank account as one amount — the same single line your bank statement will show. That is what makes the bank account easy to reconcile.
A payment can go on one deposit only. Once it is deposited it leaves Undeposited Funds.
When you need it
You use Make Deposits when payments are recorded to Undeposited Funds, which is the case when:
- the preference Use Undeposited Funds as a default deposit to account is on (then every payment you receive goes there), or
- you chose Undeposited Funds as the Deposit To account on a payment or sales receipt, or
- card and cheque payments are routed to Undeposited Funds in Accounting Setup.
If your payments go straight to the bank account instead, there is nothing to deposit, and you only use this window for other money such as a rebate cheque or interest. See Undeposited Funds and the Deposit To account.
Opening Make Deposits
- Banking ▸ Make Deposits, or Record Deposits on the Home Page (in the Customers band and in the Banking panel). SeroBooks first shows Payments to Deposit, then opens the Make Deposits window over the Home Page. Esc goes back to Home.
- Reports ▸ Banking ▸ Deposit Register opens the Deposits list: the payments waiting, with a tick box on each, and the deposits already made. Tick payments there and choose Deposit … · (or Make Deposit with nothing ticked) to open the window with those payments.
Make a deposit, step by step
- Open Banking ▸ Make Deposits. The Payments to Deposit window lists every payment waiting in Undeposited Funds: the date received, who paid, the payment method and the amount. A payment applied to several invoices is listed once, for its whole amount — a $3,060.00 card payment against #1281, #1300 and its card-surcharge invoice is one $3,060.00 line, matching the one deposit on the bank statement (see One payment, one receipt). An overpayment the customer left as a credit is part of the same line: $3,100.00 received for $3,060.00 of invoices, with $40.00 left as credit, is one $3,100.00 line. Money received with no invoice at all (a customer's deposit or credit) is listed on its own line, with no invoice number. Each part of a split payment is listed on its own, so the cash can go on one deposit and the cheque on another. If nothing is waiting, SeroBooks skips this step and opens Make Deposits empty.
- Tick the payments that are going on this deposit slip, or tick Select all. The line at the bottom shows how many are selected and their total. It should match the total on your deposit slip.
- Choose OK. Make Deposits opens with those payments listed under Payments from Undeposited Funds.
- Check Deposit To (the bank account the money is going into) and the Date of the deposit. Type a Memo if you like.
- If anything else is going in on the same slip, add it under Other deposits. See Other deposits.
- If you are keeping some of the cash back, fill in Cash back. See Cash back.
- Check the Deposit Total against the deposit slip or the bank statement.
- Choose Save & Close, or Save & New to record another deposit straight away.
SeroBooks confirms Deposit of $… recorded.
The top of the window
| Field | What to enter / what it means |
|---|---|
| Deposit To | The bank account the money goes into. Opens on the account set in Edit ▸ Preferences ▸ Checking ("Open the Make Deposits form with"), otherwise the account you deposited to last. |
| Date | The date of the deposit, which is the date it reaches the bank account in the books. |
| Memo | A note for the whole deposit. |
Payments from Undeposited Funds
The payments you chose, each with its date, who it was from, the payment method and the amount, and their total on the right. A payment that settled several invoices is one line for its whole amount, and depositing it deposits every invoice's share of it. You cannot change them here; to deposit different payments, close the window and start again.
Other deposits
Money on the same deposit slip that is not a customer payment: a vendor's refund cheque, interest, an owner's contribution, a loan advance. Each line needs an account it comes from and an amount.
| Column | What to enter / what it means |
|---|---|
| RECEIVED FROM | Who the money came from. Optional. Click to search for a name. |
| FROM ACCOUNT | The account the money is credited to: an income account for interest, an owner's equity account for a contribution, a loan account for a loan advance, an expense account for a refund of an expense. Type to search. Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Undeposited Funds and the bank account itself are refused. |
| MEMO | A note for the line. |
| CHK NO. | The cheque number, if the money came as a cheque. |
| PMT METH. | Cheque, Cash, Transfer, Card or Other. |
| AMOUNT | The amount. A negative amount is allowed, for a fee the bank took from the deposit. |
A new blank line appears as you use the last one. Click the × at the end of a line to remove it.
Cash back
Money taken out of the deposit rather than paid in — kept for petty cash, or taken by the owner.
| Field | What to enter / what it means |
|---|---|
| Cash back goes to | The account the cash back is recorded to, such as Petty Cash or the owner's drawings account. |
| Cash back memo | Why the cash was kept. |
| Cash back amount | How much. |
On the right, Deposit Subtotal is the payments plus the other deposits, Cash back is subtracted, and Deposit Total is what goes into the bank.
The buttons
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Memorize | Keeps the bank account, memo, other deposit lines and cash back as a memorized transaction, to enter again later. Payments from Undeposited Funds are never memorized, because each payment is deposited once. |
| Save & New | Saves the deposit and opens a fresh, empty Make Deposits window. |
| Save & Close | Saves the deposit and closes the window. |
What happens in the books
- The bank account is debited with the Deposit Total.
- Undeposited Funds is credited with the payments you deposited, so they leave it.
- Each other deposit line credits its FROM ACCOUNT.
- Cash back debits the Cash back goes to account.
Looking at, copying or voiding a deposit
In Reports ▸ Banking ▸ Deposit Register, the Deposits already made list shows each deposit's Reference, Date, the account it went Into, the number of Lines, the Total and its Status (Recorded or Voided).
- Open a deposit to see it as it was made: the payments, the other deposits, the cash back and the total, with a Deposit slip attachment strip. Duplicate starts a new deposit with the same bank account, memo, other lines and cash back, dated today. The payments are not copied.
- The void icon at the end of a row voids the deposit after asking Void …? The journal entry is removed and the payments go back to Undeposited Funds, ready to go on another deposit. The deposit stays on the list marked Voided.
Permissions
The role needs Make Deposit to make or duplicate a deposit and Void Deposit to void one.
Messages you may see
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| There is no bank account in the books to deposit into. | Create a bank account first. |
| Choose the bank account this is deposited into. | Pick the Deposit To account. |
| Every other deposit line needs its From Account. | A line under Other deposits has an amount but no account. |
| Every other deposit line needs an amount. | A line under Other deposits has an account but no amount. |
| Choose payments to deposit, or add another deposit line. | The deposit is empty. |
| Choose where the cash back goes. | You entered a cash back amount without an account. |
| The deposit total has to be more than zero. | Cash back is equal to or more than everything deposited. |
| … of those payments have already been banked on another deposit. | Someone deposited them already. Close the window and open it again to see what is still waiting. |
| … of those payments never posted to Undeposited Funds … | Those payments went straight to a bank account when they were received, so they cannot be deposited from Undeposited Funds. Nothing was recorded. |
| Other deposit line 1: … is kept by Receive Payments. | You chose Accounts Receivable as a From Account. Record customer payments with Receive Payments instead. |
If the deposit date is on or before the closing date, the deposit is refused. See Set Closing Date and Year-End.
Tips
- Make one deposit in SeroBooks for each deposit slip you take to the bank, with the same payments on it. Then each deposit matches one line on the bank statement.
- Card payments usually reach the bank as one amount per day, less the card processor's fees. Deposit each day's card payments together and enter the fees as a negative line under Other deposits, against your merchant fees account.