AddisFly - Advance Payments & Payment Requests SOP

Advance Payments & Payment Requests SOP — from the Sales Invoice

Who: Finance team (Accounts roles), Sales Manager, Booking Admin.

1. Recording an advance (customer pays BEFORE any invoice)

1. Payment Entry → New (or via Bank Advice import as usual).
2. Party Type Customer, pick the customer, enter amount + bank.
3. Leave the references table empty — an unallocated payment IS the advance.
4. Submit. ⚠️ A DRAFT payment does not count as an advance anywhere. Submit it.

2. Pulling advances INTO an invoice

1. Open the draft Sales Invoice.
2. If the customer holds advance money, a banner shows at the top: "💰 This customer has N unallocated advance payment(s)…"
3. Click Finance → Get Advance Payments.
4. The Advance Payments table fills with the customer's submitted advances. Adjust the allocated amount per row if needed.
5. Save → Submit. The invoice's outstanding drops by the allocated advance automatically.

If it says "No Advances Found": the customer's payments are still in draft — submit the Payment Entry first, then fetch again.

3. Requesting payment for an unpaid invoice

1. Open the submitted invoice (outstanding > 0).
2. Click Finance → Create Payment Request.
3. Review the pre-filled request (amount = outstanding, customer email attached) and Submit it. It records formally that payment was requested, and follow-ups track against it.

The rules

• Never allocate advances by editing GL or journal entries — only through this flow.
• One advance can cover many invoices, and one invoice can consume many advances — the table handles both.
• Partner deposits are advances too: record on the partner's Customer, allocate as their invoices are raised.