CenterPoint® Accounting - Enter an Unpaid Sales Invoice or Return

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Customer Sales Invoices Video - Duration: 14 min 36 sec

Customer Returns Video - Duration: 7 min 08 sec

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Customer Invoices are used to record a sale of goods or services. If the invoice is entered without a payment, the invoice will increase the customer's balance and the accounts receivable account. A return is entered using the same process, but negative quantities are used instead of positive.

CenterPoint offers multiple ways to customize the transaction entry screens. This customization will enable you to enter transactions more efficiently. Click here to view a document that describes the customization you can perform. Click here for an overview of transaction entry.

Entering a Sale

  1. To begin entering a sale or return, select Processes > Sales> Customer Invoices from the main CenterPoint Accounting screen.

  1. Enter the Customer by typing in a portion of the customer’s name or abbreviation or click on the lookup button to display a list of your existing customers.
  2. If you enter a name into the Customer box and it does not exist, the Lookup screen automatically displays, from this screen you can either Create a New Customer or Create a One-Time Use Customer:
    • Create a New Customer -Click New . The Add a New Customer screen displays with the name that you entered automatically displaying in the Company/Fund box. Complete the additional details to create the customer and then click Save.
    • Create a One-Time Use Customer - Click New One Time Use. The New One Time Use Name screen displays with the name that you entered automatically displaying in the Name box. Complete the additional details to create the one time use customer, including the customer Price Level, and then click Save. When creating a new customer through the New One Time Use Name screen, the customer is automatically saved as an inactive customer in all companies/funds so it does not appear in Customer lookups (unless you chose to lookup inactive customers).
  1. To view or add internal notes for a customer, click the Additional Notes icon .
Note: To add a time stamp to a note added or edited on the Additional Notes screen, click Stamp. If you are adding/editing a stamp in a database without security, the stamp will display "Edited on (current date and time)". If you are adding/editing a stamp in a database with security, the stamp will display "Edited by (username) on (current date and time)".
  1. Once the customer is selected, the (if a shipping method isn't assigned for this customer, it will display from the default set in File > Preferences > Customer Invoices > Defaults), Salesperson, Terms, Due Date, Discount Date and Sales Tax fields will be populated automatically.
  2. Complete all other needed fields on the Select tab. Most fields are optional – complete only those that are pertinent to your business.
  3. Click on the Shipping Name button to specify a different address for the shipping address.
  4. The Email or Print Options selected on the Email/Print tab in Setup > Names > Names and Setup > Customers will determine the default setting for the Print (an image of a printer displays on the button) and E-mail (an image of an envelope displays on the button ) buttons (the selection can be changed on this screen). If the Print or E-mail buttons display with a red X, it means the invoice will not be printed or e-mailed when the invoice is saved. If the Print or E-mail buttons display with a green check mark, it means the invoice will be printed or e-mailed when the invoice is saved. To override the Print button default setting, click the Print button to display the Print Setting screen where you can override the Print Invoice setting for this invoice only, select the printer to print the invoice to, the number of copies of the invoice to print, and the form the invoice should be printed on. To override the E-mail button setting for this invoice only, click the E-mail button to display the Email Settings screen where you can override the E-mail Invoice setting and the default To, CC, BCC, From, Subject, Message, and form the invoice should be e-mailed on.
  5. The system will automatically bring you to the Invoice tab when you enter/tab off of the last field on the Select tab. Otherwise you can click on the invoice tab manually. 

  1. Select the first Item sold to the customer by either typing in a portion of the item abbreviation or the item description or click on the lookup button to display a list of items. If you click the Detail button in the data entry grid, you can enter additional details about the transaction, for example for some of the fields you chose not to display on the data entry grid such as associated account, notation, and profit center
  2. Once the Item is selected the system will automatically display the Description, Account and Sales Price. This information will pull from the information that has been setup on the item.
  3. Specify the Quantity sold. A positive quantity is used for a sale, a negative quantity for a return. The Description, Account and Sales Price can also be modified, if needed. 
  4. If you choose to display the Invoice/Ref# column in your data entry grid and you want to repeat the previous line's Invoice/Ref# entry, right-click in the Invoice/Ref # column and select Repeat Previous Value.
  5. If you set the File > Preference > Accounts > Personal Accounts preference and marked accounts as personal accounts and have a company marked with company type = Personal, you can add a Company column to the data entry grid that will allow you to identify personal vs farm transactions by selecting a company for each line on the data entry grid. This will allow to easily prepare consolidated or separate financial reports for your personal/farm companies.
  6. Continue entering additional lines on the Invoice for each item that is sold to this customer.
    • If you click the Detail button in the data entry grid, you can enter additional details about the transaction, for example for some of the fields you chose not to display on the data entry grid such as associated account, notation, and profit center
    • The Substitutes button will be highlighted in red if there is not enough quantity available from the item/location combination and the item has a substitute. Click the button to display the Substitutes Locations/Items screen. The Inventory Locations tab allows you to view the quantity on hand, assigned, available at the locations available in the system. The Substitutes tab lists any substitute items, inventory locations, quantity on hand, assigned, available, on order, and unit of measure.
    • If you click the Additional Description button on the data entry grid, the Sales Item Additional Description screen displays that allows you to type in a 3200 character additional description for each line item in the data entry grid.
    • If you click the Comments button on the data entry gird, a Line Comments screen displays that allows you to type in a 3200 character comment for each line in the data entry grid.
    • If you click the Price Level button in the data entry grid, the Price Levels screen displays the price levels for the pricing method for the item being entered and allows you to select a different price level for the item.
    • The Taxed check box allows you to indicate if a sales item is taxable or non-taxable on each line of the invoice. If an exemption id is required for this customer, it can be entered in Setup > Customers > Accounting in the Exemption Id box.
    • A Notation can also be entered if you'd like to specify a description of what was purchased. If the sales item has an additional description, it will display in the Notation column. The Notation field is optional.
  7. If you want to reorder the lines you entered on the transaction in a particular order, include the Line Sequence column in your data entry grid. Each line will automatically be assigned a line sequence number. The first line is assigned 10, the second 20, and so on. To reorder the lines, change the sequence number to the order in which you want the lines to print or display. For example, if you want the second line to print before the first line, change the line sequence to be 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9. To view the reordered lines, click Options, and then select Refresh. Note: It is not necessary to view the lines, if you click Save after the transaction is complete your lines will be reordered. When you assign a line sequence number, it will automatically be renumbered after the lines are reordered back to 10, 20, and so on to make it easy for future reordering.
Note: If you want to attach a document to this transaction, see the Attach Documents to Transactions topic for detailed information.
  1. In the Memo Line 1 box, enter a memo line that you want to print at the bottom left side of the invoice. If you want to set a default memo to display for all invoices in this database, enter the memo and then right-click and select Set As Default.
  2. In the Memo Line 2 box, enter a memo line that you want to print immediately after Memo Line 1 on the invoice
  3. If applicable, enter Freight and Miscellaneous charges at the bottom of the screen. To specify management details to be posted for the freight or miscellaneous charges, for example profit center, location, project, etc. or a notation specific to these charges, click the Freight or Miscellaneous buttons and enter the information on the Details screen.
  4. The Sales Tax will be calculated automatically based on the Sales Tax selected.
  5. Click the Amount Received button to apply applicable customer deposits/term discounts and pay the remaining balance while assigning the receipt account, payment type, and check/ref#.Click OK.

  1. Verify the information for accuracy and click Save to complete the invoice. If the Invoice Total is less than zero, the Customer Credit Invoices preference in File > Preferences > Customer Invoices > Customer Returns and Refunds will be checked to determine how to handle the negative invoice:
  • Not Set - When a negative customer invoice is entered and you click Save, the following screen will display for you to determine if you want the negative invoice saved as a Customer Deposit (Refundable Credit) that posts to Customer Deposits instead of an Accounts Receivable account or Negative Invoice that posts to your Accounts Receivable account. You also have the opportunity to save your selection as your preference in File > Preferences > Customer Invoices > Customer Returns and Refunds and not display this screen again
  • Save as a customer deposit invoice (refundable credit) - When a negative customer invoice is entered and you click Save, the negative invoice will be saved as a Customer Deposit (Refundable Credit) that posts to Customer Deposits instead of an Accounts Receivable account. The Customer Deposit can then be refunded or applied to a future invoice. You will not see the Credit Invoice Save Options screen when this preference is set.
  • Save as negative invoice - When a negative customer invoice is entered and you click Save, the negative invoice will be saved as a negative invoice that posts to your Accounts Receivable account. The amount will show as a credit on the customer's account and can be applied to an outstanding balance on the Receipts screen. You will not see the Credit Invoice Save Options screen when this preference is set.
  • Always Show me the Save Options - When a negative customer invoice is entered and you click Save, the Credit Invoice Save Options screen will always display for you to determine if you want the negative invoice saved as a Customer Deposit (Refundable Credit) that posts to Customer Deposits instead of an Accounts Receivable account or Negative Invoice that posts to your Accounts Receivable account. You also have the opportunity to save your selection as your preference in File > Preferences > Customer Invoices and not display this screen again.
  1. The invoice will be printed if the Print button had a green check mark on it or e-mailed if the E-mail button had a green check mark on it.

Document: 3056

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