Accounts Receivable

Accounts Receivable (AR) in Quasar manages all money owed to your business by customers. The system is built on two layers: Customer Types define the defaults (AR account, terms, credit limits, service charge rates, and transaction permissions), and the Customer Account is where those defaults land and where they can be overridden for individual customers. The Customer Account is the most important record in AR — it is the entity that carries the balance, receives invoices, makes payments, and appears on statements.

Customer Types

Customer Types are the foundation of AR segmentation. They let you group customers into categories such as Business, Member, No Charge, Government, etc. Each type defines a complete set of defaults that are inherited by every customer assigned to it.

Customer Type Fields

Transaction Permissions

The Transactions group controls what this customer type is allowed to do:

The Customer Account

The Customer Account (Customer Master) is the central record in AR. When a customer type is assigned, all of its defaults flow into the customer record. However, every field can be overridden at the individual customer level. The customer’s own values are what the system uses for all transactions, statements, and service charges.

Control Tab — AR Settings

The Control tab holds all AR-relevant fields. These are initially populated from the Customer Type but can be changed per customer:

Transactions Tab — Permissions & Discounts

The Transactions tab controls what this customer is permitted to do at the POS and back office:

The Transactions tab also includes a Discount table where transaction-level discounts can be assigned to the customer (applied automatically at the POS).

Customer Payments (Receipts)

The Customer Payment screen records payments received from customers against their outstanding invoices. It is the primary AR collection tool.

Payment Fields

Allocations Tab

The Allocations tab lists all outstanding invoices for the customer, ordered by due date:

Convenience buttons:

• Oldest — allocate the payment starting with the oldest invoice first
• Clear — reset all payment allocations to zero
• Info — view invoice details and adjust the discount amount

The bottom of the tab shows:

• Allocated — total amount allocated across all invoices
• Difference — Payment minus Allocated. When this reaches zero, the payment is fully allocated.

Tenders Tab

Enter the payment method(s) used — Cash, Cheque, Credit Card, etc. Multiple tenders can be used on a single payment.

References Tab

If the customer has reference fields defined on their Customer Master (e.g., Purchase Order Number), these are prompted at payment entry and displayed on the References tab.

Detailed Statement

The Detailed Statement is an on-screen inquiry that shows every transaction on a customer’s account at the item level. Unlike a summary statement, it expands invoices into individual line items with quantities, base amounts, deposits/levies, and taxes.

Filters

Grid Columns

The footer shows Total Charges, Total Credits, and their Difference (net balance change for the period). Double-click any row to open the source transaction.

The Detailed Statement covers all AR transaction types: Customer Invoices, Customer Returns, Receipts (payments), Card Adjustments, Card Transfers, Withdrawals, and Customer Cheques.

Print / Email Statements

The Print Statements screen generates formal customer statements in batch. Statements can be printed, emailed as PDF attachments, or previewed on screen.

Store Options

Customer Selection

Delivery Mode

Choose one of four modes:

Additional Options

• Generate Mailing Labels? — after printing, opens the Mailing Labels screen pre-loaded with the printed customers
• Browse — choose the directory where emailed PDF statements are staged (organized into date-stamped subfolders)

Service Charges

Service Charges apply interest to overdue customer balances. The charge rate is set at two levels:

1. Customer Type — the Service Charge percentage on the Customer Type Master sets the default rate for all customers of that type
2. Individual Customer — the rate can be overridden on the Customer Master for specific customers (e.g., a preferred customer with a lower rate, or a delinquent customer with a higher one)

The effective rate used is always the one stored on the Customer record. When a customer is first created, this rate is inherited from the Customer Type. If the rate on the customer is zero, no service charge is calculated for that customer.

Service Charge Fields

How Service Charges Are Calculated

Quasar uses a daily balance method:

1. The customer’s annual service charge rate is converted to a daily rate: daily = rate × 1000 / 365
2. For each overdue transaction (past its due date and not yet fully paid), Quasar calculates the outstanding balance on each day of the period
3. The daily charge is: balance × daily rate
4. The total is summed and rounded to produce the final service charge amount

Transactions paid on or before their due date are excluded. The grace period setting on the Customer Type (or Customer) determines how due dates are calculated:

• None — uses the invoice’s payment terms to set the due date
• From Posted Date — due date is the posted date plus grace days
• From Statement Date — due date is the end of the statement period plus grace days

Calculate and Post

1. Click Calculate to preview the charges. The grid shows each customer, whether they have unallocated credits, and the calculated charge amount.
2. Review the results. A progress bar shows calculation progress across all active customers.
3. Click Post to create Card Adjustment transactions that debit the customer’s AR account and credit the service charge revenue account.

After posting, the store’s Last Service Charge date is updated to prevent duplicate charges.

AR Workflow

The standard AR lifecycle in Quasar follows this pattern:

1. Create Customer Types — define AR accounts, terms, credit limits, service charge rates, and permissions for each customer category
2. Create Customers — assign a type; defaults (including service charge rate and statement flags) flow automatically from the type to the customer record
3. Charge Sales — invoices posted to the customer’s AR account (via POS charge or back-office Customer Invoice)
4. Review Activity — use the Detailed Statement for on-screen inquiry of charges, credits, and running totals
5. Collect Payments — use the Customer Payment screen to record payments and allocate against outstanding invoices
6. Apply Discounts — early-payment discounts are applied during payment allocation
7. Issue Refunds — use Customer Cheque or Customer Withdrawal for credit balance payouts (see Chapter 21)
8. Service Charges — calculate and post interest on overdue balances each period
9. Print / Email Statements — generate and deliver formal statements to customers by mail or email
10. Month-End — finalize the AR period (see Chapter 25)

The Receivables Manager

The Receivables Manager is Quasar’s dedicated AR operations dashboard. It combines a filterable customer list with a real-time credit management panel showing contact information, credit controls, risk assessment, aging charts, payment trends, and collection notes — all in a single screen. This is the primary workspace for AR staff performing daily collections and credit management.

Customer Selection & Filtering

The left panel provides a filtered customer list. Use the controls at the top to narrow down the list before working through accounts:

The customer list shows Number, Name, and current Balance. Select a customer to load their dashboard in the right panel.

The Customer Dashboard

The right panel loads when a customer is selected. It provides a comprehensive view of the customer’s AR status across several sections:

Contact & Account Details

Shows the customer’s name, primary contact, phone, email, and payment terms at a glance.

Quick Credit Controls

Two instant-action controls let you manage credit directly from the dashboard:

Risk Assessment Badges

Five automatic risk badges provide an instant visual summary of the customer’s credit health. Each badge displays a red or amber warning state when attention is needed, or a green state when the metric is healthy:

Aging & Trend Charts

The dashboard includes two visual charts that provide instant insight into each customer’s payment behaviour:

1. Aging Balance Distribution — a bar chart showing the customer’s outstanding balance split into Current, 30-day, 60-day, 90-day, and 120+ day buckets. Colour-coded from green (current) through amber to red (severely overdue).
2. Sales & Payments Trend — a monthly grouped bar chart showing sales (green) and payments/returns (blue) with a running balance overlay line (purple). Shows the customer’s payment behaviour over time.

Collection Notes

The notes system provides a complete audit trail for collection activities:

Each note is automatically timestamped with date, time, and the current user’s name.

Quick Actions

Action buttons and the right-click context menu provide fast access to related screens:

The right-click context menu also offers Customer Statement, Inquiry, and Customer Sales options.

Collections Workflow

Use the Receivables Manager to follow a structured daily collections process:

1. Open Receivables Manager from the Sales panel on the Home Screen
2. Set Status to “Overdue Invoices Only” to focus on problem accounts
3. Review each customer’s risk badges and aging chart
4. For customers requiring action, log a collection note documenting your plan
5. Use Credit Hold for customers who are severely overdue or unresponsive
6. Print statements for customers who need a formal reminder
7. Review the Sales & Payments Trend to identify customers whose payment behaviour is deteriorating

Screens Summary