Creating Sales Accounts

Customers who receive goods sold by the establishment / organisation or use the premises and facilities in exchange for a charged fee must have a sales account on the Sales Ledger. The customer sales account can then be used to produce sales invoices to request payments and record payments from the customer.

Customer information is stored within a series of tabs on the sales account. Some customer information must be entered when the account is created so that can be easily identified within IRIS Financials. Additional information can be added by editing the customer sales account in the future.

1. Select Maintenance, then select Accounts.
   
2. The Select a ledger dialog is displayed. Double-select to select SALES - Sales Ledger.
   
3. The Account Maintenance window is displayed. Existing customer sales accounts linked to the ledger are listed in the left-hand panel. Customer sales account information is stored in tabs on the right-hand side.
   If there are existing customer sales accounts attached the to ledger, we recommend searching for the customer for which you are creating an account to ensure an account does not already exist. On the Account Maintenance window, enter the customer name in the Search field, then press the Enter key. If an account for the customer exists in the ledger, it is highlighted.
   
4. To add a new customer sales account, select ADD NEW, then select ACCOUNT.
   
   If the new customer sales account has the same settings applied to an existing customer sales account, you can copy the existing customer sales account to create an account for the new customer. Select the existing customer sales account to be copied from the left-hand panel, select ADD NEW, then select ACCOUNT (COPY).
5. The new account is displayed as <New item> in the left-hand panel and is automatically selected, with the General tab selected on the right-hand side. A code must entered in Account (limited to 12 alpha-numeric characters) that adheres to your establishment/organisation guidance, and this is used to identify the customer sales account within the software.
   
6. Enter the customer name in Title.
   
7. The Currency field is automatically populated with GBP when the account is saved. If the customer uses a different currency, select the required option.
8. Next, in the Contact Details panel, enter the details of the main contact for the customer. (Details entered in Salutation are used to address the contact in any documents generated by or sent directly from the software e.g. letters, sales invoices, emails, etc. Only the contact's title is required e.g. Miss).
   
   If the customer requires sales invoices to be sent to a specific email address that is different from the main contact's email address, then the additional email address needs to be added to the account for use with the Document Emailer module. For more information, please see Adding Email Addresses in IRIS Financials for use with the Emailer Suite.
9. The Comments panel contains an unlimited field that can be used to enter any notes about the account. Select in the field, then enter any information. To add additional lines within the field, at the end of a line of text, press the Enter key.
   
10. Next, select the Address tab. Enter the details of the customer's address in the required fields. In Post code, ensure a space is added between the first and second part of the post code. (Pre-name can be used to enter the details, for example a department title to which a sales invoice would be sent).
    
11. (Optional) If the customer pays the total of an invoice in installments, enter the number of invoices the payments can be split across in Sales Phasing Stages. You must also set the Default VAT Code for the customer.
    
12. Next, select the Payments tab. First, select the media by which the customer makes payments, e.g. Bank Transfer, Cheque, etc. In the Payment Information panel, select an option from the Media category drop-down list.
    
13. Next, if the payment media category requires bank account information e.g. for Bank Transfer (BACS) payments, in the Payment Information panel, enter the account details in the payment information fields to which customer payments are to be made.
    The customer bank account name must be entered in Title for all forms of payment media so that any payments or refunds made to the customer are produced with the correct account information.
    
14. Next, if payment terms have been applied for the customer by your establishment/organisation, and the payment terms have been created within the software, select the payment terms. To apply payment terms to the customer supplier account, select the required option from the Payment Terms panel.
    
15. Next, set the security roles for the customer sales account which determine which users can view, modify, and post to the account. Select the Security tab, then select Drill (...) in View, Modify, Post to select the required security role.
    
16. The Select a role for Account dialog is displayed. Select the required security role, then select OK. For more information, please see Overview of Security Roles.
    
17. When you have entered all the details required for the customer sales account, select SAVE to confirm the details.
    
18. An Update complete message is displayed. Select OK to close the message and return to the previous window.