Customer Debit Notes

What is it and what is it for?

Each debit note increases a customer's open balance, exactly like an additional invoice. You can create it from scratch or, more commonly, generate it from an existing credit invoice: doing so automatically copies the customer, location, department, division, currency, sales rep, sales opportunity, sales territory and internal notes from the source invoice, and sets the fiscal sequence to the one configured for the customer's debit notes.

If the debit note includes items with inventory tracking, it behaves like a sale: it reduces stock, calculates the cost of sale, and validates lots, bins, serials or attributes just like an invoice. When you save it, and if your company uses the Accounting module, the system posts the general-ledger entry: debit to the customer's receivable account and credit to the corresponding sales, tax, withholding and inventory accounts.

Screens in this area

How to record a debit note step by step

1. Open the list and click New. You need the "add" level of the debit-notes permission; if you don't see the button, ask your administrator for access.
2. Choose how you'll generate it. You can start from a blank form, or open it from the matching button on the detail page of a credit invoice: the system automatically copies the customer, location, currency, sales rep and other data from the source invoice.
3. Select the customer (if you started blank) and, if applicable, the affected invoice. Pointing at the affected invoice keeps the note tied to that specific document.
4. Fill in the item or service lines to bill, with quantity, price and discount. If an item tracks lot, bin, serial or attributes, fill them in just like on an invoice.
5. Fill in the fiscal data when your country uses fiscal documents (NCF) for this document type.
6. Save. The system validates the data and, if the note's currency differs from the customer's currency, asks you to confirm before saving.

Key fields

Validations when saving

• Customer required and not void.
• Open accounting period for the note's date.
• Exchange rate greater than zero and consistent with the company's functional currency.
• Location consistent with the indicated subsidiary, and sales rep not void.
• At least one item or service line, no fully blank lines, discount between 0% and 100%, and within the maximum lines allowed per document.
• Valid affected invoice when one is entered: it must exist, not be void, and belong to the same customer, subsidiary and currency as the note.
• Sufficient stock and lot, bin or serial data when an item requires them, just like on an invoice; serials cannot repeat if your company validates serials against inventory.
• Unique fiscal document (NCF) in the correct format, when your country requires it; it cannot repeat against invoices, credit notes, returns or receipts of the same subsidiary.
• Notes, affected invoice, transaction type and payment method required in Ecuador and Guatemala.
• Fields of an already electronically signed document cannot be changed, other than its tax ID (RNC/NIF).
• Ledger accounts must not be reconciled yet for the note to be editable, if your company uses bank reconciliation on those accounts.

Managing the document

From the details of an already-saved debit note you can, depending on your permissions:

• Edit it, as long as it isn't electronically signed.
• Void it, indicating a cancellation reason; it can't be voided while active linked records exist (for example, applied payments or credit notes) or once it's electronically signed.
• Delete it, if it isn't electronically signed, has no active linked records, and its ledger accounts haven't been reconciled.
• Duplicate it to create a new note from its data (the copy starts without an electronic signature).
• Print, email or share a public link to the note, including by WhatsApp.
• View the associated accounting entry, if your company uses the Accounting module.
• Sign it electronically, in countries where the debit note is a signable fiscal document.
• Publish it to AdmCloud, if your company enabled the published-documents feature.

Additional features depending on your setup

• Show the document's balance: displays the total and the outstanding balance (total minus applied payments) on the detail page, if your company turned on this visual aid.
• Estimated collection date: available if your company enabled cash-flow projections.
• Division on lines: division column on items and on the accounting entry, if your company enabled this feature.
• Sales territory: extra field and filter, if your company has it active.
• Line comments, price level, customs declarations, attributes, lots, bins and serials: extra columns on the items table that only show up if your company has those inventory features active.
• Multi-item and available-serials selection popups: pop-ups to add several lines or pick serials faster, if your company has them enabled.
• Field-change logging: records in the audit log which specific fields changed on edit, if your company enabled this feature.
• Electronic invoicing: in countries where the debit note is signable, the list shows the pending-to-sign tab and the detail lets you sign it; an already-signed note can't be freely edited, voided or deleted.

Availability and permissions

• Access is controlled by the "Customer Debit Notes" permission of the user group, with separate levels for view, add, edit, delete and void.
• Changing the note's sales rep or fiscal sequence requires separate edit permissions, apart from the general permission.
• Available on every AdmCloud plan, starting with the Billing plan. On the Enterprise plan, it requires the Sales module to be active.
• With subsidiaries enabled, each note is tied to a subsidiary and its location must belong to that subsidiary.
• The fiscal sequence / NCF field only appears if your country handles fiscal documents for this document type.

Tips and common mistakes