Answers to the questions people ask most about invoices and customer payments. For the full walkthroughs, see Create Invoices and Receive Payments.
Saving invoices
"Your posting map is not finished, so nothing you invoice would reach the general ledger…"
SeroBooks refuses a new company's invoices until its posting map is complete, so that you never trade for months on books that are empty. Open Company ▸ Accounting Setup, map the required accounts (Accounts Receivable, Sales revenue and GST/HST payable), make sure automatic posting is on, and save. Then save the invoice again. See Accounting Setup and the Getting Set Up checklist.
"This invoice is dated …, which falls in a period closed on …"
The invoice's date is on or before the company's closing date. Closed periods are usually ones whose returns have been filed, so SeroBooks will not change them. Either:
- change the date to one in the current period, or
- ask an administrator to move the closing date (Company ▸ Set Closing Date and Year-End).
If the company has a closing date password, the message ends "Anyone with the closing date password can enter it to save anyway." and SeroBooks opens a Closing date password window. Type the password, click OK, and save again. The password is kept for 30 minutes, in memory only. See Set Closing Date and Year-End.
"Select a customer first — walk-ins cannot buy on account."
An invoice left unpaid needs a named customer to owe the money. Choose the customer in the Customer field.
I cannot change the invoice date
Your role is not allowed to change document dates; the field says "Your role cannot change the invoice date". Ask someone whose role can, or ask an administrator.
Changing and voiding invoices
Can I edit an invoice that has been paid?
Yes, with the right permission ("Editing a saved invoice"). The editor tells you what editing will do:
- "Unpaid — edit freely, only the balance due changes."
- "Paid amount of total — edits adjust the balance; money moves only if the total drops below what was paid."
- "Paid amount — … · only the difference moves."
If the new total is lower than what the customer paid, SeroBooks asks how to refund the difference. A dated-in-a-closed-period invoice cannot be edited without the closing date password.
How do I void an invoice?
Open it and choose Void. SeroBooks asks Are you sure you want to void this invoice? — "It stays in the books with its number, at zero, marked VOID, and any stock on it goes back on the shelf." Click Void (or Keep it). See Edit, copy, void or delete an invoice.
Why will SeroBooks not void this invoice?
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| This invoice has payments applied to it. Void or delete the payments first, then void the invoice. | SeroBooks offers Void the sale and its payment? — "This sale was paid. Voiding it as a sales receipt takes the payment off as well: both stay on record, marked VOID, at zero." Click Void both, or remove the payment first. |
| This invoice has a return raised against it. Delete the return first. | Remove the credit memo or return first. |
| This invoice has been cleared in a bank reconciliation. Undo the reconciliation first. | Its payment is part of a finished reconciliation. See Previous Reconciliation and undoing a reconciliation. |
| This invoice is matched to a line on a bank statement. … | Unmatch it in Bank Feeds first. |
| This invoice is dated …, which falls in a period closed on … | See the closed-period question above. |
| This invoice is already void. | Nothing to do. |
Receiving payments
"Nothing is applied to an invoice yet."
You have not put an amount against any invoice, and there is no money left over to keep as a credit. Type the amount received, then tick the invoices it pays or click Auto apply.
"Applied amount is more than the amount received."
The amounts in the PAYMENT column add up to more than the payment. Lower them, or correct the amount received.
The customer paid more than they owed
Leave the extra unapplied. SeroBooks says "Overpayment: amount is left as a credit for customer, to apply to a later invoice or refund." When you record, it confirms "OVERPAYMENT: … is left as a credit for … to use later." A payment with nothing applied at all is recorded as a credit (a prepayment).
The customer paid less than they owed
SeroBooks shows UNDERPAYMENT amount. When you finish: with two choices:
- Leave this as an underpayment — the rest stays owing on the invoice.
- Write off the extra amount — choose the account to write it off to ("Choose the account to write the underpayment off to." if you forget).
How do I use a customer's credit on an invoice?
In Receive Payments, credits the customer has show in a CREDIT column beside their open invoices. Apply them there; a credit moves no money. On an invoice, Apply a credit note… does the same ("This customer has no unused credit notes." if there are none). See Create Credit Memos and Refunds.
The customer took an early-payment discount
Where the invoice's terms give one, Receive Payments offers to take it off. Choose the account discounts go to; SeroBooks says "Choose the account the early-payment discounts go to." if you have not.
Where did the payment go? It is not in my bank account
It is probably in Undeposited Funds, waiting to be banked with Banking ▸ Make Deposits. Whether a payment goes to a bank account (Deposit To) or to Undeposited Funds is set in Accounting Setup; when Undeposited Funds is the default, the Deposit To field is not shown. See Undeposited Funds and the Deposit To account.
What do "Dr" and "Cr" mean beside a customer's balance?
Dr in red means the customer owes you that amount. An amount in green is a credit in the customer's favour (Cr). See A customer's ledger and balance.
Sending invoices
How do I email an invoice?
From the invoice, choose to email it. SeroBooks sends it with the invoice attached as a PDF and a link to view it online, and says "Emailed to address with the PDF attached." If the server cannot send it, SeroBooks opens your own mail program instead ("Server send failed … — opened your mail app instead."). To send many at once, use File ▸ Send Forms. See Print, email, online invoice link and other invoice actions and Printing and email.
Some invoice numbers are missing
Run Reports ▸ Accountant & Taxes ▸ Invoice Number Gaps and Repeats. Void invoices keep their numbers; a deleted one leaves a gap. See Document Numbering.