Lesson 10 — Two ways to settle an invoice, and reading the badge
The last lesson is about how cheques meet invoices, and what a partner's history tells you before you extend more credit.
The practice this answers. Cheques do not arrive in a tidy order. Sometimes the cheque comes with the paperwork and you settle the invoice on the spot; sometimes a courier drops off three cheques with no covering note and the invoices are matched an hour later. Both are normal, so both are supported, and choosing between them is a workflow preference rather than an accounting one.
The two supported paths. They end in the same place by different routes.
| Path | How you work | What the module does |
|---|---|---|
| Register the payment from the invoice | Open the invoice or bill, press Register Payment, choose a bank journal and the Cheque (Received) or Cheque (Issued) method, enter the cheque number and date | The payment posts, the cheque instrument is created in the right direction and state, and the interim entry is booked |
| Register the cheque first | Create the cheque and confirm it, then open the invoice or bill | This cheque's entry is offered there as an outstanding credit or debit, and you allocate it in one click |
The smart button, and what its number actually means. Either way, the cheque form shows an Invoices or Bills smart button linking to the documents it currently settles. Read the word currently. It is a live statement, not a history: after a bounce that count drops as the document re-opens. In our example the button shows one invoice from 18 August 2026, and on 19 October 2026 it drops to zero as INV/2026/0417 re-opens for AED 45,000.00. To confirm what happened after the remaining balance cleared, read the invoice itself, which is the document of record for whether it is settled.
The badge, and how to use it. The partner's bounce-risk badge updates automatically as bounces are recorded, and it belongs on the desk of whoever approves credit. Treat it as a signal rather than a verdict: one partial honour from a customer of ten years is a conversation, while a pattern across quarters is a reason to ask for a different payment arrangement. The badge tells you the pattern exists; the decision stays yours.
The click path. From the invoice, press Register Payment, choose the bank journal and the cheque method, and fill in the cheque number and date. From the cheque list, confirm the cheque first and allocate it from the invoice later. Then open the customer's form and look at the badge before agreeing the next order on credit terms.
The worked example. Al Reem Interiors LLC settled AED 120,000.00 with one post-dated cheque, of which AED 75,000.00 was honoured on first presentation and AED 45,000.00 came back before clearing on 26 October 2026. The invoice was eventually paid in full, the badge shows a bounce, and both facts are true. That is the case the badge is built for — a customer who pays, but not always on the first attempt, whose credit terms deserve a second look rather than a refusal.
The failure mode. The double-entry mistake to avoid is doing both paths at once: registering the payment from the invoice, which already creates the cheque instrument, and then creating a cheque by hand for the same paper. You end up with two cheques for one leaf, two interim balances and a reconciliation that will not close. Register it once, in whichever direction suits your day, and let the smart button confirm it is linked to the document you expected.