AR Transaction #
Use an AR Transaction when you need to post a customer accounting entry directly to your general ledger accounts — to record an adjustment, correct a posting, or process a document that arrived from outside Neo-Ledger. If you want to keep service-based records of your sales, use a Sales Invoice instead, which is built around the service catalogue.
Navigate to AR → Transaction to create or open an AR transaction.
Document Inbox and automated transactions #
When your team uploads customer documents through the Document Inbox, Neo-Ledger reads and processes them automatically. Each uploaded document lands as a ready-to-review AR Transaction, pre-filled with the details extracted from the document — so nothing needs to be entered by hand. Review the transaction, make any corrections, and post it when you’re ready.
Before you begin #
To create an AR transaction you need:
- At least one customer set up in the system (AR → Customers)
- At least one AR record account in your chart of accounts (an account with the AR link — see Record In below)
- At least one payment account configured (an account with the AR_paid link — see Payments below)
Header section #
Customer #
Select the customer from the dropdown. Type to search by name or number. When a customer is selected, their address, credit limit, and remaining credit are shown below the field.
- Click the pencil icon to edit the customer record without leaving the transaction.
- Click the + icon to create a new customer on the spot.
Invoice Number #
Auto-generated from the sequence configured in System → Defaults → Number Sequences. If the sequence is locked, the number is assigned automatically when you save. Click New Number to reserve the next available number early without saving.
Order Number #
An optional reference to a customer’s purchase order or internal order reference.
Invoice Date #
The date of the transaction. Defaults to today. Changing the invoice date also recalculates the due date based on the customer’s payment terms.
Due Date #
Calculated automatically from the invoice date plus the customer’s payment terms. Can be overridden manually.
Currency #
Defaults to your base currency. If foreign currencies are configured (System → Currencies), you can select a different currency. The exchange rate field appears when a non-base currency is selected.
Exchange Rate #
Visible only when a foreign currency is selected. Shows the rate used to convert the amount to your base currency. You can override it manually.
If your base currency is CHF, click the arrow icon to auto-fetch the official monthly average rate from the Swiss Federal Customs Administration (BAZG).
Record In #
The AR control account this transaction is posted to. Only accounts with the AR link in the Chart of Accounts appear here. The default is taken from the customer record, or the first available AR account if none is set on the customer.
To add an account to this list, go to System → Chart of Accounts, open the account, and assign the AR link.
Description #
A brief description of the transaction.
Reference Documents #
Attach supporting files (contracts, scanned documents, etc.) by clicking Add Reference Documents. Files are stored and can be downloaded from the transaction at any time.
Department #
Visible only if departments are configured. Allocates the transaction to a specific department for reporting.
Line items #
Each line represents one accounting entry. Unlike a Sales Invoice, lines here post directly to general ledger accounts — there is no service catalogue to select from. This makes AR Transactions the right tool for adjustments and direct postings where you need full control over which accounts are affected.
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Description | A description of this line item. |
| Account | The income or receivable account to post this line to. Only accounts with the AR_amount link in the Chart of Accounts appear here. |
| Amount | The amount for this line. |
| Project | Visible only if projects exist for the transaction date. Assigns this line to a specific project. |
| Tax Account | Visible only if line-level tax is enabled. Select the applicable tax account. |
| Tax Amount | The tax amount for this line. Calculated automatically when a tax account is selected, but can be adjusted manually. |
Adding and removing lines #
- Click Add Line (the + icon at the top of the line items section) to add a new blank line.
- Press Enter on any field to jump to a new line automatically.
- Click the delete icon (bin) on a line to remove it.
- Lines can be reordered by dragging the handle on the left side.
Notes and totals #
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Notes | Text visible on the transaction document to the customer. |
| Internal Notes | Notes only visible to your team; not printed. |
| Tax Included | When checked, amounts are treated as tax-inclusive (tax is extracted from the totals rather than added on top). |
| Subtotal | Sum of all line amounts before tax. |
| Tax lines | One row per applicable tax rate, calculated automatically. |
| Total | Final total including tax. |
Payments section #
The payments section records money received against this transaction. You can record a payment at the same time as the transaction, or leave it empty and record payments later through AR → Payments.
This section works identically to the Sales Invoice — see Payments section for the full field reference, including how the outstanding balance is calculated and which accounts appear in the Account dropdown.
QR invoice note: For Swiss QR invoices, the first payment line’s account determines which bank account is encoded in the QR code — even if no payment amount has been entered yet.
Actions #
Save #
Saves the transaction and keeps it open. The PDF is generated when the transaction is saved or posted. Saving is only allowed if the transaction date is outside the closed period (System → Defaults → Settings → Closed To).
Post #
Posts the transaction to the ledger and redirects away. Use this when the transaction is final.
Post as New #
Posts the current transaction as a new one, ignoring any existing ID. Useful for duplicating an existing transaction. Use New Number first to assign a fresh number before posting.
New Number #
Fetches the next available number from the sequence without saving. Useful to reserve a number early.
Delete #
Deletes the transaction. Only available if the transaction date is outside the closed period.
Reversal #
Creates a credit note that mirrors the current transaction, reversing all postings. The credit note must be reviewed and posted to take effect.
Approve #
If your organisation requires sign-off before transactions are finalised, AR Transactions support an approval step. A transaction in pending status shows an Approve button. Clicking it marks the transaction as approved and posts it to the ledger. See Approvals below.
Approvals #
When workstations are configured, AR transactions can be placed in pending status instead of being posted immediately. This gives your team a built-in review step before anything hits the ledger.
- A transaction in pending status is saved but not yet posted.
- The Approve button appears in the actions row for any pending transaction.
- Approving posts the transaction to the ledger.
- Approval permissions are configured per workstation by an administrator under Manage Workstations; the receiving user reviews and approves on the Approvals page. AP workstations can also enforce a maximum transaction amount to keep large postings under tighter control — AR transactions have no amount cap.
Sending to a workstation #
If your team reviews transactions before they’re finalised, you can route a saved AR transaction to a colleague’s workstation directly from the transaction — no emails or handoffs needed outside the system.
The workstation panel appears below the actions row once a transaction has been saved. To transfer:
- Select a station from the dropdown.
- Optionally add Transfer Notes to give the recipient context.
- Click Send.
The Transfer History section shows a timeline of every station the transaction has passed through, including who transferred it and when.
The workstation panel appears when at least one workstation for AR is configured in your system. See Manage Workstations for admin setup and Approvals for the receiving end.
Print view #
After saving, existing AR transactions open in print view by default. This shows the generated PDF on the left and recent transactions on the right. Use the toolbar in the sidebar to:
- Edit — return to the edit form
- Reverse — create a reversal credit note
- Download — download the PDF
PDF generation and templates #
The PDF is generated and stored each time the transaction is saved or posted. If you update a template after a transaction has been saved, open and re-save the transaction to regenerate its PDF with the latest template.
Updating the transaction template #
The main AR transaction template is ar_transaction.tex in System → Templates. This is separate from the Sales Invoice template (invoice.tex) — changes to one do not affect the other.
Adding a logo #
To add a company logo to AR transaction documents, replace background_with_footer.pdf in System → Templates with your own PDF file of the same name. This is the same background file used by Sales Invoices, so updating it applies to both.
Enabling QR invoices (Swiss QR-bill) #
QR bill generation on AR transactions works the same as on Sales Invoices — see Enabling QR invoices for the full setup steps (bank account configuration, payment line setup, and template editing). The only difference is the template file: open ar_transaction.tex instead of invoice.tex, and uncomment the QR include line there.
Recent transactions #
At the bottom of the edit view and in the print view sidebar, the Recent Transactions panel shows the five most recent AR transactions. Click any entry to open it.
Credit notes #
A credit note reverses the postings of an existing AR transaction. Use the Reversal button on an existing transaction to generate a pre-filled credit note automatically. The credit note must be reviewed and posted to take effect.