Equalizations

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This article describes various options for offsetting open entries on debtors and creditors.

Open record or balance method?

  For each debtor or creditor, you can select in the Balance method field whether equalization should be done according to "Open item" or "Balance". In the "Open mail" method, one or more vouchers are offset when a payment is received. This is done either by manual clearing or automatic clearing, for example by entering the invoice number on the payment. In the "Balance" method, items are offset from the oldest balance without regard to whether a payment from the payer is payment for a single or multiple invoices. This means that when you run "Balance", there are in principle no equalizations. There is just a sum of the items. This way you avoid having to balance invoices against payments. If you have an account with more than 10,000 open items, Uniconta automatically changes the balance method to "Balance". Important! You can change the method, but if you do so, you start from scratch. This means that if, for example, you change from Balance to Open Mail, Uniconta will run an automatic equalization from day 1.

Recommendations for equalizations

It is not recommended to use the 'many to many' method or automatic equalization for 'Miscellaneous' accounts receivable or accounts receivable accounts with many small/unspecific items. This means that you cannot select a lot of entries and expect them to be equalized. To achieve correct equalization, it is recommended to mark the payment item first and then the invoices that correspond to the payment. This is because Uniconta stops performing the equalization when the first marked item is "used up". Read more tips on how to offset debtors and creditors here ....

Manual equalization

When entries on a debtor or creditor are not balanced/closed, for example, if you forgot to do so when posting the payment, it is possible to do this manually via the Open entries button from the debtor or creditor overview. The equalization can be done by a one-to-one equalization, i.e. where one payment is equalized with one invoice. Read more about this below. The equalization can also be done by a one-to-many equalization, i.e. one payment is equalized with several invoices. Read more about this below. Note! When equalizing, the amounts do not have to match exactly. If they do not match exactly, then only a partial equalization is performed and there will be a balance left on one of the items after the equalization. One to one equalization One to one equalization is when one payment is equalized with one invoice.
  • Select the Open records button from the debtor or creditor overview of the debtor where you want to offset entries
  • Place a check mark in the Settle column next to the payment item/credit note
  • Place a check mark in the Settle column next to the invoice the payment should be settled in. In the Total field on the ribbon, you can see the sum of the two amounts you have selected.
  • Select the Equalize entries button and the entries will be equalized and the entries that are no longer open will disappear from the screen. Select the Update button if you do not see this happening.
One to many equalization / Many to many equalization One to many equalization is e.g. when equalizing one payment against multiple invoices. Many to many equalization is e.g. when equalizing multiple payments against multiple invoices. The equalization of one to many or many to many is done in the same place and in the same way as the one to one equalizations. But it is recommended to select the payment item/all payment items and credit notes first, and then all invoices. In the example below, all payment items and reversed interest items are selected first: Note! The amount of the first payment item selected is shown on the ribbon next to 'Payment'. The other items selected are summed up on the ribbon next to 'Invoice' (whether they are payment or invoice items, etc.)

Partial equalizations

When items have been partially equalized, they can still be viewed under Open items. In the Remaining field you can see the remaining amount on the individual record. If you want to cancel the partial equalization, you can select the Equalizations button and then the Open button again.

Cancel equalization

If there are entries on a debtor or creditor that have been erroneously offset, i.e. are no longer open, the offset can be canceled again. This is done as described below:
  • Find the current debtor or creditor in the creditor overview under Debtor/Debtor or Creditor/Creditor
  • Select the Postings button
  • Place the cursor on the record you want to reopen
  • Select the Equalizations button
  • You will now see a screen with a list of the entries that the current entry is offset with, i.e. there may be several entries shown in the list, for example, a payment entry may be offset with a whole series of invoices
  • Place the cursor on the entry in the list that you want to un equalize
  • Select the Open button again
  • Repeat this for the other items in the list if you want to remove all equalizations.

Is the item equalized or not?

Under the Entries button on a debtor or creditor, you can see whether an entry is Open [Marked] or Closed [Unmarked] in the Open field

Which item is offset with?

If you want to see which invoices have been equalized in connection with e.g. For example, if you want to see which invoices have been equalized in connection with a payment, you can see this under the accounts receivable/payable entries by selecting the Equalizations button.

Cleaning up offsets after conversions

After a conversion, check that all offsets are as desired. Read more about this here. If old equalizations need to be cleaned up, e.g. after a conversion, and it is deemed too time-consuming to manually cancel equalizations and create new equalizations, then a zero point can be created. Read more about this below.

Create zero point for equalizations. equalizations

If old equalizations need to be cleaned up, e.g. after a conversion, and it is deemed that it would be too time-consuming to manually cancel equalizations and create new equalizations, then a zero point can be created in the debtor/creditor's accumulated balance e.g. per 31-12-20xx. All records until the selected date will be equalized using the following procedure:
  • Find the balance on this date via entries on debtor/creditor (Remember to clear filter). Use 'Filter' to specify a date range. Add the columns 'Amount' and 'Amount (Currency)' to your layout and sum at the bottom of the entries.
  • 'Amount' and 'Amount (Currency)' are posted from an accounting journal to the debtor/creditor account with opposite sign with the date, e.g. 31-12-2022, so that the balance on the debtor/creditor is reset as of this date. Use the omnibus account as a counter account. Also enter a line with the same amount but without the opposite sign. On this line, the date must be the day after, e.g. 01-01-2023. This means that a line that resets the balance and a line with the new open balance (primary balance) must be entered and posted in the accounting journal. Note! It is important that the first line in the accounting journal is the line that resets the balance.
  • After posting the draft, on the debtor/creditor account, select the Open items button, then select the Reopen all button and the item Reopen until 0 balance
  • This run will close all entries until the zero balance. Entries after the "zero point" will have to be equalized manually. When clearing to zero balance, no actual clearing is performed, but the items up to the zero balance are not counted in open items. This means that it is not possible to subsequently select the Equalizations button on a debtor record and see which record(s) the current record is equalized with. If you want to see what equalizes what, you should use Automatic equalization instead of Reopen until 0 balance.

Description of buttons - Open Records

Description of special buttons in open items on the ribbon
Buttons Description of the button
Offset entries Used to offset the entries marked in the "Offset" field against each other.
Equalizations Shows which item(s) are equalized with. For example, in a partial equalization where there is a remaining amount.
Physical voucher Shows the physical voucher for the selected entry
Postings on vouchers Shows postings on the voucher
Send as email Sending mails with the account type Interest/Arrears/Fees/Collection Fee/Collection
Reopen everything Opens all closed entries until the last point where the accumulated total is zero. You get a confirmation if you want to reopen everything. When you do a "reopen all", all open records are deleted and then restored. This deletes the due dates entered. New due dates are then created based on the payment terms on the debtor or creditor card. NOTE: It is not necessary to reopen everything if some records are correctly equalized. You can continue to equalize only the records that are open.
Automatic equalization Clears all open items. You get a confirmation if you want to equalize everything. NOTE! The Auto equalize button attempts to equalize ALL open records. It cannot be limited in any way (using filtering or the "Pending" field). We cannot guarantee the result of automatic equalization. Automatic equalization is only an "attempt" to equalize open items.automatic equalization can be made according to different principles selected in the "Company information" section of the accounts. Read more here.