16 Nov Ask the Expert – “Missing” Sales
Ask the Expert – “Missing” Sales
Q – I have entered all the payments I have received from my customers, but when I create a Profit & Loss report, none of the income is there. What am I doing wrong? Submitted by Lee.
A – The first thing that comes to mind is that maybe the receipts were entered, but the corresponding invoices have not been entered yet. The easiest way to check for this situation is to see if there is a large credit balance in Accounts Receivable. This can be accomplished by going to Reports > Customers and Receivables and choosing an aging or open invoice report. It is also possible to check for this same issue from the chart of accounts or the customer list. If that is the situation, an invoice will need to be created for each customer. With version 2005, as each invoice is saved, a message will appear to permit linking the invoice to the “credit” (i.e. outstanding negative balance from the receive payment) immediately. For older versions, it will be necessary to go back to the payment and “link” it to the appropriate invoice.
The second common situation is that the reports were prepared on a cash basis and the invoices and receive payments have not been linked. This would also be the issue if the invoices have been entered above and the “linking” process has not been completed. On the cash basis, if the payment does not designate what invoice it is paying, the result on cash basis reports is that the income is not recorded and the payment will appear on the balance sheet as a negative balance in Accounts Receivable. As was described above, link the receive payment to the appropriate invoice to correct the situation.