Customer Charge Accounts and Store Credits

Charges to Account | Payments on Account | Past Due Accounts

Basic

Store Credit: Even if you don't wish to allow customers to charge purchases, you may still want to set up customer accounts for the purpose of giving store credit when merchandise is returned. Point of Sale will track the customer's credit balance and you can apply the credit towards a future purchase. For purposes of store credit, issuing a credit uses the same procedure as taking a payment on account, while applying a credit uses the same procedure as charging to account.

Overview

You can offer and track customer charge accounts in Point of Sale. As the customer makes charges to and payments on her account, Point of Sale tracks the account balance and the remaining credit available.

When making a sale to the customer, this information is displayed on the receipt and further charges are blocked if the sale amount exceeds the available credit (manager override, with sufficient security, is possible).

If you are integrated with QuickBooks Desktop financial software, you have additional account tracking capabilities:

- Posting of customer charges and payments to your financial software, automatically creating invoices and customer payments

- The ability to print and mail account statements, apply finance charges, and apply payments to specific invoices in your financial software, with updated balances being sent back to Point of Sale

- The ability to track past due amounts and block additional charges

Settings for Charge Accounts

Use the following customer fields in the QuickBooks Options section of the customer record to set up and maintain customer charge accounts:

- R Use with QuickBooks. If you are integrated with QuickBooks Desktop financial software, this check box indicates if the customer information will be shared with QuickBooks Desktop. If you select the Use charge account check box, this option is automatically selected for you. You can set the default selection of this field for new customers in company preferences.

- R Charge account Select to allow charges for this customer.

- Account Limit Enter the maximum charge balance allowed for the customer. If integrated with QuickBooks Desktop financial software, you can set the limit in either program and it will be updated in the other with your next Financial Exchange.

- Account Balance. The customers current account balance; updated with each charge to or payment on account. If integrated with QuickBooks Desktop, is overwritten during each Financial Exchange by the balance from QuickBooks Desktop, so that it reflects finance charges and/or payments taken in your financial software.

- Available Credit. Calculated field. Account Limit Account Balance = Available Credit. When charging a purchase to the account, the available credit is checked and the charge blocked if the purchase amount exceeds this value (manager override, with sufficient security, is possible).

- Past Due. Available only if integrated with QuickBooks Desktop and if blocking of past due accounts is enabled in company preferences. Indicates amount that is 30, 60, or 90 days past due, depending on preference setting. Actual amounts and aging comes from QuickBooks Desktop.

Notes:

- The current account information is displayed on the sales receipt when a customer is listed on the receipt.

- Until an account limit is set for a customer, the Available Credit in Point of Sale is suppressed and charges on account are not allowed. With sufficient security rights, you can establish an account and set a limit while making a sale by clicking the Account payment button.

- To send itemized statements (including item detail) to customers from QuickBooks Desktop, choose one of the detailed item posting methods on the Financial page of company preferences.

- The ability to modify account settings can be controlled by a security right.

- If you have existing customers with account balances in another program or spreadsheet when beginning to use Point of Sale, the customer information and account balances can be imported using the Data Import wizard.

- (Pro) Be aware that it is possible for a customer to make two or more purchases by account charge at different stores between Store Exchanges, neither individually exceeding the customer's available credit but in total exceeding it. After the next Financial Exchange, the new balance will exceed the credit limit until a payment is made, but no further charges will be allowed Example

Related Topics

How account transactions are sent to QuickBooks Desktop

Edit a customer record

End of Day Financial Exchange