One client payment covering several invoices
How to record one client transfer that pays several advice invoices, from allocating the receipt to part payments, credit on account and the bank match.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Financial services businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
Clients of advice practices often pay in one go. A household on a monthly ongoing fee lets a few months build up. A business client receives an invoice for a financial plan and another for estate work and settles both together. The bank statement shows one amount; your receivables show several invoices. Recording that properly is where small differences creep in, and small differences in receivables have a way of turning into awkward phone calls.
A worked example
Take a client with three open invoices: one for an initial financial plan, one for the first month's ongoing advice fee, and one for an estate planning consultation. The client sends a single transfer with the reference "fees". The amount is a little more than the first two invoices together and a little less than all three.
The result you want is this: the plan invoice and the ongoing fee invoice fully paid, the estate planning invoice part-paid with the rest still owed, and nothing left unaccounted for. The rest of this article shows how to get there.
Spreading one receipt across a customer's invoices
In Achekam you record the client's payment once, as one receipt, and spread it across that client's invoices, choosing which invoices it pays and how much goes to each. In the example, allocate the full amounts of the plan and ongoing fee invoices, and the remainder to the estate planning invoice.
Agree a rule for the order of allocation when the client does not say. Oldest first is the usual choice, because it keeps the age analysis honest and stops old invoices lingering while newer ones are marked paid. Some practices follow the client's instruction where there is one. Whatever the rule, apply it every time, and write it down for whoever does the receipts.
Part-paid invoices and amounts held on account
A part payment leaves the invoice part-paid, with the balance still showing as owed. Where a client pays more than all the invoices you allocate to, the extra is held on the client's account rather than disappearing.
Both outcomes need a follow-up. A part-paid invoice deserves a short word with the client: did they mean to pay less, or did they miss an invoice? Money held on account needs a decision: keep it against the next invoice, or return it. A fresh statement of account is often the simplest way to show the client where things stand. Achekam produces it as a PDF that can be e-mailed, and the screen shows whether it was sent.
Why the bank match does not settle the invoice by itself
This is the step people most often get wrong. Achekam imports bank statements as PDF, CSV, Excel, OFX, QIF, MT940 or CAMT.053 files, checks that the opening balance plus the movements equals the closing balance, and suggests matches for each bank line, which a person accepts.
Matching a bank receipt to a customer invoice does not, however, record the payment on the invoice. The payment must also be recorded in receivables. If you only match the bank line, the bank reconciliation will look finished while the invoices still show as unpaid, and credit control, which e-mails overdue reminders once a day in new workspaces, may go on reminding a client who has already paid.
So the order matters:
- Record the receipt in receivables and allocate it across the invoices.
- Then deal with the bank line in the reconciliation.
When you reach the bank line, be careful not to accept a suggested journal for money you have already recorded as a receipt, or the same payment will be counted twice. A line that is not yet in the books becomes a suggested journal for a person to approve, and that suggestion is meant for money that has not been recorded anywhere else.
Re-allocating a receipt that went to the wrong invoice
Mistakes happen. A receipt lands on the wrong invoice, or on the wrong client with a similar name. A receipt can be re-allocated, so you can move it to the right invoices without deleting it and entering it again. Administrators can also refund or reverse a receipt where the money itself has to go back.
For a simple misallocation, re-allocation is the better tool. The payment's date and amount stay as they were, and only the invoices it settles change, which keeps the history clear for anyone who looks later.
Checking the age analysis afterwards
When the allocation is done, look at the client in the age analysis. Achekam ages receivables into 0-30, 31-60, 61-90, 91-120 and over 120 days, with overdue totals. AccountingTools' definition of an aging schedule explains the report behind this view: receivables sorted into date buckets to show which items are overdue. After a bulk payment, the client's older invoices should be gone and only amounts genuinely still owed should remain. If an old invoice is still sitting there, the payment probably went to a newer one instead, and the oldest-first rule was not followed.
A short routine for bulk payments
- Identify the client and every invoice the payment could relate to.
- Record one receipt and allocate it, oldest first unless the client instructs otherwise.
- Leave short-paid invoices part-paid; leave any excess on account and decide what to do with it.
- Reconcile the bank line without creating a second entry for the same money.
- Check the age analysis, and send a statement if anything remains open.
Receipts that are allocated correctly are also what lets you close a month cleanly; see locking a month once its figures are reported. And if your accountant reviews the books, tidy allocations save them time, as described in giving your accountant review-only access.
The next time a single transfer covers several invoices, record the receipt in receivables before you touch the bank reconciliation. That one habit prevents most of the confusion.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
