How to Create an Ad-hoc Manual Credit Note

Ad-hoc manual credit notes are not linked to an original invoice and therefore can be difficult to reconcile against invoice amounts. It is recommended that ad-hoc manual invoices are not used for day-to-day crediting of closed invoices.

Creating an ad-hoc manual credit note is a multi-step process that involves the following steps:

Opening the Credit Note Entry screen.
Searching for the relevant debtor.
Searching for the relevant billing company.
Adding the Credit Note header details.
Adding the credit items.
Saving or closing the credit note.

To open the Credit Note screen when creating a manual credit note, follow the procedure below.

How to Open the Credit Note Screen
1.	Navigate to Billing > Manage Invoices/Credit Notes screen. The Manage Invoices/Credit Notes screen opens.
2.	Click Add > Add Credit Note. A confirmation message opens to inform you that if you continue, a credit note that is not linked to an invoice will be created.
3.	Click Yes to continue. The Credit Note Entry screen opens.

To search for the debtor to whom the credit note will be issued, follow the procedure below.

How to Search for the Debtor
1.	In the Search for Debtor by field on the Credit Note Entry screen, select an option depending on how you want to search for the relevant debtor. For example, if you do not know the name of the relevant debtor but you know the name of the client, select Client to search for the debtor associated with that client. Otherwise if you know the name of the debtor, leave the default option of Debtor selected to search by the debtor name/code.
2.	Next to the Search for Debtor by field, click the search button. A Search Hierarchy dialog box opens. The dialog box features different search options depending on the option you selected in the Search for Debtor by* field.*
3.	In the search fields at the top of the dialog box, specify as much information as possible and click Search. Alternatively, just click Search without specifying any search criteria in order to list all debtors, clients, parents, cost centres or job orders you can access. The dialog box lists the matching items.
4.	In the list of matching items, click on the row that represents the relevant debtor, client, parent, cost centre or job order. The dialog box closes and the details of the corresponding debtor are displayed in the Debtor Details* field in the Credit Note Entry screen.*

Once you have found and selected the relevant debtor to whom the credit note will be issued, you need to find and select the name of the billing company that will issue the credit note. To do this, follow the procedure below.

How to Search for the Billing Company
1.	Next to the Search for Billing Company by field, click the search button. The Search Billing Company Hierarchy dialog box opens.
2.	If you know the ID and/or name of the relevant billing company type, type it in the Billing Company Id and Billing Company Name fields respectively and click Search. Alternatively, just click Search without specifying any search criteria in order to list all billing companies to which you have access. The dialog box lists the matching billing companies.
3.	In the list of billing companies, click the relevant billing company that is to issue the invoice. The dialog box closes and the details of the corresponding billing company are displayed in the Billing Company Details field in the Credit Note Entry screen. Additional fields appear on the Credit Note Entry screen to allow you to complete creating the credit note.

Once the debtor and billing companies have been selected, you can add the remainder of the credit note header details. To do this, follow the procedure below.

How to Add the Credit Note Header Details
1.	If the credit note date is to be other than the current date, select the relevant date in the Credit Note Date field. Note that the credit note date is the date on which the credit note is issued and the due date of the credit note will be calculated relative to this date based on the credit note terms that you select.
2.	In the Credit Note Type Account Group field, select the relevant account group depending on the general ledger account to be affected by payment of the credit note.
3.	In the Credit Note Terms field, select the relevant option depending on the payment terms that are to apply to the credit note. The Credit Note Due Date field updates to display the due date of the credit note based on the date selected in the Credit Note Date field and the payment terms defined by the credit note terms you have selected.
4.	In the Bill To Contact field, select an agency user who will act as the agency contact person in the event the debtor needs to contact the agency regarding the credit note.

Next you must add one or more credit items that are going to be credited to the debtor. To do this, follow the procedure below.

How to Add the Credit Items
	At the top of the credit items list beneath the Credit Note Header Details section of the Credit Note Entry screen, click Add. The Credit Note Item dialog box opens.
2.	If you need to credit an item directly related to a job order, type in the unique nine-digit job order number in the Job Order field or click the search button next to the field to search for the relevant job order. Skip this step if the credit item that you are adding is not directly related to a job order.
3.	In the Credit Note Item field, select the relevant item for which the debtor is to be credited. The Description* field displays a description of the selected credit item and the Rate field displays the monetary per-unit billing rate associated with the selected item.*
4.	If the credit item does not relate to a job order, select an option from the Skill Group field to determine the skill group against which the sale will be attributed. This step is mandatory if the credit item is not linked to a job order.
5.	If the credit item does not relate to a job order, select an option from the Position field to determine the job position against which the item will be attributed. This step is mandatory if the credit item is not linked to a specified job order.
6.	If the invoice is a vendor/supplier credit note, click within the Item Date field and select the item date of the credit item. Skip this step if the credit note is not a vendor/supplier credit note.
7.	If the credit item does not relate to a specific job order and you need the item to be attributed to an agency office other than the office to which the debtor is linked, change the office that is selected in the Office field. Skip this step if the credit item is linked to a job order or the office that is selected by default is the relevant office to which the item is to be attributed.
8.	If the credit item does not relate to a specific job order, click the search button next to the Agency Staff field and search for and select the agency staff member to whom the item is to be attributed. Skip this step if the credit item is linked to a job order.
9.	In the Quantity field, type the number of units of the selected item to be credited. The taxation and total fields at the bottom of the dialog box update based on the billing rate multiplied by the quantity.
10.	In the Cost field, type the cost price of the credit item if known and if applicable. This specifies how much it cost the agency to provide the service represented by the item. This value is not used by the Billing application but can be specified in order to track and report costs.
11.	Click Save. The Credit Note Item dialog box closes and a row is displayed on the Credit Note Entry screen listing the details of the selected credit item.
12.	Repeat steps 1-11 to add any other relevant credit items to the credit note.

If make a mistake after you have added a credit item to the credit note, click the Edit button next to the relevant credit item to display the Credit Note Item dialog box, which will allow you to edit any of the credit item information you specified originally. Alternatively, you can delete any of the items by clicking the Delete button next to the relevant credit item.

When you have completed all of the above procedures you must select the credit note reason, which identifies why the credit was being issued to the client, and you can then save or close the credit note.

Saving the credit note allows you to close the Credit Note Entry screen without losing any of the credit note details. You can then return to the credit note at a later time to finalise and close it or, if the invoice is no longer required, you can delete the credit note if necessary. When you save a credit note, the status of the credit note is set to Open to indicate that it is yet to be finalised.

Closing the credit note will finalise the credit note so that it cannot be edited any further or deleted and will set its status to Closed. This allows the credit note to be delivered to the relevant debtor.

To select the credit note reason and save or close the credit note, follow the procedure below.

How to Select the Credit Note Reason and Save or Close the Credit Note
	Next to the Credit Note Reason field at the bottom of the Credit Note Entry screen, click Edit. The Select Credit Note Reason dialog box opens and lists the credit note reasons that are available for selection.
2.	Click on the credit note reason that best describes the reason why this credit note has to be issued to the debtor. The Select Credit Note Reason dialog box closes and the description of the credit note reason you selected is displayed in the Credit Note Reason* field on the Credit Note Entry screen.*
3.	To save the credit note so that it can be finalised at a later time, click Save at the top of the screen. Alternatively, if the credit note is finalised and is ready to be delivered to the debtor, click Close at the top of the screen.