I was wondering if it could be possible to add in a feature, that will allow to pay an invoice in different installments, for example if he outstanding debt was 20,000, then the client is able to pay 15,000 for the first time, and maybe pay the rest later , something like that.
Payment Terms define how the payment is to be collected.
A single invoice can accept multiple payments via Payment Entry, ie, you can keep on making/accepting partial payments as per the terms or otherwise.
Since we’re on this topic, I can’t create a Payment Entry against a Sales Order once I create a Sales Invoice. Is this by default or it’s just because I’m on v13 develop?
When I do create a Payment Entry from the Payment Entry list, my Sales Order documents will not fetch the paid amount (Advance Paid field). Am I going through a wrong process somehow?
Thanks Kenneth, I really hope it’s because you’re all still working on v13 
If you’ve already issue an invoice, you would generally collect payment against that. Payments (advances) against a sales order are usually only made before the invoice is issued.
Advances should affect payment entries by decreasing the amount due, and in my really quick testing it works for me. If you’re not seeing that, can you outline your steps to reproduce more specifically?
2 Likes
Ahh, you’ve just solved my confusion. So payment entry is actually an advance payment against a sales order, right?
This also explains why my Sales Order was shown as Completed even though I had no payment collected against it.
Thanks!
Hi @iMoshi, exactly. Payment entries are very flexible, and they can align against a number of different documents. A Sales Order will be considered “complete” not when it’s paid but when it gets billed. From there, it’s an issue for whoever handles receivables against the invoices.
I would like to change this exact behavior. Is there a toggle I should change in maybe Selling Settings or Accounting Settings? So ERPNext would show Complete (on Sales Order) when the bills against it are collected?
I don’t think that’s possible out of the box, because that’s not traditionally how Sales Orders are conceptualized in a standard document flow. If you want to track payment against Sales Orders, is there a reason you’re not using Sales Invoices instead? A bit of info on your process here would be helpful.
Gotcha.
If you want to track payment against Sales Orders, is there a reason you’re not using Sales Invoices instead?
Due to differences in local customs, and company policies (perhaps its approach to doing business) many businesses do track Sales Orders in a single source of truth, a document. This way, there’s usually a single person handling many SOs, and to reduce user error we may at least include the “Amount Paid / Outstanding balance” etc inside the Sales Order
In normal document flows, a Sales Order is finished when it is (1) billed, and (2) delivered. Using them to track total payment goes against convention.
If you want to track payment, you can still do that with the field “advances paid”, but it don’t believe it will keep track of payments made against sales invoices. If you wanted to do that too, you might need to use a custom field and scripting.
2 Likes
Alright alright.
If you want to track payment, you can still do that with the field “advances paid”, but it don’t believe it will keep track of payments made against sales invoices. If you wanted to do that too, you might need to use a custom field and scripting.
Gonna give this a go
Thank you very much for the clarification.