Can I change the Accounts Receivable customer on a contract-based contract after it has already been billed?

This solution involves moving from one AR customer to another. Reports in Accounts Receivable that show activity or transactions by customer may continue to show data under the old customer until the invoices are paid or for the life of the data. Be aware of the discrepancy between customers when processing payments and adjustments.

Note: The customer should only be changed once all retainage held has been adjusted or billed.

In Billing, delete any in progress invoices:

1. Go to Billing, Tasks, Contract-Based Invoices.
2. Select the contract.
3. Click OK.
4. Click Delete Invoice.
5. Click Finish.

Option A: Credit off all retainage under the old customer and generate a retainage-only invoice under the new customer:

1. From the Accounts Receivable Tasks menu, select Adjust Receivables.
2. Select the old Customer associated with the contract.
3. Select each invoice billed on the contract and create a Billed credit adjustment to reduce off any held retainage. Make a note of the amounts adjusted.
4. Click Finish.
5. If you have not already, change the customer on each contract item.
6. In Billing, enter an invoice for the same value as the retainage adjusted in step 3. Increase the Retainage percent held this period to 100%. The invoice will have a net value of $0 after retainage.
7. Print and post the retainage-only invoice.

This will move the retainage to the new customer. The new invoice will not show up on aging reports and will not require any cash receipts. When you are ready to bill the retainage, this invoice will have its retainage released normally. This will leave the original billed amounts less retainage on the original customer along with any payments received.

Note: If the original customer is going to pay the retainage held balance, bill the original customer all retainage held before changing the customer on the contract. In this case, it might be better to have two contracts or have separate contract items for the original customer and the new customer and use change orders to move the contract item balances from the old Contract Items to new Contract Items for the new customer.

Option B: Delete all invoices on original customer and recreate on new customer:

A different and more thorough method of moving the retainage to the new customer is to void all prior invoices, rebill them under the new customer, move all payments from one customer to the other, and reapply cash to the new invoices. This is potentially much more time consuming but ensures that just one customer shows the entire history of the contract's billing.

1. In Accounts Receivable, move or void any cash receipts:
   • See article 23747: "DocLink: How do I move a cash receipt deposit from one customer to another in Accounts Receivable?"
   • See article 17020: "DocLink: How do I void an Accounts Receivable cash receipt?"
2. In Accounts Receivable, adjust or void any invoices:
   • See article 19621: "DocLink: How do I adjust or write off an invoice in Accounts Receivable?"
   • See article 18498: "DocLink: How do I void an invoice in Accounts Receivable?"
3. In Contracts, change the customer on the contract:
   1. Go to Contracts, File, Open Contract.
   2. Select the contract.
   3. Click OK.
   4. On the General tab change the customer on each of the incorrect contract items.
   5. Close out of the Contract.
4. Recreate the invoices and cash receipts under the new customer.