How to track who has paid you: cash or invoice

Separate the method from the payment

A customer agreeing to pay by bank transfer does not mean the visit is paid. Keep the payment method and the paid or unpaid status as separate facts. For each visit, check what was agreed and which record confirms the money was received.

Use the same routine for cash. Agree who records collection and who checks it later. If the person doing the work is different from the person checking payments, make the handover explicit rather than relying on a remembered conversation.

Match transfers and invoices to the work

Check the customer, visit dates and reference before matching a bank transfer. If a payment covers several visits, work through the covered jobs rather than assuming the whole customer record is settled. Keep anything uncertain aside until the details can be checked.

• Confirm which visits the payment covers.
• Check whether a linked invoice is only partly paid.
• Keep an unclear reference open for review.
• Use the invoice record when the payment belongs to it.

Review unpaid work in a regular batch

Choose a review period and work through unpaid visits in a consistent order. Check the payment record before contacting a customer. A reminder is more useful when it refers to the right invoice and reflects payments already received, including any partial payment.

Before marking several visits together, check the selection carefully. Similar dates or customer names do not mean every row has the same payment position. Keep exceptions out of the batch and review them individually.

Keep the visit and invoice records aligned

Decide which system is responsible for each invoice payment. Record it there first, then check the connected visit record. This matters when one invoice covers several jobs or when a customer pays part of the balance.

Keep a clear distinction between work completed, money invoiced and money received. Review differences before closing the period, so the next payment check starts from an understood position rather than a mixture of assumptions.

How JobNest handles this

Job Payments is on all plans. It shows paid or unpaid visits, with period, team and method filters, and supports marking up to 200 visits in a batch. The current method categories are Cash and Invoice; bank transfer is covered by Invoice. Xero-linked visits show “Record this payment in Xero”.

Invoices support GST at 15%, Draft, Sent, Partially paid, Paid and Overdue statuses, Send Reminders and CSV export. Sending invoices to Xero is available on Growth and up; two-way payment sync is available on Business and up.