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Editing a transaction

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Helpful Hint!

If you are completing the Sage 50 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 Sage 50 data files if required.

While editing most transactions entered into Sage 50 is often straightforward, it may sometimes appear that you are not able to change literally every field in certain transactions. This is because Sage 50 restricts changes that can be made to certain fields in a transaction when there are subsequent transactions applied to it (such as a payment applied to an invoice) or that transaction has been converted to another transaction (such as a sales order converted to a sales invoice).

This topic will show you some of the fields that Sage 50 restricts changes to, and then takes you through the steps to modify those restricted fields using the sample company provided with Sage 50 Complete Accounting.

Restricted fields

To learn the process of editing a restricted field, let's open Sage 50 and explore Bellwether Garden Supply.

First, let's use the Sales Invoice List to open some invoices so we can see which fields are restricted when a payment has been applied to the invoice. From the main menu, select Lists, then select Customers & Sales then select Sales Invoices from the drop down list. Remember, additional instructions about Sage 50 lists can be found in the Sage 50 lists section of this learning center.

Opening the Lists menu

This opens the Sales Invoice List window where we can view a list of sales invoices for the date range selected.

Sales Invoice List window

In the Status column, locate an invoice with the status of 'Unpaid' and open that invoice by either double clicking it or selecting it in the list and clicking the open icon. This opens the Sales/Invoicing window for that invoice.

Unpaid Sales Invoice

Notice that you are able to change many details in the invoice. In particular you are able to change the ID of the customer and the invoice number. You may like to prove this by changing these fields yourself and clicking the save icon. Once you have done this, close the Sales/Invoicing window by clicking the close icon. You will notice that Sage 50 updates the Sales Invoice list with your changes.

Next, let's investigate what happens to the Customer ID and Invoice No. fields once a payment has been applied to an invoice. We will do this by amending an existing invoice by adding a cash payment to it, saving it and then viewing the invoice again to see the changes Sage 50 makes to the invoice once a payment has been applied to it.

First, open an unpaid invoice by double clicking it. Next, click the arrow to the left of the Amount Paid at Sale line item, or if you are using Sage 50 Complete Accounting 2015 or 2017 click the Amount paid at sale hyperlink.

Click Amount paid at sale

In the window that appears, enter the amount of cash received in the Receipt Amount field, and enter a reference number in the Reference field. For example, if the customer paid by check, then the reference is the check number of the customer's check. Click OK to save the information and close the window.

Enter Receipt Amount and Reference

Notice how Sage 50 updates the invoice to display the amount paid at sale and also displays Partially Paid on the invoice. Click Save to save the changes to the invoice, then close the Sales/Invoicing window. Again, Sage 50 updates the Sales Invoice List with the changes.

Invoice with Amount paid at sale added

Now open that same invoice again by double clicking it in the Sales Invoice List. Notice that the Customer ID and Invoice No. fields are now a light grey color.

Invoice with restricted fields

Try to change the Customer ID and Invoice No. fields. You will notice that you are unable to do so. This is because Sage 50 restricts changes to an invoice where a subsequent transaction has been applied to it. If you do need to change these restricted fields, read on to find out how!

Modifying restricted fields

If you do wish to change a restricted field in a sales invoice with a cash receipt applied to it, first you need to remove the cash receipt that was applied against that invoice and save the invoice. Then when you open the invoice again you will be able to make changes to the invoice. Once the change is made, you should then re-apply the cash receipt to the correct invoice.

To delete the cash receipt that was applied at the time of the sale, open the invoice and click the arrow to the left of the Amount Paid at Sale line item, or if you are using Sage 50 Complete Accounting 2015 or 2017 click the Amount paid at sale hyperlink. In the window that appears, we recommend that you carefully note down all of the details of the transaction before deleting it. This is because you will need to re-enter the correct details of this deleted transaction after modifying the incorrect sales invoice. After you have a copy of the information in this window, delete the information in the Receipt Amount, Reference and Deposit Ticket ID fields. Note that when you delete the amount in the Receipt Amount field, Sage 50 automatically enters 0.00 into this field when you click out of the field. Next, click OK to save the information and close the window.

Delete Cash Receipt

You will notice in the invoice that you are still not able to change the Customer ID and Invoice No. fields. This is because the changes need to be saved for Sage 50 to reflect the deleted cash receipt in the sales invoice. Click the save icon and close the Sales/Invoicing window. Again, the Sales Invoice List will update to reflect the changes.

Now open up the same invoice again by double clicking it in the Sales Invoice List. Notice that once the receipt is deleted, the Customer ID and Invoice No. fields are no longer grey. This indicates that you can now make changes to these fields that were previously restricted in the Sales/Invoicing window.

Invoice with Amount paid at sale deleted Save icon

Make any amendments you need to make and then remember to click the save icon to save your changes.

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

Remember that after making the required changes to the invoice, you still have to re-enter the correct details of any deleted transactions. In this case, you need to enter the amount paid at sale again by following the instructions above. You can also visit the Recording part cash part credit sales section of this Learning Center for instructions on how to record the cash receipt from a customer at the time of the sale. The Collection of an accounts receivable section of this Learning Center provides instructions on how to record the cash receipt from a customer after the sale has been processed.

Now that we have covered the process of changing a restricted field in the Sales/Invoicing window, you should be able to apply what you have learned here when required to modify restricted fields in other types of transactions.

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