Payments
Acctivate allows the recording of payments and processing of credit cards and eChecks. Payments can be created by using the Enter Payment window or as part of the sales invoicing process.
Prior to invoicing, you can save payment information on a sales order and, if your payment is a credit card, you can authorize a charge amount which is then captured when the sales order is invoiced.
To record payments, you must setup Payment Methods in QuickBooks. If you would like to process credit cards or eChecks in Acctivate, be sure to complete the Payment Processing Configuration steps.
Enter Payment window
The Enter Payment window allows you to enter, process, and apply customer payments.
The Enter Payment window can be accessed in various ways:
From the icon bar
- Select Cust Payment icon on the from icon bar at the top of Acctivate.
- Click New in the window that appears.
From the Customer menu:
- Select Enter Payment from the Customer menu at the top of Acctivate.
- Click New in the window that appears.
From the Customer List
- Open the Customer List.
- Search for a customer.
- Select Payment in the +Create... menu.
- The Enter Payment window will appear with the customer added.
From the Enter Sales Order window
- Open a sales order in the Enter Sales Order window.
- Select Payment in the +Create... menu.
- The Enter Payment window will appear with the customer from the sales order added. The Memo field will be pre-populated with the text "Prepayment for Order (Order Number)". This allows you to associate this payment with the correct invoice at the time of invoicing.
Once the Enter Payment window is open, perform the following steps (depending on the method used to access this window, some steps may already be completed).
- Click New.
- Type in or lookup the Customer the payment was received from.
- Select the Payment Method.
- Enter the Payment Amount (or you can check off invoices that will be paid, which will set the payment amount).
- Enter a Reference, Credit Card information, or eCheck information.
- Change the Payment Date, if necessary. The payment date can affect the Discount amount based on the Terms Code configuration in QuickBooks.
- Check off the invoices the payment should be applied to, if any. Payments not applied to an invoice will be saved as a credit.
- Click Save (if your payment method is configured as credit card or an eCheck and Acctivate is linked to your payment processor, the button will say Charge and Save or Process and Save, respectively.)
Tip
If a customer has a preferred payment type saved on the Credit tab of the Edit Customer window, that payment method will be automatically set in the Enter Payment window. If the preferred payment method is a credit card and saved credit card information exists (on the Credit Tab of the Edit Customer window), the credit card information will populate in this window.
Enter Payment window fields
The Enter Payment window requires that certain header information be supplied. Optionally, you can apply the payment to invoices in the invoice grid section.
Header Section
The header section of the Enter Payment window includes information such as the customer, the payment amount, type, and date. You can also view open invoices by Branch and record a payment memo.
Common Payment Fields
Below are a list of fields that are common for all Payment Methods.
| Field | Field Type/ Length | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Customer | Text / 41 Characters | Use the Magnifying Glass to lookup and select a customer. Alternatively, you can type in the customer's name. |
| Payment Amount | Numeric | The amount of this payment. |
| Payment Method | List | The Payment Method field displays the Payment Method List from QuickBooks. In QuickBooks Online companies, if the payment has been included in a deposit in QuickBooks Online, then the Payment Method field will be locked. |
| Reference #, Check Number | Text / 20 Characters | This field name will change depending on the payment method selected. Used to record a payment reference or check number. |
| Payment Date | Date | The date of the payment. |
| Exchange Rate | Numeric | If the customer is assigned a currency other than your home currency, the exchange rate will show. The exchange rate is synchronized from QuickBooks. |
| Payment Memo | Text | A payment memo which syncs to the payment memo field in QuickBooks. |
Credit Card Payment Fields
Below are the fields that will display if the selected Payment Method is configured as a Credit Card.
| Field | Field Type/ Length | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Card Number | Numeric / 20 Digits | The credit card number. Must be a valid number. |
| Name on card | Text / 41 Characters (50 for QuickBooks Online) | The name of the card holder. |
| Address | Text / 41 Characters | The street address of the card holder. |
| Postal Code | Numeric / 5 Digits | The billing Postal Code of the card holder. |
| Exp Month / Year | MM/YYYY date | The credit card expiration date as MM/YY. |
| Card Security Code | Numeric / 4 Digits | The card security code (CSC), such as CVC2, CVV2 or CID. This number is not stored in the database. Used to prevent fraudulent charges. |
| Charge CC | Checkbox | If Acctivate is integrated with a supported payment processor, the credit card information will be sent to the processor for processing. You can uncheck this box to save the payment information without sending the card information to the processor, but you will not be able to process it later unless you void this payment and re-enter it. |
| Save Card | Button | Clicking this will save the entered credit card information as the customer's preferred payment. You must have the customer's signed authorization and the Card Security Code will not be saved. Only one preferred payment (found on the Credit tab of the Edit Customer window) can be saved. |
eCheck Payment Fields
Below are the fields that will display if the selected Payment Method is configured as an eCheck.
| Field | Field Type/ Length | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Check Number | Text / 20 Characters | If converting a paper check to an eCheck, you can enter in the check number as a reference. |
| Name on Account | Text / 41 Characters (50 for QuickBooks Online) | The name on the bank account. This field will default to the value of the last eCheck processed for this customer. The first time an eCheck is entered for a customer, this field will default based on the Account Type. If a business account type is selected (i.e., Business Checking, Business Savings) the customer's company name will be used, if there is one, otherwise it will default to the Customer ID. If a personal account type is selected, the customer's first and last name will be used. |
| Routing Number | Numeric / 9 Digits | The bank routing number. This field will default to the value of the last eCheck processed for this customer. |
| Account Number | Numeric / 17 Digits | The bank account number. This field will default to the value of the last eCheck processed for this customer. |
| Account Type | List | Choose from one of the available account types:
This field will default to the value of the last eCheck processed for this customer. |
| Phone Number | Numeric / 10 Digits | The phone number associated with bank account. This field will default to the value of the last eCheck processed for this customer. The first time an eCheck is entered for a customer, this field will default to the customer's company phone number. Must be 10 digits. |
| Process eCheck | Checkbox | If Acctivate is integrated with a supported payment processor, the bank account information will be sent to the processor for processing. You can uncheck this box to save the payment information without sending the eCheck information to the processor, but you will not be able to process it later unless you void this payment and re-enter it. |
Invoice Grid
A list of open invoices will be displayed. If there is more than one accounts receivable account associated with the customer's open invoices, then an AR Account filter will be displayed above the Open Invoices grid. You can filter the list of invoices by a specific Accounts Receivable accounts. The AR Account selected in the filter will be the AR account the payment syncs to.
You can select which invoices (if any) a payment should apply to, as well as the Payment amount.
If a payment amount has been entered, you can use the Auto-Apply button to apply a payment to invoices starting at the top of the grid down (click a column header to sort by that column before applying).
If a payment amount hasn't been entered, you can select specific invoices or use the Check All button to select all the invoices. The sum of the selected invoice's balance will be entered into the Payment Amount field. Below the Open Invoices grid, you will see the Total applied and the Unapplied amount, if any exists.
You can also enter in an invoice Discount and choose the Discount Account by checking the Add Discount checkbox. Note: QuickBooks Online does not support payment discounts so this option is not available in QuickBooks Online companies.
| Field | Field Type/ Length | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Check-mark | Checkbox | Check off the invoices you which to apply the payment to, otherwise use the Check All button at the bottom to automatically apply the payment. |
| Date | Read-only | The date of the invoice. |
| Invoice Number | Read-only | The invoice number. Double click to open the Customer Invoice window. |
| Order Number | Read-only | The sales order number that the invoice was created from. Double click to open the Enter Order window. |
| Cust PO | Read-only | The customer's PO number. Only visible if any open invoices have a customer PO number assigned. |
| Branch | Read-only | The Branch associated with the invoice. Only visible if there are invoices in different branches for the current Accounts Receivable account. |
| Terms | Read-only | The terms code of the invoice. Hover the mouse over this field to see the terms code definitions (days until due, discount days, discount percent). |
| Disc Account | List | Only visible if there is a suggested discount amount or if the Add Discounts checkbox is checked. The discount amount, if entered, will sync to this account. When entering a payment, the discount account will default to the last discount GL account used by the current user. If the current user hasn't entered a payment with a discount account before, the last used discount account by any user will be pre-filled. When viewing a previously entered payment, the Disc Account field will show the discount account entered when the payment was created. |
| Total | Read-only | The total amount of the invoice. |
| Amount Due | Read-only | The amount due after previous payments have been applied, but before this payment and payment discount. |
| Discount | Numeric | The discount amount will default to the suggested discount based on the terms code configuration and payment date. You can change the discount amount or enter a different amount. If no applied amount has been set, entering a discount amount will not cause the applied amount to be calculated. If an applied amount has been set, entering a discount amount greater than the remaining invoice balance will cause the applied amount to be reduced to offset the discount amount. Use the Disc Account to choose which discount GL account is used. |
| Payment | Read-only | The amount of the current payment this is being applied to this invoice. |
| Balance | Numeric | The balance of the invoice after the current payment and discounts are applied. |
Payment with Order
When entering or importing a sales order in Acctivate, payment information can be saved on the Payments tab of the Enter Order window. This payment information is saved with the sales order and is not synchronized to QuickBooks, nor is the payment record added to the customer account at this point. The payment information is saved with the sales order until an invoice is created. At the time of invoicing, the payment information will populate the Create Invoice window and creating the invoice will result in the payment being recorded and applied to the invoice created. The invoice and payment will sync to QuickBooks applied to each other.
One reason you may wish to save payment information with an order without immediately creating a payment record is because the payment was processed outside of Acctivate and you want to link it to an invoice that has not been created yet. For example, a sales order may have been imported from a web store and the web store has already charged the customer's credit card. In this instance, we want to bring the payment in with the sales order so that at the time of invoicing the payment is applied to the correct invoice and synchronized to QuickBooks.
If you need to immediately record the payment, you can use the Enter Payment window (from the Enter Sales Order window, use the Create... menu) to record the payment, then at the time of invoicing you can select that payment using the Credit button in the sales order's Create Invoice window.
Note
eChecks can only be processed from the Enter Payment window.
Authorize
Another reason you may want to enter payment information with the order is so that you can authorize the customer's credit card. A credit card authorization places the funds on hold with the customer's bank. When the transaction is captured, the funds transfer process will occur. If Acctivate is integrated with one of the supported processors and if you've select a payment method that is configured as a credit card on the Payments tab of the Enter Sales Order window, you will have the option to authorize the credit card.
To authorize a credit card:
- Open the Enter Sales Order window for the sales order.
- Click Edit.
- On the Payments tab, select a payment Type that is configured as a Credit Card.
- Enter the authorization amount and credit card information.
- Click the Authorize button.
- The text at the top of the Payment tab will change to Payment Authorized. The Authorize button will change to Remove if you wish to remove the authorization.
Invoicing a sales order that has an authorization will capture the transaction (charge the credit card) if the charge cc checkbox in the Create Invoice window remains checked. The scheduled amount will be the amount captured.
Note
If an authorization is not captured within a certain period of time, the authorization will expire and you will not be able to capture against it. Typically, this period is 10 days for Intuit Payments authorizations and 30 days for Authorize.net authorizations, but it could vary based on the card issuing bank.
Payment When Invoicing
If you don't have payment information at the time of sales order entry, but you have payment information at the time of creating the invoice, you can enter the payment information in the Create Invoice window (whether accessing the Create Invoice window from the Edit Sales Order window, Order Manager window, or Create Invoices menu option).
Simply select the payment method and enter the payment information while in the Create Invoice window. If you select a payment method that is configured as a credit card, the customer's credit card will be charged for the scheduled amount of the invoice.
Payments created through the invoicing step will automatically be applied to the invoice and will sync with the invoice to QuickBooks.
In addition to creating a new payment, you can apply existing payments and credits to the invoice you are creating. In the Create Invoice window, click the Available Credits button to select existing customer payments and credits and apply them to the invoice you are about to create. You can only apply payments and credits that use the same accounts receivable account as the invoice that you are creating.
Note
eChecks can only be processed from the Enter Payment window.
View, Edit, Void a Payment
To view, edit or void a payment, open the Edit Payment window:
- Open the Customer List.
- Search for the customer the payment is associated with.
- On the Timeline locate the payment to edit. You can use the filters to see only payments.
- Click the payment icon to open the payment in the Enter Payment window or click on the payment method to open the Payment List and view more details about the payment.
You can change some information related to the payment, including how the payment is applied to invoices. You can void a payment by clicking the Void button. However, payments that have been synchronized to QuickBooks cannot have their payment amount changed or be voided. This is due to the payment possibly being included in a QuickBooks deposit. To change the amount, you must make the change in QuickBooks.
If voiding a processed credit card or eCheck, Acctivate will attempt to void the payment with the payment processor. If the payment processor has batched the payment, then the payment will not be able to be voided by Acctivate and you should instead issue a credit to the customer or their credit card in QuickBooks.