Recording & taking payments

Money coming in is the other half of running a round. Guvnor tracks what each client owes by comparing the work you've completed against the payments you've recorded. Here's how to record payments one at a time, in bulk, and tidy up anything that doesn't match.

How balances work

A client's balance is simply their payments minus the value of their completed jobs (plus any starting balance you set when adding them). So a balance only moves when you either complete a job or record a payment.

• Outstanding — completed work that hasn't been paid for shows as an outstanding balance.
• Credit — paid more than they've been billed (e.g. paid up front).

Recording a single payment

The quickest route is from a finished job: open Accounts → Completed Jobs and tap the job — the client and amount are filled in for you. You can also reach Add Payment from a client's screen or from Accounts → All Payments.

1. Choose the client (already set if you came from a job).
2. Enter the amount and the payment date.
3. Pick the method: Cash, Card, Bank Transfer, Cheque, Discretion (for goodwill write-offs) or Other.
4. Add a reference or note if useful, then tap Save Payment.

Recording lots of payments at once

If you reconcile from a bank statement, use Add Bulk Payments (under Accounts, or in Settings → Import Data). It's a grid where each row is one payment. This is much easier on a desktop, where you can paste a block straight from your bank export or a spreadsheet.

1. Fill each row with an account number, date (DD/MM/YYYY), amount and type (this includes Direct Debit here).
2. Guvnor matches each row to a client by account number and flags it Valid, Unknown or Invalid.
3. Tap Submit Payments. Matched rows are recorded against the client; rows it can't match become unknown payments.

Browsing all payments

Accounts → All Payments lists every payment you've recorded. You can search, filter by method (cash, Direct Debit, BACS), and sort by date or amount. The × on a payment deletes it if something was recorded by mistake — the client's balance updates accordingly.

Sorting out unknown payments

Payments that couldn't be matched to a client (a missing or unrecognised account number) land in Accounts → Unknown Payments so nothing is lost. You can also add one by hand with Create — useful when money has landed in the bank and you don't yet know whose it is. Open an unknown payment and you can:

• Link with a client account — search for the right client and attach it; the payment then counts towards their balance.
• Delete Payment — if it was a duplicate or doesn't belong to you.

Where Direct Debit fits in

There's a difference between collecting money and recording it. Recording (above) is you logging money that has already arrived. Collecting by Direct Debit through GoCardless is set up separately, and when you complete a GoCardless client's job Guvnor can take the payment and record it for you. See the Setting up GoCardless and Chasing late payments guides for that side of things.