Debit Notes are Transactions signifying a payment that your Sub-Reseller or Customer Owes you, just like Invoices. In fact structurally they are very much like Invoices. Though they have a different meaning. Invoices always depict sales, while Debit Notes on the other hand are used for deducting money from your Customer's or Sub-Reseller's Account without a sale being made. This is akin to the definition of a Debit Note in the pure accounting sense. Lets take a few examples to understand the difference between an Invoice and a Debit Note:
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When a Customer buys a Product/Service and you charge him USD 100 for that Product/Service, you would raise an Invoice for the same
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When a Customer pays you USD 100 and by mistake you credit the Customer USD 1000 in his account, you have to subtract USD 900 from his account in order to rectify your mistake. In order to subtract this USD 900, you will raise a Debit Note
In short, a Debit Note is used to deduct funds from your Customer's account when the deduction has no relationship to an Order or any Service rendered.
First lets look at the fields that make up a Debit Note:
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Transaction ID: This is a numerical integer value which uniquely identifies every transaction. The system automatically generates serial numbers for you, separately for your Customers and your Sub-Resellers, starting from 1, incrementing upwards for each additional Debit Note created.
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Transaction Date: This is the date on which the Debit Note was created.
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Description: This is the description of the Debit Note, describing the purpose for which the Debit Note was created.
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Debit Note Amount: This is the amount of the Debit Note. This is the amount your Customer or Sub-Reseller needs to pay for that Debit Note. In case your Selling Currency is different from your Accounting Currency, you will see the Debit Note Amount in both the currencies.
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Pending Amount: This is the amount pending against this Debit Note. To begin with, this will be same as the Debit Note Amount. For example, if the Debit Note amount is USD 200, the pending amount will also be USD 200. If the Customer now chooses to make a payment of USD 100 against this Debit Note, the Pending Amount will then be USD 100. In case your Selling Currency is different from your Accounting Currency, you will see the Pending amount in both the currencies.
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Forex Gain/Loss: If your Accounting Currency is different from your Selling Currency, then the System records your Forex Gain/Loss for every transaction. Each time an Debit Note is paid, the appropriate Forex Gain/Loss for that Payment is calculated and maintained by the system.
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Other Details: A Debit Note contains several other details such as Contact Information, Tax information, etc..
It is important to note that none of the above fields can be modified once a Debit Note is created. A Debit Note can only be balanced. It can never be modified. The amounts, address information, everything remains as it is. Another important aspect to note is that an Debit Note contains even your OWN contact details. If you click the Print button in the Debit Note Details view, it will show your contact details too. These contact details are separately stored with each Debit Note. These too cannot be modified. Even if you change your company name after 1 month, it will not affect the Debit Notes already raised under the previous company name. This change will only affect newer transactions.
In case of an unpaid Debit Note you may see the below additional field:
Reminder Days: This signifies the number of days after which a reminder for Payment of the Debit Note is sent to your Customer/Sub-Reseller, by the system automatically.
Lets understand the different types of actions that can be performed on a Debit Note. These actions are accessible from the toolbar in the Debit Note Details view:
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Pay: You can pay the Debit Note using funds from your Customer's or Sub-Reseller's account. On clicking Pay, you will be able to directly use funds from your Customer's or Sub-Resellers account to pay for the Debit Note. This action assumes that your Customer or Sub-Reseller has funds in their account. If your customer or Sub-Reseller does not have funds to cover the Debit Note, you can choose to first Add Funds in their account and then subsequently pay the Debit Note.
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Cancel: You can cancel the Debit Note using this option. Your Customer/Sub-Reseller will no longer have to pay for this Debit Note.
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Cancel as Bad Debt: In the event that you are not able to recover either the entire Debit Note amount or a part of the Debit Note amount, even after sending payment reminders to your Customer/Sub-Reseller, you may write off (cancel) the pending Debit Note as Bad Debt. Clicking this button, would raise a Credit Note of the amount pending in the Debit Note (that is being cancelled).
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Print: You can use this option to obtain a Printable Copy of the Debit Note for your reference.
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Download: You can use this button to download a copy of the Debit Note as a PDF file.
An additional concept which is important to note with respect to Debit Notes is the maintenance of the Total Receipts figure. A Total Receipts figure is maintained for every Customer/Sub-Reseller of yours, and appropriately modified for every Debit Note added for that Customer/Sub-Reseller. This Total Receipts figure is then used to offer discounts to Sub-Resellers and Customers doing higher volumes of business.