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Payment Terms and Installment Plans

Payment Terms regroup all the conditions under which a sale is completed and paid. They can be applied to sales orders, customer invoices, and supplier bills, mostly to ensure that they will be correctly paid, and on time. These conditions cover:

  • The due date
  • Some discounts
  • Any other condition on the payment

Defining Payment Terms automates the computation of payments due dates, both for invoices and bills. This is particularly helpful in managing installment plans.

An installment plan allows the customers to pay an invoice in parts, with the amounts and payment dates defined beforehand by the seller.

Examples of Payment Terms:

  • Immediate Payment
    The full payment is due on the day of the invoice’s issuance.
  • 15 Days (or Net 15)
    The full payment is due 15 days after the invoice date.
  • 21 MFI
    The full payment is due by the 21st of the month following the invoice date.
  • 2% 10, Net 30 EOM
    2% cash discount if the payment is received within ten days. Otherwise, the full payment is due at the end of the month following the invoice date.

Configuration

Go to Accounting ‣ Configuration ‣ Payment Terms and click on Create.

The Description on the Invoice is the displayed text on a sale order, invoice, or bill.

In the Terms section, you can add a set of rules, that we call terms, to define what needs to be paid, and by which due date.

To add a term, click on Add a line, and define its Type, Value, and Due Date Computation.

In the following example, 30% of the invoice is due on the day of issuance of the invoice, and the balance is due at the end of the following month.

Example of payment terms. The last line is the balance due the 31st of the following month.

Using Payment Terms

Payment Terms can be defined with the Payment Terms field on:

  • Contacts
    To set specific payment terms automatically on new sales orders, invoices, and bills of a contact. This can be modified in the contact’s Form View, under the Sales & Purchase tab.
  • Quotations
    To set specific payment terms automatically on all invoices generated from a quotation.
  • Customer Invoices
    To set specific payment terms on an invoice.
  • Vendor Bills
    To set specific payment terms on a bill. This is mostly useful when you need to manage vendor terms with several installments. Otherwise, setting the Due Date is enough.

Journal Entries

Invoices with specific Payment Terms generate different Journal Entries, with one Journal Item for each different Due Date computed.

This makes for easier Follow-ups and Reconciliation since Odoo takes each due date into account, rather than just the balance due date.

In the following example, an invoice of $1000 has been issued with the following payment terms: 30% of the invoice is due on the day of issuance of the invoice, and the balance is due at the end of the following month.

Example of an invoice with specific Payment Terms. The amount debited on the Account Receivable is split in several Journal Items.

The $1000 debited on the Account Receivable is split into two distinct Journal Items. Both of them have their own Due Date.

AccountDue dateDebitCredit
Account ReceivableFebruary 21300
Account ReceivableMarch 31700
Product Sales1000

This allows for easier reconciliation and to accurately follow up late payments.