About payment methods for customers

You use the Payment methods (CA204000) window to configure payment methods. You perform the following general steps to set up a payment method:

1. In this window, you specify the required settings, such as the identifier, means of payment, and description.
   
   We recommend that you use the Cash means of payment for all payment methods that are used to describe how customers pay your organisation.
2. You specify how you want to use the payment method: For customer payments, select the Use in customer ledger check box.
   
   The same payment method can be used to record incoming and outgoing payments; that is, you can select both the Use in customer ledger and the Use in supplier ledger check boxes (or just one of the check boxes).
3. On the Allowed cash accounts tab, you add the cash accounts to be used with this payment method.
   Additionally, you can select the Customer ledger default check box to define the cash account that is used by default for incoming payments.
   
   You do not need to enable auto-numbering of payments (by using the Customer ledger - Suggest next number and the Last reference number columns), because incoming payments usually have their own numbers, which you enter in the Payment ref. field in the Customer payments (AR302000) window.
4. You activate the payment method or select the Active check box.
5. You save the new payment method.

You follow these steps for all payment methods that are used to describe how customers pay your organisation.
These payment methods will differ primarily in their identifiers and their lists of allowed cash accounts.

Goods and services can be paid for in a variety of ways, including cash and wire transfers.
You can configure the following types of payment methods to record payments from customers:

• Cash:
  To record incoming payments made with actual cash, you configure a payment method, which you base on the Cash means of payment.
  You should associate the payment method with general cash accounts and petty cash accounts.
• Wire transfer:
  To record incoming payments made by wire transfer, you develop a payment method and base it on the Cash means of payment.
  You associate the payment method with bank cash accounts.

You configure payment methods for customers in the Cash management workspace of Visma.net ERP, but you use them in the Customer ledger workspace to record payments from the customers. To start using payment methods, you first need to associate a payment method with a particular customer.

Visma.net ERP eases this task, so that in most cases you do not need to associate each payment method with each of your customers: The system automatically associates with all customer accounts each payment method that is configured as follows:

• The payment method is active or the Active check box is selected.
• The payment method is based on the Cash means of payment.
• The payment method is marked for use in Customer ledger or the Use in Customer ledger check box is selected.
• The payment method does not require an account number or the Require account number check box is cleared on the Settings for Customer ledger tab.

All payment methods for customers configured in this way will automatically appear on the Payment methods tab of the Customers (AR303000) window and can be used to record payments without additional configuration.

You can modify a payment method that has been associated with a particular customer automatically (due to being configured as described earlier). For example, you can specify another cash account to record payments from this customer by using the Customer payment methods (AR303010) window.
When you perform this modification, the system creates an instance of the payment method that is called a customer payment method.

Customer payment methods are also displayed on the Payment methods tab of the Customers (AR303000) window with the Override check box selected to distinguish them from non-modified payment methods for customers.