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Editing a transaction

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Helpful Hint!

If you are completing our software practice set, it is important that you follow the instructions provided in this topic so that you understand how to fix recording errors in your company file if required.

Your MYOB software provides two ways to edit a transaction depending on the importance of keeping audit trails to your organisation. You can choose a setting that allows transactions to be changed directly or select an alternative setting that requires transactions to be reversed before the correct transaction details can be entered into your MYOB software. This topic shows you how to set the security preference of your company file so that you are able to modify transactions directly and correct errors in transactions that have already been recorded.

The following topics are covered:

Allowing transactions to be changed directly

If you are completing our software practice set, you are required to set the security preference of your company file so that you are permitted to change incorrect transactions directly.

To make transactions changeable, go to the Setup menu and select Preferences.

Select Setup Preferences

This opens the Preferences window. Click the Security tab and untick the check box for Transactions CAN’T be Changed; They Must be Reversed.

The Preferences window

Once the above check box is cleared, you are now permitted to change transactions directly. However, while editing most transactions is often straightforward, it may sometimes appear that you are not able to change literally every field in certain transactions. To learn the process of editing a restricted field, let's open your MYOB software and explore the Clearwater company file. By using examples of existing transactions involving the customer, A-Z Stationery Supplies, we will illustrate the extra steps that you need to perform to correct errors in transactions.

Let's now look at three recording errors that relate to A-Z Stationery Supplies and learn how to fix them.

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Correcting a cash receipt transaction

Once a cash receipt transaction is entered into your MYOB software, you will need to perform the steps shown below to be able change the amount of cash recorded in that receipt.

Error 1: Assume that the wrong amount of cash ($46.20) was applied to Invoice #28 when recording a cash receipt dated 7 April 2009 (ID #CR000036). The correct amount received from A-Z Stationery Supplies is $314.30.

Let's suppose that the accountant to Clearwater made an error when entering a cash receipt (ID #CR000036) from A-Z Stationery Supplies. Instead of entering the balance outstanding in Invoice #28 (which is $314.30), the accountant incorrectly entered $46.20 cash which was the amount recorded in the previous cash receipt (ID #CR000022).

So how can we fix this error? To be able to correct a cash transaction entered in your MYOB software, you first need to find and display the transaction that you want to modify. In this example, you need to find the cash receipt from A-Z Stationery Supplies (ID #CR000036). To do this, you can use the Find Transactions window (shown below) or the Bank Register window. Once you have located the cash receipt CR000036, click the zoom arrow icon next to it for more details about that receipt.

The Find Transactions window

This opens the Receive Paymens window for the cash receipt CR000036.

The Receive Payments window

Now try clicking on the Amount Received field and the first field in the Amount Applied column in the Receive Payments window. You will notice that your MYOB software does not let you make any changes to those fields. To correct the amounts recorded in that receipt, first you need to delete the receipt and then re-enter the correct cash receipt.

To delete the incorrect receipt, go to the Edit menu and select Delete Payment.

Deleting the incorrect receipt

Notice that the cash receipt CR000036 has now been removed from the Find Transactions window below.

The Find Transactions window without the receipt CR000036

Next, we now ask you to enter the correct cash receipt into your MYOB software. To do this, ensure you are in the Sales Command Centre and click Receive Payments. Your MYOB software then displays the Receive Payments window in which you can enter the correct details of the cash receipt.

7 April 2009: Received $314.30 from A-Z Stationery Supplies, Receipt ID# CR000036. This receipt is to pay for Invoice #28.

The following screenshot shows the correct cash receipt:

Entering the correct receipt top

Modifying a customer name in an open invoice when there are no transactions applied to it

After you have already recorded an invoice into your MYOB software, you will need to perform the steps listed below in order to change the customer name in that invoice.

Error 2: Assume that the incorrect customer (A-Z Stationery Supplies) was selected in the Customer field when recording Invoice #36. The correct customer for this transaction is Leisure Landscape Nursery.

Let's suppose that the accountant to Clearwater made another error when recording a sales invoice for the goods sold on 27 September 2008. When entering the customer name for this invoice, the accountant incorrectly selected A-Z Stationery Supplies instead of Leisure Landscape Nursery, which is the correct customer that purchased the goods.

To fix this error, you also need to find and display the transaction that you want to change. In this example, you need to find the sales invoice to A-Z Stationery Supplies (Invoice #36). To locate that invoice, you can use the Find Transactions window or the Sales Register window.

The screenshot below shows the Sales - Edit Item window for Invoice #36 to A-Z Stationery Supplies that you should now have opened in your MYOB software. Now click the zoom arrow icon next to the Customer field in the Sales - Edit Item window. Notice that this action does not allow you to immediately change the customer name in the Sales - Edit item window. It merely opens the Card Information window for A-Z Stationery Supplies. Do not make any changes to that Card Information window and just close it.

Back to the Sales - Edit Item window, notice that the Applied to Date amount for Invoice #36 is $0.00. This means there are no transactions applied to this invoice so you can delete the incorrect invoice without having to remove other transactions before hand.

The Sales - Edit Item window

To fix the error of allocating invoice to A-Z Stationery Supplies instead of Leisure Landscape Nursery, first you need to delete the incorrect invoice and then record the correct invoice to Leisure Landscape Nursery.

The following screenshots and reference table show step-by-step instructions on how to modify the Customer field in an existing invoice that does not have a receipt or a credit note applied to it. Note that each step is assigned a reference number to help you identify the appropriate field or icon in the Sales - Edit Item screenshot and the Sales - New Item screenshot.

The Sales - Edit Item window with reference numbers

The Sales - Edit Item window

The Sales - New Item window with reference numbers

The Sales - New Item window
Step MYOB software field or button Action
2 Various Once the sales invoice is displayed, we recommend that you print it to keep a hard copy of this transaction before deleting it. This is because you will need to re-enter the correct details of this deleted transaction. After you have printed the invoice, go to the Edit menu and select Delete Sale to remove the invoice.
3 Various Go to the Sales Command Centre and select Enter Sales to open the Sales - New Item window.
3 Customer Enter or select the correct customer name (Leisure Landscape Nursery) into the Customer field of the Sales - New Item window.
4 Other fields Record information about the correct invoice in the appropriate fields. Note that your MYOB software may automatically display a different invoice number in the Invoice # field. To override the default value in that field, just type the correct invoice number, which is 00000036 in this example.
5 Record Once you have reviewed the information entered into the Sales - New Item window, remember to click Record to save the invoice, journalise the transaction and post it to the applicable accounts.
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Modifying a customer name in an invoice when there are subsequent transactions applied to it

This topic shows you how to modify a customer name in an invoice that has a subsequent cash receipt applied to it. This is called a partly paid invoice. To help illustrate what you need to do to modify a customer name in a partly paid invoice, we now ask you to create and apply a $100 cash receipt to Invoice #37 (involving A-Z Stationery Supplies) in the sample company file for Clearwater:

1 May 2009: Applied $100 cash receipt to Invoice #37 (issued to A-Z Stationery Supplies on 27 October 2008). The reference number for this receipt is ID #CR000042.

To record the above receipt, open the Sales Command Centre and click Receive Payments. This opens the Receive Payments window where you can enter the details of the cash receipt.

The following screenshot shows the new cash receipt that you are asked to enter into your MYOB software and highlight the details that need to be recorded:

The Receive Payments window 2

After you apply this new cash receipt to Invoice #37, the Sales window for that invoice should look like this:

The Sales - Edit Item window 3

Now suppose that, having applied the cash receipt, you discover there is an error in that invoice. The accountant to Clearwater incorrectly entered A-Z Stationery Supplies into the Customer field for Invoice #37 instead of selecting Leisure Landscape Nursery, which is the correct customer.

Error 3: Assume that the incorrect customer (A-Z Stationery Supplies) was selected in the Customer field when entering Invoice #37. This error is similar to Error 2 explained above. The correct customer for Invoice #37 is Leisure Landscape Nursery.

To correct this error, you first need to use the Find Transactions window or the Sales Register window to find and display Invoice #37. When you open the Sales - Edit Item window for Invoice #37, go to the Edit menu and select Delete Sale. However, you will find that your MYOB software does not allow that invoice to be deleted and the following popup appears:

The 'MYOB Accounting' popup window

To be able to delete Invoice #37 from your transaction records, you first need to find and delete the cash receipt that you just applied to it. For information on how to delete a cash receipt, refer to the correcting a cash transaction topic above. Once you have deleted the receipt, you are now able to perform the five steps mentioned in the topic Modifying a customer name in an open invoice to modify the customer name in Invoice #37.

Remember to re-enter the correct details of any deleted transactions

Remember that if you are modifying an invoice that has a payment applied to it, once you have made changes to that invoice, you still have to re-enter the correct details of any deleted transactions. So if you have to delete a receipt to modify a partly paid invoice in real life, you will still need to enter the correct details of the deleted receipt back into your MYOB software.

Now that we have covered the process of modifying a cash receipt transaction and correcting the customer name in an open sales invoice and a partly paid sales invoice, you should be able to apply what you have learned here when required to modify restricted fields in other types of transactions.

For clarity, it is also worth noting that the above 'errors' in Cash Receipts ID #CR000036, ID #CR000042, Invoice #36 and Invoice #37 are not real errors in the Clearwater sample company file. We have simply asked you to assume that such errors were made for the purpose of showing you how to correct errors that result in your MYOB software restricting the editing of certain fields in invoices and similar transactions.

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