Re: [SL] Refund Checks

[Tony F. <to...@sy...>]

On Sun, 2006-11-26 at 12:26 -0500, Mark Bucciarelli wrote:
> On Sat, Nov 25, 2006 at 07:47:09PM -0800, Dave Snell wrote:
> > 
> > So just so I'm clear, good Doctor, I should create a
> > bogus vendor record and accompanying AP transaction so
> > that I can issue my refund check.  Then throughout the
> > year - as I continue to statement my customer - I
> > should just wink and say "just ignore this
> > transaction" we'll take care of it at the end of the
> > year.  And then come the end of the year I should do
> > what again?  Sorry if I'm being slow, I guess I just
> > expect an accounting package to handle some of the
> > basic accounting transactions for me.
> > 
> 
> Can't you create a holding account and enter a G/L transaction so
> the customer account is correct?  Then use A/P against this same
> holding account to generate the check?  Externally all is
> copacetic and you just need to reconcile that holding account at
> year end.

Um, just to fine tune this a bit. I actually do something similar, I
have a Customer who uses my services quite a bit and I buy quite a lot
of goods from them. A refund cheque is similar. Instead of sending each
other large cheques that don't really mean anything, once a month or so
we sit down and match up our invoices and issue each other credit notes
and whoever still has a balance pays the balance.

What I have is a holding account I use for the task that has the links
AR_paid,AR_amount,AP_paid,AP_amount. Mine is an Asset account, you could
make yours a liability account. The refund cheque would be 2
transactions:

A negative AR transaction (Credit Note) that debits the holding account.
Which in your case would be used to "pay" the invoice that is being
returned using the Cash->Reciept screen, just tick the 2 invoices to pay
them in full and click update. Both invoices should get "paid" but the
total payment amount should be $0.00

Now you can make a positive AP transaction (using as you say a bogus
vendor record) that credits the holding account. now you can pay the AP
transaction with a cheque from your chequing account.

By using a negative AR transaction the customer will see the credit on
there next statement and the positive AP transaction will allow you to
print the refund cheque properly.

-- 
Tony Fraser
to...@sy...
Sybaspace Internet Solutions                        System Administrator
phone: (250) 246-5368                                fax: (250) 246-5398