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Money & reconciliation

Outstanding, ageing and on-account payments

What customers owe, how long it's been owed, and how advances, short payments and adjustments change the picture.

Last checked by Coal Boss

Outstanding (receivables) is what customers owe you for coal already supplied. Payables are the mirror image — what you owe suppliers, transporters and others.

Ageing sorts what is owed by how long it has been due — for example 0–30, 31–60, 61–90 and over 90 days — so the oldest amounts, which are usually the hardest to collect, stand out first.

Payments don't always match invoices. A customer may pay against a specific invoice, pay part of it (a short payment — sometimes because of a quality or weight claim), pay more than is due, or pay before there is an invoice at all. Money received without an invoice to set it against is an advance, or on-account amount, and is adjusted when invoices come.

More detail

A short payment is worth understanding before chasing: it may be a deduction for a claim the customer believes is fair, a TDS/TCS amount, or simply an error. Each is handled differently.

Party reconciliation — matching your ledger for a customer or supplier with theirs — is how differences in advances, deductions and invoices are found and agreed.

Common confusion

An advance is not income for goods supplied until an invoice is raised against it; and a customer with a large advance can still have old unpaid invoices if the advance was never adjusted.

What it means if you trade coal

Record every payment against the invoice it pays, keep advances visible separately, and look at ageing — not just the total — every week.

How Coal Boss handles this · In Coal Boss today

Payments are recorded against invoices (unpaid, partly paid, paid); an over-payment becomes an on-account advance; confirmed payments are reversed, not deleted.

From Coal Boss's verified product record — separate from the explanation above.

Hinglish mein, short mein

Outstanding (receivable) wo paisa hai jo customer ko dena hai; payable wo jo aapko dena hai. Ageing batata hai kitne din se baaki hai (0–30, 31–60, 61–90, 90+), taaki sabse purana pehle dikhe. Short payment matlab bill ka kuch hissa mila; bill se pehle mila paisa advance (on-account) hai jo baad mein adjust hota hai. Har payment uske bill ke against daaliye aur advance alag dikhne dijiye.

Sources

  • ExplanationCoal Boss explanation of common coal-trade practice

Coal Boss explanation of common trade practice — not a rule. Every business agrees its own terms.

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