Why a client may have paid while an invoice or client account still shows a balance, and where to investigate.
Start with where the balance appears
A balance that persists after a payment can have different causes depending on where you see it.
On the outstanding AR report, the payment may not cover the full invoice amount. In this context, a partially allocated payment is a payment made through Aiwyn or outside Aiwyn that did not cover the full amount due. A client can also choose to make a partial payment. The money received reduces the invoice balance, but the invoice remains open for the unpaid amount. The outstanding AR report also shows payments that have not been allocated to an invoice.
On the payment failures report, the payment may never have completed. A failed payment leaves the invoice unchanged, even if the client believes they paid. The payment failures report shows failed transactions with the related invoice and, where applicable, whether a retry recovered them. When a retry succeeds, the recovered payment is counted on the new payment date, not the date of the original attempt.
In Aiwyn Practice, the client AR balance may include a late fee. Each assessed late fee is a separate AR debit transaction on the client account, linked to the invoice that triggered it. It raises the client's AR balance immediately and appears on the client's Transactions tab, statements, collection notices, and in the client portal. Late fees are not currently included in the outstanding AR report in the Reports tool.
Check the location and type of balance before contacting the client. A partial or unallocated payment is a reconciliation question, a failed payment is a payment method problem, and a late fee is a separate charge on the client account.
Why payment and allocation are separate
A payment and an invoice are separate records, and applying one to the other is its own step. That separation makes it possible to apply one payment to several invoices, accept a payment on account before an invoice exists, or leave part of an invoice unpaid after a partial payment.
As a result, cash received and invoices closed are not the same measure. They may not match on a given day, especially when payments are unallocated, invoices are only partially paid, recovered retries are recorded on a new payment date, or Aiwyn Practice has added late-fee transactions that are not included in the Reports tool.
Related
- Outstanding AR report reference
- Payment failures report reference
- How payment retry and recovery works