A credit note reverses some or all of the value of an invoice you've already raised. Use one when you need to correct an overcharge or refund a client.
There are two ways to create a credit note in Synergist: repeating the original invoice, or building one from scratch. Repeating the original is quicker and cuts the risk of errors, so it's the recommended approach.
How to create a credit note by repeating the original invoice
This is the fastest way to raise a credit note, because Synergist copies the original invoice for you.
- Go to the job and open the Invoices tab.
- Find the invoice you want to credit and click Repeat on the right hand side of that line. This creates a new draft invoice that's an exact copy of the original.
- Open the new draft invoice.
- Change the header from Invoice to Credit.
- Leave the values as positive numbers. Synergist handles the reversal automatically, so you don't need to enter negative figures.
- Check the values and lines match what you want to credit, then proceed as you would with any other draft invoice.
- If the revenue recognition module is enabled on your system, process the Accounts analysis tab as usual and check the nominal codes are correct before making the credit real.
How to create a credit note from scratch
Use this method if you don't want to replicate an existing invoice, or if the credit doesn't map directly onto one.
- Go to the job or phase you want to credit and select New Invoice, just as you would for a standard invoice.
- On the Details tab, change the Type drop-down from Invoice to Credit.
- Enter your values as positive numbers. Synergist handles the reversal automatically, so you don't need to enter negative figures.
- Build your invoice lines and complete the remaining tabs as you would for a standard invoice.
- If the revenue recognition module is enabled on your system, process the Accounts analysis tab as usual and check the nominal codes are correct before making the credit real.
Whichever method you use, a credit note relies on the same tabs and build options as a standard invoice, including Content, Jobs/Phases invoiced and Allocated costs. See Creating a draft invoice for a full breakdown of these tabs.
Raising a credit note on a closed job
If the job you need to credit has already been final invoiced and closed, you can't raise a new invoice directly against it. Add a new phase first to reopen the job. The job reopens, but all original phases stay closed. Only the new phase is open, letting you raise the credit note there.
Once your credit note has been raised, tick Final in its header to close the job again. Closing a job always requires every cost to be ticked off, whatever the invoice type. Find out more about Closing a job.
Credit notes versus write offs
A credit note isn't the same as a write off, and it's worth knowing the difference before you choose one.
- Credit note: reverses billed revenue and posts to your accounts system in the same way as an invoice.
- Write off: removes costs from work in progress without affecting revenue, and is never sent to your accounts system.
If you need to remove costs rather than reverse revenue, see Creating a write off invoice.
Tips
- Use Repeat on the original invoice where you can. It guarantees the values and lines match exactly and saves rebuilding them by hand.
- If time or purchases on the original invoice still need billing elsewhere, open the Allocated costs tab on that invoice and untick them. This frees them up for a future invoice.
- Check the Allocated costs tab on the credit note itself and make sure nothing's ticked off against it unless you're deliberately closing the job. Allocating costs to a credit note creates a negative gross profit entry.
- If you're closing a job with your credit note, ticking Final pulls any un-ticked costs onto it, since every cost needs to be ticked off for the job to close. Check Allocated costs before making the credit real.
- If draft approval is switched on for your organisation, your credit note goes through the same approval stages as any other invoice before it can be made real.