Terms and Credit (Customer Defaults)

To set up default (standard) payment terms for your customers and default sales and discount G/L accounts, select the Terms and Credit tab on the Customer Defaults window.

Standard Terms

If the Use Standard Terms check box is selected for a customer record in the Maintain Customers/Prospects window, that customer uses the default set of payment terms on this window. Below are the fields that define standard terms:

  • C.O.D., Prepaid, Due in number of days, Due on day of month, Due at end of month: Select one of these to tell you the type of payment your customers make.
  • Net Due in ... Days: Enter the number of days past the invoice date before the invoice becomes due.
  • Discount in ... Days: Enter the number of days past the invoice date beyond which you will not allow customers to get discounts.
  • Discount %: Enter the percent of the total invoice amount that you will allow to customers as a discount if payment is made within the Discount Days range. Enter fractions as decimals; for example, two-and-one-half percent should be entered as 2.5.
  • Credit Limit: Enter the total amount of credit you allow your customers.
  • Credit Status:
  • No Credit Limit: All customer transactions can be saved regardless of credit limit.
  • Notify Over Limit: When you save a transaction that will put the customer over the specified credit limit, Sage 50 will issue a warning message. You can close the message and continue saving the transaction.
  • Always Notify: When you select Always Notify, a Message field appears allowing you to enter a custom warning message (up to 250 characters). Regardless of the customer credit limit, you will always receive a warning message whenever you save a customer transaction with a positive balance. You can close the message and continue saving the transaction.
  • Hold Over Limit: When you try to save a transaction that will put the customer over the specified credit limit, Sage 50 will issue an error message. You will not be able to save the transaction.
  • Always Hold: Regardless of the customer credit limit, you will always receive an error message when you try to save a customer transaction with a positive balance. You will not be able to save transactions for the customer unless you change the credit status for the customer.

G/L Link Accounts

These defaults are used to link sales income and sales discount G/L accounts to most of your customers. You can change the accounts for an individual customer, if necessary. These accounts are the categories or "buckets" that will be updated whenever you sell your customers any goods or services, including any discounts they receive when they pay their invoices early. Monies that enter these buckets will appear on your Income Statement.

  • G/L Sales Account: Enter or select the account ID you want to use as the default sales (income) account when entering customers. You must enter an account number here. Whenever you add a new customer, this number will automatically appear in the GL Sales account field in the customer record.
  • Discount G/L Account: Enter the number of the account you want to use for discounts. You must enter an account number here. Whenever a customer receives a discount because of early payment, this account will be updated.

Note: To display a list of existing accounts, select the Lookup button. To add a new account, double-click the field, which displays the Maintain Chart of Accounts window.