Entering received payments
Entering received payments
Learning outcomes
In this lesson, you’ll learn how to:
1. Recognize how to enter received cash and check payments
Topics
Getting paid
Recording a received payment
The story so far
Craig needs to process another cash payment he received from a customer. He needs
help recording the payment in QuickBooks Online so that he can keep on top of his
outstanding accounts receivable.
How can QuickBooks Online help?
It’s great to get paid, but it’s also important to make sure payments are entered into
QuickBooks Online so everything is up to date.
QuickBooks Online allows you to track cash and check payments before and after they
are deposited in your bank. This helps you keep track of payments you have received
on time and those that are running a little late or need reminders.
Getting paid
When a customer makes a payment on an invoice, Craig needs to record it against that
customer’s accounts receivable balance. This means he can see how much he has
received and how much is still owed in QuickBooks Online.
Recording a Received Payment transaction decreases accounts receivable and
increases either a bank account balance or Undeposited Funds.
If Craig had a QuickBooks Payments merchant services account, he could charge a
customer’s credit card or initiate an ACH bank transfer when recording the payment in
QuickBooks Online.
You can record a payment by navigating to the open invoice for the customer in the
Sales area and selecting the Receive Payment link in the Actions column on the right. In
this situation, the customer and invoice details will already be shown on screen.
You can also initiate this transaction from Quick Create. Just enter the payment method,
reference number, Deposit To account, and payment amount.
ProAdvisor tip
Keeping payments flowing is vital to small businesses. QuickBooks Online makes it
easy to see who owes you money.
Try going to your Customer List and selecting the Overdue area of the Money Bar for a
bird’s-eye view of which customers have overdue invoices.
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Entering received payments
Recording a received payment
Craig just received a payment against invoice #1023. Let’s see how we record Craig’s
payment.
Watch the video to see how it’s done. The individual steps are below for you to follow.
1. From the + New menu, choose Receive Payment
2. From the drop-down, select the customer. It’s the Red Rock Diner
QuickBooks Online will show all the open invoices awaiting payment. In this case, there
are two.
If Craig had a long list of open invoices for the Red Rock Diner and they were paying
only one of them, he could use the Find by invoice no. button to quickly apply the
payment to the proper invoice.
The filter options above the list of invoices mean he can search for all or overdue
invoices by date range.
Let’s add the payment date
3. Enter the Payment method as Cash and Deposit to Checking
4. Now select the checkbox next to Invoice #1023, which is what the payment is for.
Note that the Payment box on the right is automatically populated with the value
for the outstanding invoice
5. Notice the Amount Received field in the upper right corner of the screen reflects
the total of the invoices selected
6. Select Save and close, and we’re done!
Take our ProAdvisor challenge
One of Craig’s clients, John Melton, just paid the remaining balance of his outstanding
invoice #1007.
Task
Record the received payment of $450 from John Melton.
Open Craig’s QuickBooks Online
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Entering received payments
Check your work
Return to the Sales Center and select the Customers tab. There should be an open
balance of $0.00 for customer John Melton.
Hints and tips
1. From the + New menu, choose Receive Payment
2. From the drop-down, select the customer, John Melton
3. Add the payment date or ensure that it is today’s date
4. Enter the Payment method as Cash and Deposit to Checking
5. Select the checkbox next to Invoice #1007
6. Notice the Amount Received field in the upper right corner of the screen reflects the
total of the invoices selected
7. Select Save and close, and you’re done!
ProAdvisor tip
Craig’s Landscaping is the sample company on QuickBooks Online test drive. It’s
designed for you to explore and try out new things without worrying that you will break
something or make a mistake.
Once you close this QuickBooks Online test drive company it is completely refreshed,
so please remember to allow sufficient time to complete each activity. Don’t worry if you
have to close the test drive before you are finished—you can always begin again.
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Entering received payments
ProAdvisor tipIt's best practice to use the Undeposited Funds account when
receiving payments. You’ll learn more about how to use this in the QuickBooks Online
Core Certification course.
