The key objective of Solid Route Accounting™ is to allow you to run your business more efficiently, save you time and have accurate customer balances.
Accounts Receivable
Do you provide goods or perform a service before getting paid? The money owed to you is called accounts receivable. This means the product or service has been provided to your customer, but you are waiting to get paid.
By default in QuickBooks®, every invoice created automatically sets up an account receivable. When the invoice is paid, it's recorded in that customer's account. You can instantly access payment history and other information about any customer with just a few clicks.
QuickBooks® does not maintain a separate Chart of Accounts entry for each customer account. Instead, it keeps all customer account records within a single account of the Chart of Accounts – by default, the one named Accounts Receivable. To show details for any customer account (charges, payments, and the customer's current balance), QuickBooks® searches in Accounts Receivable for the transactions of that specific customer.
How Does QuickBooks® Apply a Payment?
When you enter a payment into QuickBooks® for a customer, QuickBooks® will look in your Accounts Receivable for any open invoices for this customer. If there is an open invoice for the exact amount being paid, the Payment is applied to that Invoice. If not, then QuickBooks® will apply the payment to the oldest invoices for that customer.
Other Literature:
Tutorial: The "What's" and "Why's" of QuickBooks Accounts and Classes