I'm not an accountant or bookkeeper, but I have been using Gnucash to enter and manage my invoices. I had an instance where I used B192116 for an invoice number and the customer paid this invoice. A month later there was some confusion and I re-entered the same invoice number B192116 for the same customer and Gnucash took it no problem. Is there a way for Gnucash to warn or stop me from entering duplicate invoices?
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I'm not familiar with Gnucash, and I'm not an accountant, but I think the program would almost have to allow for multiple payments against an invoice, so that you can track partial payments. By the same token there should be a way to mark an invoice as paid in full, or to close the invoice to further transactions.– XalorousOct 20, 2016 at 17:22
2 Answers
When I hit this problem, the solution that worked for me (on Gnucash 3.4) was to use automatic invoice numbering.
When I create a new invoice, I simply leave the invoice number blank, and Gnucash chooses the next invoice number in the sequence.
Reference: https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v3/C/gnucash-help/busnss-ar-invoices1.html#busnss-ar-invoicenew2
To set the current number in the sequence, choose File / Properties from the main menu. Then choose the Counters tab. Scroll down to invoices and set the current number. The next invoice you generate will have a number one greater than this.
Reference: https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v3/C/gnucash-help/book-options.html#counters-book-options
This appears to be a pretty common problem with Gnucash without a solution (that I can find). See the following forum posts:
- http://gnucash.1415818.n4.nabble.com/Duplicate-invoices-help-needed-td4667918.html
- http://gnucash.1415818.n4.nabble.com/Duplicate-Customer-Invoice-Number-td1431124.html
I recommend submitting a feature request here.