Why a matched client payment still shows unpaid
Why matching a client's payment on the bank statement does not mark a recruitment agency's invoice paid, and the receipt step that fixes it.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Recruitment businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
The client paid the placement fee last Tuesday. The money is in the bank, the bookkeeper matched the line on Friday, and the bank reconciliation balances. Yet the invoice still shows as unpaid, it sits in the overdue column of the age analysis, and on Monday the client's HR manager receives a reminder for an invoice they have already settled. She is not pleased.
Nothing was lost and nothing is broken. In Achekam, matching a bank line and recording a payment against an invoice are two separate steps today. A recruitment agency that bills many clients, often weekly for temps, needs to know this, because otherwise its receivables will drift away from reality one matched line at a time.
Bank matching and receivables are separate today
Two parts of the books are involved when a client pays.
The bank side. A business imports bank statements as PDF, CSV, Excel, OFX, QIF, MT940 or CAMT.053, and each import is checked so that the opening balance plus movements equals the closing balance. Bank lines are matched by suggestion, and a person accepts each match. A line not yet in the books becomes a suggested journal that a person approves. A reconciliation completes only when nothing is left unexplained.
The receivables side. Each client invoice sits in receivables until a payment is recorded against it.
The link between the two is the gap. Matching a bank receipt to a customer invoice does not record the payment on the invoice; it must also be recorded in receivables. Until that second step is done, the invoice stays open, however correctly the bank line was matched.
Recording the receipt against the invoice
The step that clears an invoice is recording the receipt. A business records customer payments against one invoice or spread across a customer's invoices. A part payment leaves the invoice part-paid, and any extra is held on the customer's account. A receipt can be re-allocated later, and administrators can refund or reverse it.
For a recruitment agency, the allocation choices matter:
| What the client paid | How to record it |
|---|---|
| One placement fee, in full | Against that invoice |
| Several weekly temp invoices in one transfer | Spread across those invoices |
| Less than the invoice, after a query | Part payment; follow up the balance |
| More than was due | Against the invoices, with the excess held on the account |
| A payment with no reference | Hold until you know which invoices it covers, then allocate |
Never guess the allocation to make the age analysis look tidy. If a client pays a round amount that matches no combination of invoices, ask them which invoices it covers. A guess today becomes a dispute at the end of the guarantee period, when a rebate is due on an invoice that was never really paid; rebates are covered in placement rebates for early leavers.
Matching the bank line without posting it twice
Once the receipt is recorded in receivables, it is in the books. Now the bank line should be matched to that existing entry, not turned into a new one.
This is the trap. If the bookkeeper sees an unmatched bank line and approves the suggested journal for it, while the same receipt has also been recorded against the invoice, the money is in the books twice: once from receivables and once from the bank side. The bank balance in the books will then be overstated and the reconciliation will not explain it.
A safe order:
- Record the receipt against the invoice in receivables.
- Import the bank statement.
- Accept the match between the bank line and the receipt already recorded.
- Approve a suggested journal only for lines that are genuinely not in the books yet, such as bank charges.
If you work the other way round and the bank line was already turned into a journal, do not record the receipt in receivables on top of it without first sorting out the journal with your accountant. A posted journal is corrected by a reversal, not by deletion.
AccountingTools describes the general bank reconciliation process of comparing the company's cash records with the bank statement and adjusting the books; the principle that each payment should appear in the books once applies whatever software you use.
EFT payments marked received from the pay page
When the agency sends invoices with a pay link, the pay page can show the agency's bank details and a payment reference. Each bank account takes one currency. A staff member marks the payment received once it shows on the bank statement.
Treat marking an EFT payment received as the receivables step for that invoice, and check afterwards that the invoice no longer shows as owing. The bank line, when imported, is then matched to it, following the same order as above. The payment reference shown on the pay page is what makes that match easy, so encourage clients to use it exactly.
A weekly routine that keeps both in step
Agencies that bill temps weekly generate a lot of small receipts. Keep both sides in step every week:
- Monday: import last week's bank statement and check it balances.
- Monday: for each client receipt, record it against the right invoices in receivables, or mark it received from the pay page.
- Monday: accept the bank matches to those receipts; approve suggested journals only for items not yet in the books.
- Tuesday: look at the age analysis. Anything overdue should be genuinely unpaid.
- Before reminders go out: check that no matched bank line is still missing its receipt.
That last check prevents the embarrassing reminder. Weekly temp billing itself is covered in weekly client invoices.
Go through last month's matched bank lines this week, check that each client payment also has a receipt recorded against its invoice, and fix any that do not before the next reminders are sent.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
