Posting customer payments with the cash receipt journal in Business Central
The cash receipt journal in Business Central is the standard page for money you receive, most often customer payments against open invoices. You enter a line for each payment, apply it to the right invoice, balance it to a bank account and post. This guide covers batches, application, discounts and the checks to do before you post.
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What the cash receipt journal in Business Central is
It is a general journal with a template built for incoming money. The layout puts the fields a receivables clerk needs up front: posting date, document number, customer, amount and the applies-to fields. The balancing account comes from the batch. So a clerk does not choose the bank on every line.
Anything that brings money in can go here. That includes customer payments, vendor refunds, returned deposits and sundry income posted to a ledger account. Because it is a journal, you can prepare lines, leave them and finish later. Nothing reaches the ledgers until someone chooses Post.
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- ✓Customer payments
- ✓Vendor refunds received
- ✓Sundry income
- ✓Prepayments from customers
- ✓Transfers between bank accounts
Set up batches and number series
Create one batch for each bank account or clerk from the batch name field. Each batch holds a balancing account type and number, usually the bank account that receives the money. It also holds a number series for document numbers. Separate batches stop two people from overwriting the same lines.
A few settings in the cash receipt journal in Business Central save trouble later. Copy to Posted Jnl. Lines keeps a copy of what you posted for lookup. Also, if several lines share one document number, such as one transfer that pays three customers, the batch number series must allow manual numbers.
Ask about journal setup →- ✓One batch per bank account
- ✓Balancing account on the batch
- ✓Document number series
- ✓Copy to posted journal lines
- ✓Reason code if used
Enter a payment and apply it to invoices
Set Document Type to Payment, Account Type to Customer and pick the customer. Then apply. The quick way is the Applies-to Doc. No. field. It looks up one open invoice and fills the amount. For a payment that covers several invoices, choose Apply Entries and set the applies-to ID on each one.
For a partial payment, change the amount to apply on the invoice line. The rest stays open. If you do not know what a payment is for, post it unapplied. It sits on the customer as a credit. Later, apply it from the customer ledger entries once the remittance arrives.
Get application help →- ✓Applies-to Doc. No. lookup
- ✓Apply Entries for several invoices
- ✓Partial amounts
- ✓Unapplied payments on account
- ✓Apply later from ledger entries
Payment discounts and tolerances in the cash receipt journal
Say the invoice has payment terms with a discount, and the payment date falls inside the discount date. Business Central then works out the discount during application and posts it to the discount account. The amount field shows what the customer should have paid. That is a handy check against the remittance.
Payment tolerance handles small shortfalls. With a tolerance set in General Ledger Setup, a payment that is a little short can still close the invoice. The difference posts to a tolerance account. But larger differences should stay open on the customer, so your collections team can follow them up.
Sort out short payments →- ✓Discount taken within terms
- ✓Payment tolerance amount
- ✓Payment discount grace period
- ✓Shortfall left open
- ✓Bank charges on a separate line
Checks before you post the cash receipt journal in Business Central
Preview Posting shows the customer, bank and ledger entries that would be created, without committing them. It is the easiest way to confirm that an application closes the invoices you expect. The test report does a similar job on paper. It also lists lines with missing dimensions or blocked accounts.
For higher volumes, look at Register Customer Payments or the payment reconciliation journal. They match receipts from an imported bank file. Even so, the cash receipt journal stays the manual fallback every team should know. If your team posts payments on account because application is slow, we can help you speed it up.
Have us tighten controls →- ✓Preview Posting
- ✓Test report
- ✓Journal balanced to zero
- ✓Posting date in open period
- ✓Dimensions where required
Questions about the cash receipt journal in Business Central
What is the difference between the cash receipt journal and the payment journal?
The cash receipt journal is laid out for money coming in, mainly customer payments. The payment journal is laid out for money going out to vendors. It adds payment suggestions, check printing and electronic payment export. So pick the journal that matches the direction of the cash. Then your clerks find every field they need on the page.
Can one payment be applied to several invoices?
Yes. Use Apply Entries on the journal line and mark each invoice that the payment covers. Then change the amount to apply where an invoice is only partly paid. One payment entry then closes or reduces all of them. This is the usual way to handle a customer who sends one transfer for a whole month of invoices.
How do I undo a payment applied to the wrong invoice?
Open the customer ledger entries, select the payment and choose Unapply Entries. The invoice reopens and the payment becomes an open credit again. Then you can apply it to the correct invoice. You do not need to reverse the bank posting. So a wrong application costs a minute to fix, not a new set of entries.
Can I post a customer payment without knowing the invoice?
Yes. Leave the applies-to fields blank and post. The payment lands on the customer account as an open entry and lowers the balance. Later, apply it from the customer ledger entries when you know the details. Many teams do this when a remittance arrives a day after the money, and it keeps the bank balance right.
Should each payment have its own document number?
Normally yes, because the number series assigns one for each balanced line. When one bank credit pays several customers, give those lines the same document number. Then balance them with a single bank line, which makes reconciliation easier. Check this setting in the batch whenever you use the cash receipt journal in Business Central for lump-sum deposits.
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