What it does
A cheque entry (also called a PDC, a post-dated cheque) is a reminder with the facts of one cheque: who gave or received it, the amount, the cheque date and the bank. Saving a cheque posts nothing: no ledger, no balance, no outstanding changes. The books move only when you Deposit it. The deposit makes an ordinary receipt voucher (a cheque you received) or payment voucher (a cheque you issued) on the deposit date (Record any money received with a receipt voucher, Pay a supplier or an expense with a payment voucher).
Use it when a customer hands you a cheque dated next week, or you write a cheque to a supplier that the bank should not honour yet. If the money moves today, make the voucher directly (Which voucher do I use?). Cash you have collected but not banked is a Provisional cash entry (Record cash you have not banked yet).
Open Cheque (menu Cheques). The list shows the Voucher no, Reference receipt no, Date, Cheque date, Customer/Supplier, Your Bank, Transaction type, Reschedule date, Amount and a Status. The list can be filtered by status, by Is valid for deposit and by Post-Dated Cheque (a cheque dated after today).
Record a cheque
- Choose Add
- Say whose cheque it is
- Say where it goes
- Choose the Status
- Print under another name, if needed
- Save
| Area | Change |
|---|---|
| Ledgers and balances | Nothing |
| The customer's or supplier's outstanding | Nothing |
| Bank reconciliation | Nothing |
| A reminder list | The cheque shows as Due until it is deposited, cancelled or deleted |
Deposit a cheque
A cheque can be deposited when its status is not Cancel or Deposit, its cheque date has come (today or earlier; tomorrow as well if your company switched on PDC notify upto tomorrow) and no deposit has been made for it. The list marks this as Is valid for deposit. Where approval is on for cheques, the cheque must also be approved (Approvals for purchases and vouchers).
- Open the cheque
- Choose Deposit
- Save
| Area | Change |
|---|---|
| Ledgers | The receipt or payment is posted on the deposit date, like any voucher (where approval is on for receipts and payments, it waits for approval) |
| The cheque | Its status becomes Deposit and it can no longer be edited or deleted |
| Bank reconciliation | The new voucher appears as an item to match with the bank statement (Reconcile a bank account with its statement) |
| An invoice | A cheque started from an invoice (its Reference Voucher is the invoice) clears that invoice when deposited, and a cheque with tagged bills clears each tagged bill by its share. Any other cheque lowers the party's balance but no invoice's Due amount |
Cancel a deposit
If you deposited a cheque by mistake or the bank sent it back, open the cheque and choose Deposit Cancel. The button works only on a cheque whose status is Deposit, and asks you to confirm. The cheque goes back to Due and its receipt or payment voucher is deleted with its ledger entries.
The party pays cash instead
Sometimes a customer pays in cash for a cheque you are holding. Record the cash from the cheque's own page, so the cheque does not get deposited as well:
| The cash is | On the cheque's page choose | What happens to the cheque |
|---|---|---|
| In your cash or bank account now | Receipt Voucher: a receipt for the cheque's party, with the cheque as its reference | While part of the amount is received the list shows Partial Deposit and the cheque can no longer be deposited; when the receipts reach the cheque's amount it becomes Cancel |
| Collected but not banked yet | Provisional Cash: a provisional cash entry with the cheque as its Reference Voucher (Record cash you have not banked yet) | When the deposits of those entries reach the cheque's amount, the cheque becomes Cancel |
Reschedule a cheque
If the party asks you to hold a cheque, choose Reschedule on the cheque, enter the New cheque date and a note. The new date must be after the old one: "Invalid new cheque date". The cheque keeps its number and its history; the list shows the new date under Reschedule date, and the note is kept as an activity of the cheque.
Change or delete a cheque
Edit a cheque until it is approved (where approval is on), its year is locked, or it has been deposited or cancelled (the list's Edit button is grey for those). Delete is refused for a deposited cheque and asks you to type 1 (Change or delete a saved voucher). A cheque with a status of Cancel stays in the list as a record.
Common questions
I saved a cheque and my customer's balance did not change.
Correct. A cheque entry posts nothing. The balance changes when you Deposit it.
The Deposit button is grey.
The cheque is Cancel or already Deposit, its cheque date is still ahead (check PDC notify upto tomorrow), or approval is on and the cheque is not approved yet.
What is the difference between Due and Clearing?
They are your own marks. Both can be deposited when the cheque date has come. Use Clearing for a cheque you have already handed to the bank, if you want to see it apart.
A customer's cheque bounced after I deposited it.
Open the cheque and choose Deposit Cancel. The receipt is removed and the cheque is Due again. If the receipt is already reconciled with the bank statement, correct it with a new voucher instead (Reconcile a bank account with its statement).
The cheque shows Cancel but nobody cancelled it.
The party paid it another way: receipts recorded from the cheque's page, or provisional cash made from it and deposited, reached the cheque's amount. Open the receipt voucher list to see them.
Can I start a cheque from an invoice?
Yes. A sales or purchase invoice has a Cheque button that opens the form for that party and keeps the invoice as the Reference Voucher. When you deposit the cheque, its receipt or payment names that invoice and lowers its Due amount.
One cheque pays several invoices.
If your company switched on bill tagging for cheques, tag the customer's bills on the cheque: the deposit then clears each tagged bill. Without tagging, the deposit lowers the customer's balance but no invoice shows as paid; do not record a second receipt for the same money, ask your accountant to match it instead (What clears what in the customer's account).