Payment Terms
Payment Terms set when a customer or supplier is expected to pay. They attach to the party record and flow onto every transaction, where they calculate the due date automatically — the figure your ageing reports and overdue chasing depend on.
Where to find it
Go to Setup > Payment Terms, then Add New. The system ships with a basic set you can adapt.
The three shapes of term
| Type | Meaning | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Prepayment | Money is collected before goods or services are released. | New customers, high-value orders. |
| Cash Sales | Payment at the point of sale. | Retail and counter trade. |
| Post payment | Payment falls due after an agreed interval. | Credit accounts and regular trade customers. |
How the due date is calculated
Two methods, and the choice depends on how you agree credit.
| Method | How it works | Choose it when |
|---|---|---|
| After no of days | Due date is the document date plus a fixed number of days. "Pay after 30 days" falls due exactly 30 days later. | You agree credit in days. |
| Days in following month | Due date lands on a set day of the next month, regardless of the document date. | You agree credit by month — "the 15th of the following month". |
Pick the method that matches how you actually agreed the terms. A customer who understands "end of next month" will not pay on a rolling 30-day cycle, and the mismatch shows up as phantom overdue debt.
Where terms are used
- On the customer and supplier record, as their default.
- On quotations, orders, deliveries and invoices, where the term drives the due date and can be changed for a one-off transaction.
- Selecting a prepaid term on a sales order reveals the PrePayment Required field — see Direct Sales Order.
Related pages
- Direct Invoice — where terms set the due date
- Direct Sales Order — prepayment handling
- Customer Credit Status — controlling who gets credit at all
- Supplier Payment — terms on the buying side