Receipt Matching Rules
How Trabalance decides which invoices a receipt pays. One automatic rule — opening balances first, then oldest by invoice date — and manual allocation when you want to choose.
When a receipt is posted, its cash must be linked to one or more invoices to close them. You can allocate it yourself on the receipt, or leave it on account and let cash application do it. Understanding the rule helps you predict which invoices will close and spot mismatches before they create AR problems.
The Two Ways Cash Meets Invoices
| Method | How It Works | When It Applies |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic cash application | Every unapplied receipt and credit note for a customer is applied to their open documents: opening balances and statements first, then invoices oldest-first by their invoice date, each exhausted in full before the next receives anything. Anything left over stays unmatched. | Whenever a receipt or credit note posts, whenever the customer page is opened, and on a worker sweep every 20 minutes. Nothing to start. |
| Manual allocation | You name the invoices and the amounts — on the receipt form (Apply to Invoice) or afterwards from the receipt page (Match Invoices). Overrides the automatic order for that cash. | Disputed invoices, partial payments against specific invoices, complex allocation scenarios. |
The Automatic Rule
Statements and opening balances are settled before any invoice, whatever their date. Historical debt is cleared first.
The remaining cash goes to the customer's open invoices in order of their own invoice date — never the date they were saved. Partly paid invoices count with their outstanding balance.
Cash is never spread thinly across invoices. The oldest is paid in full (or as far as the cash goes), then the next.
If the receipt exceeds every open document, the excess remains on the receipt as an unmatched balance. The customer page shows it as Unapplied payments and, once nothing is owed, "This customer is in credit by …".
Boundaries: same customer only, same currency only, posted documents only; an invoice in a different center is skipped; a pairing you have detached by hand is never re-created.
| Example | Open Documents (oldest first) | Receipt | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exact amount | INV-000045 · USD 4,750.00 | USD 4,750.00 | INV-000045: Paid. Receipt: Matched. |
| Covers two invoices | INV-000041 · 3,000.00; INV-000045 · 4,750.00 | USD 7,750.00 | Both Paid. Receipt: Matched. |
| Part payment | INV-000041 · 3,000.00; INV-000045 · 4,750.00 | USD 5,000.00 | INV-000041: Paid. INV-000045: Partly paid (2,750 remaining). Receipt: Matched. |
| Overpayment | INV-000045 · 4,750.00 | USD 5,000.00 | INV-000045: Paid. Receipt: Partly matched, 250.00 unmatched. |
Manual Allocation
On the receipt form
The Payment Type choice appears: Apply to Invoice or Payment on Account.
The Apply to Invoices table lists the open invoices, statements and opening balances. Enter an Amount per document, use Pay in full, or click Apply oldest first to fill the rows by the automatic rule.
Payment · Allocated · remaining. A row above its outstanding balance is refused; the total can never exceed the receipt.
Each invoice updates independently based on its allocation amount.
After posting
Open the receipt. While it is Unmatched or Partly matched, the page shows the Unmatched balance and a Match Invoices button. The dialog shows Remaining balance, Allocated and Unallocated, a search box, and one row per open document — Invoice #, Subject, Total, Balance, Amount to match. Confirm with Match N Invoices. An allocation can be detached again from the receipt page.
Unmatched receipts understate the true state of the invoices they should have settled. Before closing a period, open each customer's Collections table, filtered to Unmatched and Partly matched, and match every receipt you can trace to an invoice. Receipts that genuinely cannot be matched (an advance with no invoice yet) should carry a clear Details/Memo explaining why.
Matching and the Ledger
Matching does not create journal entries — the journal was written when the receipt was posted. Matching is a linking operation that controls which invoices display as outstanding. The debit to Bank and credit to AR are always recorded at posting, regardless of whether an allocation exists. Allocation controls which invoices show as Paid, not the accounting balance. Credit notes are applied by the same engine and, likewise, never post a second journal when applied.
Related
- Overriding the rule by hand: Matching a receipt to invoices.
- Why opening balances go first: Customer opening balances.
- Recording the receipt: Manual receipt.