Why are invoices that have been paid still displayed as outstanding?

This article looks at common reasons why a customer invoice that's been paid is still showing as outstanding, and how to fix the problem.

When income relating to a customer invoice is received, this needs to be recorded as an 'Invoice payment'. This will reduce the amount outstanding, and if the invoice is fully paid, it will no longer show as outstanding.

If an invoice has been fully paid, but is still showing as outstanding, then there are four common reasons for this:

1. the incoming amount is yet to be uploaded and bank matched;
2. the incoming amount has been allocated to the wrong invoice;
3. the incoming bank transaction has been recorded as 'Income received' rather than 'Invoice payment' as it should have been;
4. the customer invoice payment is genuinely outstanding (or has only been part paid).

How to find and fix the problem

Go to bank reconciliation -> view statement. Select the bank account the incoming customer payment was received into and the month the payment was received. Then scroll down to find the incoming amount.

1. The incoming amount is yet to be uploaded and bank matched

If the incoming amount is either not showing, or showing but displays as 'still to be reconciled' then the issue is simply that the transaction hasn't yet been uploaded to ExpensePlus, or it's been uploaded but the person who is bank matching transactions is yet to reconcile this transaction. Until it's been uploaded and bank matched, the invoice will continue to show as outstanding.

2. The incoming amount has been allocated to the wrong invoice

If the incoming amount is showing as reconciled, but the invoice it is reconciled against is not correct, then click on the transaction details to edit the invoice.

Then in the invoice payment section, correct the allocation so that the incoming amount is allocated to the correct invoice.

3. The incoming bank transaction has been recorded as 'Income received' rather than 'Invoice payment' as it should have been

If the incoming amount is showing as reconciled, but it has been reconciled as income rather than allocated against the invoice payment, then click on the transaction details to edit the income allocation.

Then delete the allocation line within the 'Income (Other)' section and instead allocate this income to the invoice in question within the 'Invoice Payments' section.

4. The customer invoice payment is genuinely outstanding (or has only been part paid)

If the invoice has been part paid, it will show as outstanding until it has been paid in full.

To help you better understand the invoicing module as a whole, please visit the module overview page here.