Payments
A payment is a movement of money in or out of a bank or cash journal. Customer payments offset receivable invoices; vendor payments offset payable bills. PLANA tracks both as account.payment records.
Two directions
| Type | Source | Default offsetting account |
|---|---|---|
| Inbound (Customer payment) | Money in | Accounts Receivable (4111 or similar) |
| Outbound (Vendor payment) | Money out | Accounts Payable (4011 or similar) |
PLANA distinguishes the two; the journal entries look symmetric but move the right balances.
Registering an inbound payment
Linked to a specific invoice (most common)
Open the invoice → Register Payment → fill in:
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Amount | Pre-filled with the invoice balance |
| Date | Defaults to today |
| Journal | Pick the bank or cash journal that received the money |
| Memo | Optional |
Click Create payment. PLANA:
- Creates an
account.paymentrecord - Generates the journal entry (debit bank, credit AR)
- Reconciles the payment against the invoice
- Invoice status → Paid
Standalone (unlinked at first)
Customers occasionally pay before you issue the invoice, or pay unspecified amounts. To record:
Accounting → Customers → Payments → Create → fill in customer + amount + journal.
The payment sits in the customer's "Outstanding Payments" bucket. Once you issue the matching invoice, reconcile the payment against it from the invoice's reconciliation panel.
Registering an outbound payment
From a bill
Open the bill → Register Payment → same flow as customer payments.
From batch
For paying many bills at once:
Accounting → Vendors → Payments → Batch payments → Create.
Select all the bills you want to pay; PLANA generates one payment per vendor (or one per bill if you want individual records) and offers a SEPA XML export suitable for upload to your bank.
This is the right flow for monthly supplier payment runs.
Payment methods
PLANA supports:
| Method | Use |
|---|---|
| Manual | Bank transfer entered by hand |
| SEPA | EU-area transfers; export an XML file for upload to your bank |
| Cash | Cash-on-hand journal |
| Cheque | Rare in Bulgaria; supported via configuration |
| Online (Stripe / Mollie) | For customer self-service payment of invoices |
Configure payment methods per journal in Configuration → Journals.
Refunds and reversals
To refund a customer payment:
- Customer payment → action menu → Create refund → enter the refund amount
PLANA generates the outbound payment and the journal entry to reverse the receivable.
For payments registered against the wrong invoice:
- Unreconcile via the invoice's reconciliation panel
- Re-reconcile against the right invoice (or leave as Outstanding)
Reconciliation tie-in
Most payments are created and reconciled in one click from the Bank reconciliation screen — when a PSD2 transaction appears, PLANA suggests the matching invoice and creates the payment + reconciliation together.
Explicit payment registration (described above) is for cases where the bank statement hasn't arrived yet but you know payment was made (e.g. cash, or a transfer that won't appear until tomorrow).
Partial payments
A customer pays half today, half next month:
- Register the first payment for the partial amount → invoice goes to "Partial" status
- Register the second payment for the balance → invoice goes to "Paid"
PLANA reconciles each payment proportionally.
Customer follow-up
The Aged Receivable report shows what's owed, by age. Combine with follow-up activities to chase late payers:
| Age | Suggested action |
|---|---|
| 0–30 days | Standard payment terms; no chase |
| 30–60 days | Schedule a follow-up call activity |
| 60–90 days | Send a formal reminder letter |
| > 90 days | Escalate to legal or write off |
Follow-up policies in Configuration → Follow-up levels automate the reminder emails.
Where to read more
- Customer invoicing — the receivable side
- Vendor bills — the payable side
- Bank reconciliation — matching payments to bank transactions
- Multi-currency — FX adjustments on payments