Customer Prepayments
A customer prepayment records money you receive from a customer before you issue an invoice: an advance, a security deposit, or any collection that doesn't yet correspond to a specific document. Unlike a Cash Receipt, a prepayment isn't applied to open invoices right away — it sits as a credit balance in the customer's favor that you can use later, either by linking it to a sales order or by applying it to invoices once they're issued.
What is it and what is it for?
Use this screen to record any collection you receive before there's an invoice for it: an advance before starting a job, a security deposit, or money you received but decided not to apply right away. When you save it, the system posts the corresponding accounting entry, debiting the cash or bank account where the money came in and crediting the Customer Prepayments account (a liability account, not the customer's receivable account), since it isn't yet known which invoice that money will settle.
You can optionally link the prepayment to a sales order: in that case the amount is automatically reflected as "paid" against that order's installments, letting you track advances received on a large order before it's invoiced. Voiding or deleting the prepayment automatically reverses that amount on the order.
When a prepayment isn't linked to any order, it simply sits as available balance for the customer. To apply it against one or more already-issued invoices, use the Customer Credit Applications screen: that's the step that moves the prepayment's balance onto the matching invoice; the prepayment itself never invoices or settles a document directly.
Screens in this area
| Screen | What it does |
|---|---|
| List | Lists every registered prepayment, with filters by customer, subsidiary, project, sales rep, date range, document number and reference. You can customize the visible columns and save your configuration. From here you create, delete or open the prepayments report. |
| Create / Edit | The prepayment form: customer, subsidiary, date, cash/bank account, currency, exchange rate, payment method, amount and, optionally, the related sales order. It includes the file-attachments tab. |
| Details | The same prepayment in read-only mode, with its bank deposit status and the action buttons: edit, duplicate, void, delete, print, send by email, share the public link, mark it as manually deposited, and view the accounting entry. |
| The printable format of the prepayment (your company's default or a custom template), with your company's and the customer's data. It's the same format the customer receives if you email it or share it via WhatsApp, or if they view it from the Customer Portal. |
How to record a prepayment step by step
- Open the list and click Create. You need the "add" level of the Cash Receipts permission; if you don't see the button, ask your administrator for access.
- Select the customer and, if your company has subsidiaries enabled, the matching subsidiary. The system defaults the date to today.
- Choose the cash or bank account that received the money. If your company uses a single cash account or currency, the system fills it in automatically; the prepayment's currency is taken from that account and can't be edited directly.
- Enter the payment method and the amount received, and confirm the suggested exchange rate if the account's currency isn't the company's main currency.
- If the prepayment belongs to a sales order, select it in the matching field so the amount is reflected as paid on that order. Otherwise leave it empty — you'll be able to apply it to an invoice later from Customer Credit Applications.
- Attach any supporting document (voucher, transfer receipt, etc.) on the attachments tab, if needed.
- Save. The system validates the data and posts the accounting entry, debiting the cash/bank account and crediting the Customer Prepayments account.
Key fields
| Field | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Customer | Whose money was received. Must be an active customer; it can't be changed when editing once the prepayment has active accounting records linked to it. |
| Subsidiary | Which subsidiary the prepayment belongs to, with subsidiaries enabled. |
| Date | The date the money was received. It must fall within an open Accounts Receivable accounting period. |
| Cash/bank account | The account that received the money. It must be active when the document is created and belong to the same subsidiary as the prepayment. |
| Currency | Taken automatically from the selected cash/bank account; it isn't edited directly. |
| Exchange rate | Required and must be greater than zero; it's validated against the company's functional-currency rate. It can't be changed when editing if the prepayment already has active accounting records linked to it. |
| Payment method | Required; must be an active payment method. |
| Amount | The total received from the customer. This is the amount reflected as available balance, or as paid on the linked sales order, if any. |
| Sales order | Optional. Links the prepayment to a specific order to track advances received on it before it's invoiced. |
| Reference | Free-form text to note the reason for the prepayment; it can be filtered on the list. |
| Internal notes | Free-form information visible only to your team. |
| Attachments | Supporting documents for the collection, subject to your plan's file limit. |
Validations when saving
- Customer required, active and not void.
- Currency required, taken from the selected cash/bank account.
- Cash/bank account required, active when the document is created and matching the prepayment's currency.
- Exchange rate greater than zero and consistent with the company's functional currency.
- Payment method required and active.
- Open accounting period for Accounts Receivable on the prepayment's date.
- The document number cannot repeat within the same document type, and can't be changed when editing.
- The customer, currency and exchange rate cannot be changed when editing if the prepayment has active linked accounting records.
- Ledger accounts must not be reconciled yet for the prepayment to be editable, if your company uses bank reconciliation on those accounts.
- A prepayment already included in a bank deposit that affects the same data can't be edited.
- It can't be voided or deleted if it already has active linked records (for example, a credit application that used it).
Managing the document
From the details of an already-saved prepayment you can, depending on your permissions:
- Edit it as long as the accounting period is still open and there are no active records blocking it.
- Duplicate it to create a new prepayment from its data.
- Void it: if it was linked to a sales order, this automatically reverses the paid amount on that order.
- Delete it: just like voiding, it releases the amount applied to the sales order if any; it can't be deleted if it has active linked records.
- Print it, using the default format or a custom template.
- Email it to the customer, or share its public link (for example via WhatsApp) so they can view or reprint it without logging in, if you have the reprint permission.
- Mark it as "manually deposited," useful when the money was already taken to the bank in person without going through a deposit slip registered in the system.
- View the associated accounting entry.
Additional features depending on your setup
- Subsidiary column and field on the list and the form, if your company has subsidiaries enabled.
- Bank deposit status (pending, partially deposited, deposited, or manually deposited) shown on the details, if your company uses the Banking module to build deposits.
- Creation from a bank feed reconciliation, which preloads the date and amount from the movement detected on the bank feed.
- Custom fields on the form, if your company configured them for this screen; you can also create new fields directly from the form.
- Form customization (adding, moving or removing fields), if you have the matching permission.
- Customer Portal: if your company has it enabled, the customer can view and print their own prepayments from their portal.
Availability and permissions
- Access is controlled by the "Cash Receipts" permission of the user group, with separate levels for view, add, edit, delete and void. Sharing the public link or reprinting also requires the Cash Receipts reprint permission.
- Available on AdmCloud plans that include the Sales / Accounts Receivable module. On the Enterprise plan, it requires the Sales module to be active.
- With subsidiaries enabled, each prepayment is tied to a subsidiary and its cash/bank account must belong to that same subsidiary.
- The bank deposit status and creation from bank feed reconciliation depend on your company using the Banking module.
Tips and common mistakes
Don't confuse this screen with Cash Receipts. A Cash Receipt is applied immediately to specific invoices or ledger accounts; a prepayment sits as a credit balance until you decide to use it. If the customer is paying a specific invoice, record a Cash Receipt instead.
Already have the invoice and want to use the prepayment to pay it? Go to Customer Credit Applications and offset the prepayment's balance against the invoice; the prepayment itself isn't edited to "convert" it into an invoice.
Voiding or deleting a prepayment linked to a sales order automatically reverses the paid amount on that order, which goes back to being open for collection.