If your entity has a number of charge customers, or if it is an association that collects dues or other charges from members, you will want to keep track of the amounts owed you. Sage 50's Accounts Receivable function does this and maintains a record of how much each customer has purchased in the year to date, credit terms and credit limit for the customer, the amount of current and past due bills, and other information about the customer.
You can use Accounts Receivable to prepare customer statements, including dunning notices to customers whose accounts are past due. It can calculate and add a finance charge, which is a penalty levied on customers who do not pay their bills on time. The module prints several summary reports giving information about customers.
Information in this Accounts Receivable is the basis for the entries relating to sales on credit. When sales are made, debit Accounts Receivable and credit Sales Revenue - and Sales Tax Liability if this account is kept. When you receive cash from customers, debit Cash, and credit Accounts Receivable. If the customer takes a cash discount, debit Sales Discount; if the customer pays a finance charge, credit Finance Charge Revenue. Other possible variations are described in a later section.