This article will help walk you through receiving client funds into Studio Designer which you can then apply to invoices and proposals, or just hold in Funds Available until you are ready to apply them.
There are several different ways to receive funds. These can be seen and selected in the Payment Method drop-down menu on the Money In screen:
- Apply Payment To Items From Funds Available
- Receive & Apply To Items
- Receive Client Payment
- Receive Miscellaneous Payment
Each method serves a different purpose depending on what your goal is exactly with your client's funds.
Before you receive the funds, it's important to first figure out whether or not you are ready to apply funds directly to proposals, invoices or items or have the funds go directly to the client's Funds Available account to apply at a later date.
Once you've determined whether you're ready to apply the funds, you can select one of the four Payment Methods outlined below depending on where you want the money to go:
- Apply Payment To Items From Funds Available: apply the monies already present in the client's Funds Available account to proposals, invoices or items
- Receive & Apply To Items: receive monies and apply the client's payment directly to proposals, invoices or items bypassing the Funds Available account
- Receive Client Payment: receive client funds directly into the Funds Available account to use at a future date
- Receive Miscellaneous Payment: receive funds not directly related to your client payments (ex: receiving a refund from a vendor or transferring funds between accounts)
To receive funds for a Client/Project:
- Select a Payment Method. Depending on which method you choose, you can also select the Cash Account to direct the payment to a specific account.
- Select a Client or Received From. The other fields, like Check #, Authorization and Payment Type, are optional. These only help to further define the payment you are receiving in Studio Designer. The Description will auto-populate, but it is required and it can be edited. If the Payment Method you select is Apply Payment To Items From Funds Available, you'll not need to enter anything in the Amount field. The funds are already in the system and can be applied to the items at the very bottom of the Money In screen.
- Narrow down the items to a specific proposal or invoice. This will populate the items at the bottom of the Money In screen. The filter dropdown will help you further define items with the selections shown in the image below.
- Decide how you want to allocate the funds. At the bottom, you'll see the items listed. On the right side of the results, you'll see Amount To Apply. You can manually enter an amount here or you can use the Apply buttons for Deposit Balance and Total Balance to have the amounts above be automatically entered into the Amount To Apply field. If you are Receiving Client Payment, skip step 4, and perform Step 5.
Deposit Balance: will list items that have a deposit balance that has not been satisfied yet in full
Invoice Balance: will show invoices that have balances that are not satisfied yet in full
Item Balance: will show you items that have balances that are not satisfied yet in full
Inactive: will show you all items that are currently inactive associated with the Client/Project and/or a proposal or invoice - When you are ready, click Post Payment. You'll notice that the Funds Available Account will have had the amount you applied deducted.
You'll also notice that prior to posting the payment, you can see the breakdown of what is being applied and the amount remaining in Funds Available. If you are receiving a payment for the first time, you'll also see the amount you have set to receive as well.
Note: All funds paid by the client including Stripe and Paypal must be entered in the system through Money In.