Receipt

A receipt records money coming in from a customer and allocates it against the invoices being settled.

Overview

Allocation is the part that matters. An unallocated receipt reduces the customer’s total balance but leaves every invoice showing as unpaid, so the Outstanding Report keeps chasing invoices that have in fact been settled. Always allocate, even if the customer paid a round sum against several invoices.

Prerequisites

Before you begin

• The party exists and is active
• The items you need exist with a unit of measure
• The financial period you are posting into is open

Opening the screen

Navigate to

1. Sales
2. Transactions
3. Receipt

Click to enlarge

The Receipt screen in Business Plus Plus.

Procedure

Open the Receipt screen

Use the navigation path above and click New.

Select the customer and amount

Choose the customer and enter the amount received. The open invoices appear in the allocation grid, oldest first.

Record how the money arrived

Set the mode — cash, cheque, bank transfer or card — and the matching reference. For a cheque, enter the number, date and bank; for a transfer, the UTR.

Tip

The reference is what you will search on when the customer says “I paid you on the 14th”. Enter it properly the first time.

Allocate against invoices

Tick the invoices being settled, or click Auto Allocate to apply the amount oldest-first. The unallocated balance is shown at the foot of the grid and must be zero or an explicit on-account amount.

Warning

Leaving an amount unallocated is allowed but it is almost never what you want: the invoices stay open on the Outstanding Report even though the money has been received.

Save and issue the receipt

Click Save, then Print to give the customer their receipt.

Expected result

The receipt gets a number such as RCT/2026/00912, the allocated invoices drop off the Outstanding Report, and the customer balance reduces by the receipt amount.

Field reference

Receipt fields

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description	Notes
Receipt No.	Auto	Read-only	—	Allocated from the Receipt series on save.
Receipt Date	Date	Yes	Today	Date the money was received, not the date you are entering it.
Customer	Dropdown	Yes	—	Party the money came from.
Amount	Amount	Yes	—	Total received.	Must equal the allocated total plus any on-account amount.
Mode	Dropdown	Yes	Bank Transfer	Cash, Cheque, Bank Transfer, Card or Adjustment.
Instrument No.	Text	No	—	Cheque number or transfer reference.	Mandatory for Cheque and Bank Transfer.
Instrument Date	Date	No	—	Cheque date. Used for the clearing report.
Deposit Account	Dropdown	Yes	—	Cash or bank account the money goes into.
Allocation	Grid	No	—	Invoices settled by this receipt, with the amount applied to each.
On Account	Amount	Read-only	—	Amount received but not allocated to any invoice.

Receipt fields

Important notes

Important

A cheque receipt records the cheque, not cleared funds. The customer’s balance reduces on save; the bank reconciliation is what confirms the money actually arrived. Use Accounting → Cheque Clearing to mark it cleared or bounced.

Warning

Cancelling a receipt reopens every invoice it was allocated against. If the customer’s payment bounced, mark the cheque bounced rather than cancelling — that keeps the bank charge and the reversal traceable.

Common problems

The Save button is disabled

A required field is empty or invalid. Fields in error are outlined in red with the reason underneath — scroll up, the first error is usually in the header.

You do not have permission to perform this action

Your role is missing the relevant permission for this screen. Ask an administrator to check it against Roles & Permissions.

The period is closed

The date falls in a financial period that has been closed. Either use a date in an open period, or ask an administrator to reopen it — which affects everyone, so it is rarely the right answer.

The rate comes in as zero

No price is configured for that combination of party and item on this date. Check the applicable price list, and whether its validity window covers the document date.

Frequently asked questions

QCan I edit a receipt after saving?

While it is still in Draft, yes — every field is editable. After confirmation only non-financial fields such as Narration can be changed; anything else requires cancelling and re-raising the document.

QWhy is the document number not sequential?

Numbers are allocated when a document is saved, so a cancelled document leaves its number used. That is intentional: a gap-free series is what makes the audit trail defensible.

QCan I change the date after confirming?

No. The date determines which period the entry posts into, so changing it would move an already-posted entry between periods. Cancel and re-raise with the correct date.

Related documentation

• Sales Invoice
• Outstanding Report
• Receipt VoucherFor money not tied to a sales invoice.