Cheque register: post-dated cheques and bounce charges
Every cheque you receive or issue in one register. Post-dated cheques wait for their date, and a cleared cheque becomes the payment in your bank. A bounced cheque undoes it and bills the charges to the party.
PLANSFrom Growth
Built; not yet tried end to end at a customer.
The problem it solves
- Post-dated cheques sit in a drawer and one is deposited a week late, or not at all.
- A cheque is counted as paid the day it is received, and it bounces later.
- Bounce charges are paid by you and never recovered from the party.
- Nobody can say which cheques are in hand, at the bank or back unpaid.
How it works
- Under Trade > Sales > Billing > Cheques > New, record the cheque. Give Received or Issued, party, cheque number, bank it is drawn on, cheque date and amount.
- A cheque dated later is post-dated: it shows how many days are left, and it cannot be deposited before its date.
- Each morning, filter Due for Deposit: the received cheques in hand whose date has come. Choose Our Bank and press Deposit.
- When the bank credits it, Accounts presses Cleared. The payment is made and posted in that bank, on the party's account.
- If it bounces, press Bounced with the bank's reason and the charges. The payment is cancelled, the charges are billed to the party, and the party is told.
Everything it does
The register
- Received from or issued to a party; numbered CHQ/year/number
- Cheque number, Drawn On (Bank), Cheque Date, amount and Our Bank
- States: In Hand, Deposited, Cleared, Bounced, Returned
- Where It Is: Post-dated in 5 days, Ready to deposit, Deposited 2 Nov, Cleared 4 Nov, or the bounce reason
- Details are fixed once a cheque leaves In Hand
Moving a cheque
- Deposit: a received cheque in hand, on or after its date, into Our Bank
- Cleared: makes and posts the payment (received or paid) in Our Bank; an issued cheque clears from In Hand
- Bounced: from Deposited or Cleared; cancels the payment if there was one
- Bounce charges to the party: a bill for the charges, without tax, posted at once
- Give Back: a cheque never deposited goes back to the party (Returned)
Lists
- Open (in hand or deposited) to start with
- Due for Deposit, Post-Dated, Received, Issued, Bounced
- Group by status, party or cheque date; totals of the amounts
What follows
- The cleared payment sits on the party's account; Accounts matches it to the bills it pays
- A bounced cheque leaves the bills unpaid again, so credit holds and reminders count them
- The charges bill shows in the party's ledger and statement
Who uses it
Billing ClerkRecords cheques received at the counter, deposits them and gives back those not deposited.
AccountsMarks cheques cleared or bounced, sets the charges, and matches payments to bills.
Trade ManagerReads the register for what is in hand and what has bounced.
Where you use it
- Web: Trade > Sales > Billing > Cheques
- Not in the SmartMy Trade app
- Not built: a reminder on the day a post-dated cheque falls due; use the Due for Deposit filter
- Not built: reading bank statements to clear cheques by themselves
What you control
Settings
- Our Bank: one of your bank journals, chosen per cheque
- Charges to the Party: typed when the cheque bounces; zero means none
Notifications
- Cheque Bounced: to the party, with the cheque number, amount, reason and charges. By WhatsApp, else SMS, else email (WhatsApp and SMS use message credits)
Questions
Can a post-dated cheque be deposited early by mistake?
No. Deposit refuses a cheque whose date is still ahead and says so.Is the party's bill paid when we receive the cheque?
No. The payment is made only when you press Cleared. Until then the bill stays unpaid.How are bounce charges recovered?
Enter them when you mark the cheque bounced. A bill for the charges is posted to the party, and the party is told.Do we record cheques we give to suppliers?
Yes. Record them as Issued. Cleared posts the payment to the supplier from your bank.Does the cleared payment settle the right bills?
It is posted on the party's account. Accounts then matches it to the bills it pays, as with any payment.Related features
ORDERS, PURCHASE AND CREDITPayment reminders and payments dueParties are reminded a few days before a bill falls due, and every week once it is overdue, with a link to the bill. On the other side, Payments Due lists the supplier bills you have to pay.BILLING AND STOCKParty ledger and statementEvery party's account in one place: opening balance, each bill, return and payment with a running balance, and the closing balance, for any period. Show it on screen, print a Statement of Account to send, or open it on the phone.ORDERS, PURCHASE AND CREDITCredit limit, overdue and cash-only holdsSome credit bills and sales orders wait for a manager's approval. That is when over the party's credit limit, to a cash-only party, or to a party with overdue bills. Approved, it posts or confirms by itself.BILLING AND STOCKReturns and receipts against billsGoods coming back are a return on the bill: the stock goes back into the shop and the party's balance comes down. Money coming in is a receipt, set against the party's bills, and the party gets a thank-you with what is still due.ACROSS SMARTMY TRADENotificationsParties hear when a credit bill is made, a payment comes in, or an order is confirmed or dispatched. They also hear when a bill falls due or a cheque bounces. The owner gets the day's summary each evening. Email and the in-app inbox need no set-up; WhatsApp and SMS use your message credits.
See your shop on it.
Tell us what you sell, how many shops and godowns you run and how you bill today. We will set up your items and parties with you and print your first bill.