Cheques

Cheques lists every customer cheque you received and every supplier cheque you issued, including post-dated cheques (cheques dated for a later day). Some screens and numbers call a post-dated cheque a PDC. A cheque is only a record until the bank clears it. Recording it, depositing it, bouncing it or cancelling it posts nothing. Marking it cleared posts the payment, and only then does the money move in your accounts.

Where

Banking & cash › Cards and cheques › Cheques, then Record cheque

Number

PDC-R-000001 for a customer cheque, PDC-I-000001 for a supplier cheque, given when you record it

Posts to

Nothing until the cheque clears. Then the bank account, and Accounts Receivable or Customer Deposits (customer cheque), or Accounts Payable or Supplier Advances (supplier cheque)

Who

Managers and admins

What it’s for

• A customer gives you a cheque dated today or later. Record it, deposit it on or after its date, and mark it cleared when the bank confirms.
• You give a supplier a cheque. Record it, mark it taken to the bank when the supplier presents it, and mark it cleared when the bank confirms.
• You see which cheques are held, due, overdue or bounced, so none is forgotten. The same warning shows on the other screens.
• You can link a cheque to the invoices or bills it is expected to pay. This is a plan only. It changes no balance, but it moves the due date of those documents to the cheque date.
• A cheque you issue for an expense is made from Expenses. It appears here too, but you change it there.

Cheques has five tabs:

Tab	What it shows
Cheque register	Every cheque, with its status and the next step
Maturity dashboard	Cheques held, and the ones that need attention: overdue, due today, due in 7 days, bounced
Deposit & clearing batches	Deposit or clear many cheques together, for one bank and one date
Reports	A cheque report for the dates you choose
Upcoming payments and receipts	Supplier amounts due, supplier cheques awaiting clearance, upcoming receipts and payment reminders. Shown only to people who may see the dashboard

Fields

Record cheque

Field	What it means	What it changes
Direction	Customer received or Supplier issued	The kind of cheque and the next steps
Customer or Supplier	Search by name or code	Whose cheque it is. It must be an active customer or supplier
Received date or Issued date	The day you got it or gave it. It cannot be in the future	The earliest day the cheque can be deposited, if the cheque date is earlier
Cheque date	The date written on the cheque. It may be after today (post-dated) or before the received date	The first day it can be deposited, taken to the bank, cleared or bounced
Cheque number	Up to 80 characters	Checked for duplicates
Cheque bank	The bank named on the cheque	Checked for duplicates
Amount	The cheque amount	The amount that clears
Issue from our bank account	Supplier cheques only. The bank account the cheque is drawn on	The account that goes down when it clears. It cannot change at clearing
Reference	Optional, up to 120 characters	Kept with the cheque. No accounting effect
Linked documents (optional)	Open invoices (customer) or supplier bills you expect the cheque to pay, each with a planned amount	A plan. Changes the due date of those documents. Changes no balance
Notes (optional)	Up to 2,000 characters	No accounting effect

Two cheques are the same cheque when the customer or supplier, the bank and the cheque number match. Spelling, capital letters and spaces in the bank name are ignored.

Mark deposited (customer cheque)

Field	What it means
Deposit date	Not before the cheque date or the day you received it. Not in the future
Deposit into our bank account	The bank account that will receive the cheque. The cheque must clear into the same account

Mark cleared

Field	What it means	What it changes
Clearance date	The day the bank cleared it. Not before the cheque date or the deposit date. Not in the future	The date of the payment
Bank account	The bank account that cleared it. It is fixed when the cheque was deposited, or when you chose “Issue from our bank account”	Which bank account moves
Open invoices or bills	Choose what this cheque pays and how much. The linked documents are filled in for you to review	Reduces what the customer owes you, or what you owe the supplier
Left over	What you do not apply to a document	Kept as a customer advance, or a supplier advance, for later
Close the difference as discount received	Supplier cheques paying a bill in part. Tick it if the supplier agreed to take less	Records the difference as discount received. See Supplier payments
I reviewed the current balances and authorize clearing with amounts applied that differ from the saved plan.	Shown only when what you apply differs from the linked documents	You confirm the change

Buttons

You open a cheque from the number in the register. Every step is in the ⋯ menu of the row or of the cheque. You only see the steps you may take. A step that cannot be taken now stays in the menu and says why.

Button	When you see it	What happens	Accounts
Record cheque	Always	Records a customer or supplier cheque	No change
Mark deposited	Customer cheque, Received, on or after its date	Records that the cheque went to the bank	No change
Mark taken to the bank	Supplier cheque, Issued, on or after its date	Records that the supplier took it to the bank	No change
Mark cleared	Deposited or taken to the bank. Also from Received or Issued, which records the deposit step for you on the clearance date	Posts the payment	Posts payment
Mark bounced	Open cheque, on or after its date. Asks for a reason	The cheque is Bounced	No change
Cancel cheque	Open cheque. Asks for a reason	The cheque is Cancelled	No change
Deposit again (customer) or Take to the bank again (supplier)	Bounced cheque that is not marked handled	The same cheque goes to the bank again. Its history keeps every time	No change
Record bank charge	A cheque that has bounced	Records the bank’s fee on the account you choose	Posts a bank charge
Mark handled / Undo handled	Bounced cheque	Says it was dealt with outside this screen. It leaves the alert list	No change
Edit cheque	Cheque not cleared, bounced or cancelled	Update cheque, then confirm with a reason	No change
Edit linked documents	Received or Issued, on the cheque page	Changes the plan	No change
Print…	On the cheque page	Prints a receipt voucher (customer cheque) or a payment voucher (supplier cheque)	No change
Review clearance correction	Cleared cheque	Shows the payments made at clearance. Admins can correct them	Cancels the clearance
Delete cheque	Received or Issued only, admins	Asks for a reason, then removes the cheque from use	No change

Statuses you will see: Received, Issued, Deposited, Taken to the bank by supplier, Cleared, Bounced, Cancelled, Deleted, and Clearance cancelled. A bounced cheque that was dealt with also shows “Handled: ‹how›”. Older cheques may show Replaced.

Overdue and Due today appear under the cheque date of any cheque that has not cleared. “Due” only means the cheque can go to the bank now. It never means paid.

What gets posted

Step by step

Step	Customer cheque	Supplier cheque
Record cheque	Nothing	Nothing
Deposit, or taken to the bank	Nothing	Nothing
Mark bounced	Nothing	Nothing
Cancel cheque	Nothing	Nothing
Edit, or delete	Nothing	Nothing
Deposit again, or take to the bank again	Nothing	Nothing
Mark cleared	A payment received, number ARREC-…	A supplier payment, number SPV-…
Record bank charge	Bank charge	Bank charge

A cheque that is not cleared never touches your balances. A customer still owes the invoice. You still owe the supplier’s bill.

When the cheque clears

Marking a cheque cleared records the same payment you would record yourself on Payments received or Supplier payments. The payment is dated on the clearance date. The cheque shows the payment number.

Example 1A customer cheque clears, with no invoice chosenCustomer cheque of 250.00

• Cheque amount250.00
• Applied to invoices0.00
• Left over250.00

Account	Debit (AED)	Credit (AED)	Why
The bank account that cleared it	250.00		The money reached your bank
2300Customer Deposits		250.00	The customer has paid in advance
Total	250.00	250.00	Balanced

The 250.00 stays as customer advance. You can use it on a later invoice. See Payments received.

If you apply part of the cheque to invoices, that part credits Accounts Receivable instead, and the invoices show the payment. Only what is left over credits Customer Deposits. The bank always goes up by the whole cheque amount.

For a supplier cheque the lines run the other way. The bank account goes down by the cheque amount. The amount you apply to bills debits Accounts Payable, and what is left over debits 1250 Supplier Advances. Example: a supplier cheque of 175.00 that clears with no bill chosen makes a supplier advance of 175.00 and posts one journal entry.

Bank charge

Example 2The bank charges you because a cheque bouncedCharge of 35.00. The cheque itself is not changed

Account	Debit (AED)	Credit (AED)	Why
6600Bank and Merchant Fees	35.00		The bank’s fee for the returned cheque
1020Bank Accounts (the account you choose)		35.00	The fee left your bank
Total	35.00	35.00	Balanced

The charge is listed with the cheque and can be recorded again after the cheque goes to the bank a second time. Only a bank account can be charged, not a cash account.

Correcting a cleared cheque

An admin can cancel the clearance of a cleared cheque. Every payment made at clearance is cancelled with a correcting entry. The original entry and the correcting entry together add up to nothing. The invoices and bills those payments paid become unpaid again. The cheque becomes Clearance cancelled, or Bounced if the bank returned it after clearing. No real money moves. The original stays in the history.

Where it shows up

Place	What changes
Overview, and every screen except Cheques	A warning such as 2 PDC cheques need attention (PDC means post-dated cheque). It counts cheques that are overdue, due today, or bounced and not marked handled. It shows to people who may see the maturity dashboard
Overview: Overdue customer payments and Overdue supplier payments	A document covered by a live cheque is due on the cheque date, so it is not overdue before then. The part no cheque covers keeps its own due date. A cancelled cheque puts the amount back on the document’s due date. The amount owed does not change
Customer and supplier lists, aging and balances	The same overdue part as Overview
Invoices, bills, customer and supplier balances	Change only when the cheque clears
Cashbook of the bank account	The payment, on the clearance date. The bank charge, if you record one
Bank reconciliation	The cleared payment, on the clearance date, to match against the statement
Profit and loss	Bank and Merchant Fees, only for a bank charge
Balance sheet	Bank, Accounts Receivable or Customer Deposits, Accounts Payable or Supplier Advances
Maturity dashboard and Reports	Cheques held, issued and awaiting clearance, overdue, due today, due in 7 days and bounced. Deleted cheques are left out

The warning’s second line reads like this: “2 overdue · 1 due today · 1 bounced and not handled yet · as of ‹date›”. Choose Review cheques or See bounced cheques. If the numbers cannot be loaded you see Cheque due dates could not be loaded. and Retry.

What the app blocks

These checks happen before anything is saved.

Situation	What you see
No customer or supplier	Select a valid customer or supplier.
No cheque number	Enter the cheque number.
No cheque bank	Enter the cheque bank.
No cheque date, or no received or issued date	Enter a valid cheque date. or Enter a valid received or issued date.
Amount of 0 or not a number	Enter a positive amount with up to 4 decimals.
Supplier cheque with no bank account	Select the bank account for this issued cheque.
Received or issued date in the future	The received or issued date cannot be in the future.
The same cheque is recorded again for the same customer or supplier	This cheque is already recorded as ‹number› for this customer. It cannot be recorded twice.
Another customer has a cheque with this number at this bank	A warning, not a block: ‹name› already has a cheque with this number at this bank (‹number›). If this is a different cheque you can still record it.
Planned amount above the cheque amount, or above a document’s open balance	Planned amounts cannot exceed the cheque amount. or A planned amount exceeds the document open balance.
Deposit or taken-to-the-bank before its date	Available from the cheque date, ‹date›. in the menu. On the form: Deposit cannot precede the cheque date or the day it was received.
No deposit bank chosen	Select the bank account receiving this deposit.
Marked bounced before the cheque date	A cheque cannot be marked bounced before its cheque date.
Reason too short (bounce, cancel)	Enter a reason of at least 5 characters.
Clearance before the cheque date	Clearance date cannot be before the cheque date.
Clearance before the deposit or the day taken to the bank	Clearance date cannot be before this cheque’s deposit date. or Clearance date cannot be before this cheque’s presentation date.
A date in the future	Choose a date on or before the company’s current date.
The amounts applied do not add up to the cheque	Allocations plus the unallocated amount must equal the cheque amount.
An invoice or bill has less open than you apply	A customer invoice is unavailable or its open balance is lower than the allocation. or A supplier payable is unavailable or its open balance is lower than the allocation.
A linked document now has less open than planned	‹number› now has less open balance than planned. Adjust the amount applied before clearing.
Clearing with amounts that differ from the plan, without confirming	The clearance differs from the planned documents. Review the difference and confirm it before clearing.
The plan changed since you opened the cheque	The planned documents changed. Reload the cheque and review them again.
A different bank than the cheque’s own	The selected bank does not match the bank recorded for this cheque. Review its bank details before continuing.
The cheque’s bank account was switched off	This cheque’s linked bank account is inactive or unavailable. Ask someone who can manage cash and bank accounts to restore that bank before clearance.
Date inside a locked period	The accounting period for this date is locked. Choose an open date or ask an administrator to review the period lock.
Bank reconciled through that date	This bank account is reconciled through the selected date. Choose a later date or review the reconciliation.
Deposit again on a cheque marked handled	This bounced cheque is marked as handled, so it was dealt with another way. Undo that mark first if you want to send it to the bank again.
Bank charge on a cheque that never bounced	A bank charge can only be recorded for a cheque that has bounced.
Deposit again with a date before the bounce	The date cannot be before the day the cheque bounced.
Any action you may not take	You don’t have permission to do this.

Editing and deleting

Situation	What you see
The cheque is Received or Issued	Everything can be changed and the cheque can be deleted
The cheque was deposited or is in a deposit batch	This cheque is in a deposit batch, so its amount and dates can’t change. You can still change the cheque number, bank, reference and notes. Cancel it and record the cheque again with the right amount.
The supplier already took it to the bank	This cheque was presented, so its amount and dates can’t change. You can still change the cheque number, bank, reference and notes. To change the amount or dates, cancel it and record the cheque again with the right amount.
Delete a deposited or presented cheque	A cheque that is deposited or taken to the bank cannot be deleted. Edit its reference or notes instead.
The cheque cleared	This cheque has cleared; reverse its clearance before making further corrections.
The cheque bounced or was cancelled	This cheque has been marked bounced and can no longer be changed. or This cheque has been marked cancelled and can no longer be changed.
The cheque pays an expense	This cheque belongs to expense bill ‹number›. Change it from Expenses.
The reason is too short	Enter a reason with at least 3 characters.
Lowering the amount below the linked documents	This cheque has linked documents. Reduce their total before lowering the cheque amount below it.

Who can do it

Action	Admin	Manager	Cashier
See cheques, the dashboard, reports and the warning	Yes	Yes	No
Record cheque	Yes	Yes	No
Deposit, take to the bank, deposit again	Yes	Yes	No
Mark cleared	Yes	Yes	No
Mark bounced, cancel, mark handled	Yes	Yes	No
Edit cheque, edit linked documents, print	Yes	Yes	No
Record bank charge (needs the right to record money in and out)	Yes	Yes	No
Deposit and clearing batches	Yes	Yes	No
Delete cheque	Yes	No	No
Correct a cleared cheque	Yes	No, can only look	No

These are the standard roles. Your administrator can give a custom role each action separately in Settings › Users & access. Clearing straight from Received or Issued needs both the deposit right and the clear right.

Fixing a mistake

1. A detail is wrong and the cheque is still Received or Issued. Use Edit cheque. Give a reason. The history keeps the before and after. The cheque number, the amount, the dates and the bank account can all change.
2. A detail is wrong but the cheque went to the bank. You can still change the cheque number, the bank, the reference and the notes. For a wrong amount or date, use Cancel cheque and record the cheque again.
3. The cheque should never have been recorded. An admin uses Delete cheque while it is Received or Issued. Otherwise use Cancel cheque. Nothing was posted, so no accounts change.
4. The customer’s cheque bounced. Use Mark bounced with the reason. The invoice stays unpaid, because nothing was posted. Then choose:
   • Deposit again if the customer asks you to try again.
   • Record bank charge for the fee your bank charged you.
   • Mark handled when you dealt with it another way: replaced by a new cheque, paid in cash, or written off. Record that cash, new cheque or write-off as its own entry. Marking it handled posts nothing.
5. A supplier’s cheque bounced. Use Mark bounced. The bill stays unpaid. Use Take to the bank again, or issue a new cheque.
6. The cheque was marked cleared by mistake, or the bank returned it after clearing. An admin opens Review clearance correction on the cheque and uses Correct whole cheque. Choose the date and the outcome, and give a reason. If a customer or supplier advance from the clearance has been used on an invoice or a bill, take it off that document first.
7. The cheque belongs to an expense. Change it from Expenses.
8. You want to check the bank side. See Cash and bank accounts and Bank reconciliation.