How do I record a cheque from a customer or to a contractor, and follow it until it's collected or cleared?

What you will do

You record the cheque with its voucher: a cheque you received from a customer in the receipt voucher, or a cheque you gave a contractor in the payment voucher. Then you follow each cheque in the Cheques screen until it's collected, cleared or bounced. You get an alert before it's due.

Before you start

• A cheque is recorded from its voucher, not from the Cheques screen. Choose Cheque in Payment Method, and the Cheque details part appears.
• A cheque voucher counts for the party on the day the cheque is received or handed over. The customer owes less from the day you receive the cheque, and the contractor counts as paid from the day you hand it over.
• The treasury moves only on the day of collection or clearing. You record that day from the Cheques screen, and the amount enters or leaves the treasury on its date.
• If you have a bank account, add it as a treasury of type Bank Account in Treasuries. It is then suggested for deposits, collections and clearing. If you don't, choose any treasury.

Steps

Record a cheque you received from a customer

1. Open the receipt voucher as usual: from the project page, or from Payments → Customer Receipt Voucher.
2. Type the Amount, and in Voucher date choose the day you received the cheque.
3. Choose Cheque in Payment Method. The Cheque details part appears.
4. Type the Cheque number, the Bank and the Due date. The Drawer name is optional.
5. If you want, choose a Cheque front image and a Cheque back image.
6. Click Save Data. A success message appears, the cheque is saved with the voucher as In portfolio, and then the two images are uploaded.

The Treasury field doesn't appear with a cheque, because a cheque doesn't enter a treasury on the day you receive it. You choose the treasury on the day of the deposit or the collection.

If a cheque with the same number and bank was recorded before, "A cheque with the same number and bank is already recorded" appears under the field. This is only a warning, so save if it's a different cheque.

Record instalment cheques in one go

If the customer gave you several post-dated cheques:

1. Open the customer page, and click Record instalment cheques.
2. Choose the Project and the Received on date.
3. Fill in the rows yourself, or use Auto-fill: type the Number of cheques, the Amount per cheque, the First due date, the Bank and the First cheque number, then click Fill rows. One cheque is filled for each month, then change what you want.
4. For a cheque image in a row, click Front image or Back image in it.
5. Click Review, then Save cheques.

A receipt voucher and a cheque are saved for each row. If a row has an error, nothing is saved. Correct the row named in the message, then click Review again.

Follow your cheques in the Cheques screen

1. Open Payments → Cheques.
2. At the top is the Due summary: incoming and outgoing cheques due within 14 days, and those past their due date. Click the overdue card to see its cheques.
3. Choose the tab: All, Notes receivable or Notes payable.
4. The first filter is Awaiting due date, with every cheque that hasn't been collected or cleared. Next to it are Overdue, Owed to contractors and All.
5. Search by cheque number, bank or party name, or choose the party from All parties and the project from All projects. For cheques due in a period, choose Due from and To.
6. Click a cheque's row to open its drawer. It has the Cheque history: everything that happened to it, with dates.

To download the list as you see it, click View Reports, then choose PDF or Excel next to Cheques register.

Add or change a cheque's images

1. Open the cheque from the Cheques screen.
2. In Cheque images, click Add under Front image or Back image, and choose the image. "File uploaded." appears.
3. For another image click Replace, and to remove it click Remove.
4. Click the image to open it at full size.

If a cheque bounced without a slip, click Attach bank slip on the bounce line in the Cheque history.

The images don't appear in the customer link or in printed reports. Anyone with View cheques can see them.

Deposit the cheque, then record its collection

1. Open the cheque from the Cheques screen.
2. If you deposited it at the bank and are waiting for collection, click Deposit at bank. Choose the Date and the treasury, then click Deposit at bank at the bottom of the form. "Deposit recorded." appears, its status becomes Deposited at bank, and the treasury doesn't move yet. This step is optional.
3. On the day the amount reaches your account, click Collect cheque. Choose the Date and the treasury the money went into, then click Collect cheque at the bottom of the form. "Cheque collected." appears, and its status becomes Collected.

The Date can't be in the future, or before the cheque's last action.

If the cheque bounces

1. Open the cheque, and click Record bounce.
2. Choose the Bounce reason, such as Insufficient funds, and choose the Date. Attach the Bank return slip if you have it, as an image or a PDF. Then click Record bounce at the bottom of the form. "Bounce recorded." appears.

Its status becomes Bounced, and the amount is owed by the customer again. The original voucher stays as it is. Then choose one of two:

• Re-present: if you agreed with the customer to present it again. Type the New due date. "Cheque re-presented." appears, the cheque goes back In portfolio, and the amount is deducted from the customer again.
• Settle another way: if the customer paid the amount in cash or by transfer. Choose the Date and the Treasury the money went into. "Settlement recorded." appears, and its status becomes Settled another way. The customer owes less, and the amount enters the treasury.

Endorse a customer's cheque to a contractor

If you gave the customer's cheque to a contractor instead of depositing it:

1. Open the cheque while it's In portfolio, and click Endorse to a contractor.
2. A contractor payment voucher form opens in the drawer, with the cheque amount above it. Choose the contractor and the project, then the Main Item, and type Paid to contractor. To split the amount over more than one item, click Add Item.
3. A cheque is endorsed at its full value. So the items must add up to the cheque amount, and the current total is shown under the amount.
4. Click Endorse to a contractor at the bottom of the form. "Cheque endorsed." appears, and its status becomes Endorsed.

No treasury moves when you endorse. On its date, it counts as collected from the customer and paid to the contractor. If payment vouchers need approval in your company, the cheque becomes Reserved for endorsement until the voucher is approved.

If the bank bounces the cheque after you endorsed it, use Record bounce. The amount is owed by the customer again, and the contractor is owed what they were owed before. Then click Pay contractor when you pay them from your treasury.

Pay a contractor by cheque

1. Open the contractor payment voucher as usual.
2. Choose Cheque in Payment Method, and type the Cheque number, the Bank and the Due date. Add its two images if you want.
3. Choose the Treasury it is paid from. Bank accounts appear first.
4. Save. The contractor counts as paid on the voucher date, and the cheque becomes Issued.
5. On the day the cheque is cleared from your account, open it from the Cheques screen, and click Clear cheque. Choose the Date, then click Clear cheque at the bottom of the form. "Cheque cleared." appears, its status becomes Cleared, and the amount leaves the treasury on the clearing date.

Choose when you get the alert

1. Open Settings, then Operations, then the Money and approval card.
2. In Cheque due alert (days before), type a number from 1 to 30. The default is 3.
3. Click Save changes.

You get a "Cheque due soon" notification for every incoming or outgoing cheque this many days before it's due. It also appears in the daily summary in your email.

What changes after you save

• After a receipt voucher with a cheque: Due now on the customer page goes down, and "Of which uncollected cheques" appears under it, with View cheques. The Balance in All Treasuries doesn't change.
• After collection: the Balance of the treasury you chose goes up, and the amount appears in its Statement with the type Cheque on the collection date.
• After a bounce: the customer owes the cheque amount again. The treasury doesn't move, because the money never entered it.
• After a payment voucher with a cheque: the contractor is owed less, and their page shows "Of which cheques not yet cleared" in the Projects or Invoices History tab. The Due summary has a line for each treasury with what was issued from it and not yet cleared, and its balance. If the balance is lower, the difference is shown.
• After clearing: the treasury's Balance goes down on the clearing date.

Permission you need

You are the account owner, so you have every permission. If you want an employee to act for you:

• View cheques: to see the Cheques screen and each cheque's drawer.
• Manage cheques: to deposit, collect, clear, bounce, re-present, endorse and settle. All of these move treasury money or a party's balance.
• To record the cheque itself, they need the permission to add the voucher: the receipt voucher or the payment voucher.

If you can't find the button or the save is refused

• Cheque doesn't appear in Payment Method: a cheque is available only in the customer receipt voucher and the contractor payment voucher.
• Cheques doesn't appear in the sidebar: your account doesn't have View cheques.
• No buttons appear in the cheque drawer: your account doesn't have Manage cheques, or the cheque is finished: Collected, Cleared, Settled another way or Cancelled.
• "The cheque has moved since it was received, so its details and the voucher amount can't be edited": after any action on the cheque, its voucher is locked. If you made a mistake before that, edit or delete the voucher.
• "The date can't be before the cheque's last action.": choose a day after the last line in the Cheque history.
• "A cheque is endorsed at its full value…": the items in the endorsement voucher don't add up to the cheque amount. Split the whole amount.
• "This cheque bounced after it was endorsed to a contractor who hasn't been paid yet. Pay the contractor first.": click Pay contractor, then endorse the cheque again.
• "The cheque changed since you opened it": someone else changed it at the same time. Close the drawer and open it again.