Duplicate or erroneous payments can occur for a variety of reasons, including bounced checks, misapplied payments, or system sync issues between Sharper and accounting platforms like QuickBooks. This guide will help you identify, correct, and prevent these issues.
1. Identifying Duplicate or Erroneous Payments
Review Customer Account History:
Navigate to CRM → Customers, search for the customer, and use the new Transactions action to quickly filter and review all payments and related transactions for discrepancies.Check for Common Triggers:
Bounced checks or ACH returns that are re-entered incorrectly
Payments applied to the wrong invoice or customer
Duplicate entries from manual corrections or sync errors with QuickBooks
2. Correcting Duplicate Payments
If the Duplicate Payment Has Not Been Settled
Void or Delete the Payment:
Go to CRM → Payments.
Locate the duplicate payment.
Use the ellipsis (three dots) to select Void or Delete if available.
If the Payment Has Been Settled or Synced
Unsettle the Payment:
Edit the payment and uncheck all invoices it is applied to.
Save changes.
Refund or Remove the Payment:
If a refund is required, follow the steps in Refunding Cash Payments.
If no refund is needed (e.g., internal correction), create a Journal Entry or Credit Memo to offset the duplicate, ensuring the customer’s balance is accurate.
Correct in Accounting System:
If the payment has synced to QuickBooks and created a duplicate, delete the duplicate in QuickBooks and ensure the correct payment is linked to the right invoice.
3. Correcting Payments Applied to the Wrong Invoice or Customer
Unapply and Reapply:
Unsettle the payment from the incorrect invoice.
Reapply it to the correct invoice or customer.
If the accounting period is closed, consult your finance team for the best approach (e.g., using a Journal Entry).
4. Special Scenarios
Bounced Checks or ACH Returns:
Use the “Bounce Check” function to reverse the payment in Sharper. See Bounced Check/ACH Payments for more details.
If this creates a duplicate in QuickBooks, delete the duplicate and ensure the correct balance is reflected in both systems.
Closed Accounting Periods:
Corrections may require Journal Entries rather than direct payment edits.
Always document the reason for the correction for audit purposes.
5. Best Practices & Prevention
Always review payment history before making corrections.
Document all corrections with notes for future reference.
Coordinate with your accounting team when making changes that affect closed periods or external systems.
Regularly reconcile Sharper and QuickBooks to catch discrepancies early.