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Kelly - What the ****?????????????????????? we are NOT applying to a previous period!!!!!!!!!! The cr note was CREATED in that period, BUT the pick up of the Credit occurs IN THE CUREECT PERIOD.

Sorry but, heck - that is soooooooooooooooooooooo basic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If I'm reading this right are Xero saying that they will enable us to allocate credits from earlier locked periods against future dated invoices and invoices from locked periods against future dated credits without unlocking? This is what we need because customers are so often a law unto themselves and don't always use the credit as we would expect. At the moment we have to unlock the period to allocate an unused credit/payment on account and that's what we really need to move away from.

"An invoice in a locked period can be settled with a credit note which is not dated in the locked period because we are able to build the correct journals on the date of the credit note.
A credit note in a locked period can be allocated to an invoice which is not dated in the locked period because we are able to build the correct journals on the date of the invoice."

Yeah lock dates are great, but being able to allocate a credit note appropriately without a workaround is also great. The allocation should be its own transaction with its own date, which would totally fix all of this nonsense. Every other accounting package can do it. As soon as we are able we're going back to QuickBooks. I don't know what happened, but it's become pretty clear that Xero is not interested in catering to their clients' needs.

Hi Kelly, Thankyou for that explanation. It was a good explanation of how the Lock Periods and Credit Note application works. Knowing this means that we can improve our process and use clearing accounts to clear invoices / credit notes in locked periods.

All Good. BUT, Can we please get a few BUGS fixed.

Firstly, if an Invoice and Credit note are BOTH in locked periods, then there should be No Credit to apply showing in the Invoice Screen

Simarly, in the credit note application screen the Open Invoices in locked periods should NOT be available to be allocated.

Thirdly, In The meantime, when doing an application of a Locked Credit in an Invoice, can we get an ERROR message instead of the current message " $X Credit Applied to Invoice ABC999"

Thankyou.

Equally as speechless as everyone else here. Just introduce working/posting periods and have those as the locking periods!

We are having to work around the lock dates for so many other things as well as allocations.

We receive a late invoice from a supplier and have to force the date to be in the date range of the working calendar month but we should be able to post it with the correct invoice date and instead, have it posted in the open working/posting period so it does not impact closed periods.

No one is wanting to change previously reported results but the ridiculous work arounds being put in place to handle this fundamental function is beyond painful.

Xero act as if this isn't something the vast majority of other accounting packages have been able to solve. Just bring in working/posting periods and stop everything relying solely on the document date.

Speechless - we have the same issue with allocating items across year end / lock date periods and the faffing required to ‘work around’ this & similar short fallings in Xero is a joke.

A basic normal functionality that Xero deprives us of but that is available in any other software that I’ve ever used.

Just ridiculous & unlikely to change anytime soon as with all the other items I’ve voted for over the years……

Totally agree with Jaine Williams

I have an overpayment from FY2022 that I now need to allocate to an invoice in FY2023. I can't do this as the period is locked. I can't unlock the period, as it will then cause an imbalance between Xero and the filed accounts. Equally, I can't just leave it there

CRITICAL!!!!!!!!!!!

XERO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Come on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is how accounts works...
1) A client pays money in advance, and it creates a CREDIT NOTE.
2) The accounts for the month/quarter are reconciled, reported on for BAS
3) The accounts are LOCKED.
4) The CREDIT is THEN required to be applied to a bill.
5) XERO HAS FOR SOME MORONIC REASON NOT ALLOWED THIOS TO BE APPLIED!!!!!!!!!!
>>> The credit DID NOT get applied in HISTORY
>>> The credit is applied TODAY, and the Accounts Payable Balance needs to change TODAY. **********THE GST Reported did not change LAST MONTH. It is applied TODAY.

Crickey - what the **** are you thinking - this is Accounting 101 - so simple!!!
> NO - I WILL NOT CHANGE MY CASH ACCOUNTING ACCOUNTS TO SUIT YOUR INCAPACITY TO UNDRESTAND
>NO - I will not create some extra BS accounting way to apply this. The accounts need to be applied on the DAY. How can this even be a thing?????? What can you not fix this yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

This is basic accounting functionality. Please fix it.

I can't believe this is still not possible as it's such a simple thing to add a field with a date. please sort this out asap

How in this day and age do we still not have a SMOOTH WAY TO ALLOCATE A CREDIT TO AN INVOICE WHICH WAS ISSUED IN A LOCKED PERIOD????

Surely it would be possible to allocate a credit, and SELECT THE DATE that a credit is applied to the Invoice with out having to allocate to a clearing account, which is just archaic.

Please can we have this added to the system ( before any more 'cosmetic changes')

Ability to date the credit note allocation would solve this issue. Xero, please allow for this :)

I have an overpayment from FY2022 that I now need to allocate to an invoice in FY2023. I can't do this as the period is locked. I can't unlock the period, as it will then cause an imbalance between Xero and the filed accounts. Equally, I can't just leave it there.

This is needed; please add it to your roadmap.

I agree that a solution needs to be found for this. Surely any foreign currency adjustments could be handled in the current period (or provide the user with instructions on ways to resolve the issue).
In most cases I see no reason for the need to unlock any locked periods because everything is happening in the current period.

We lock our accounts monthly but if we want to allocate a credit note with an earlier month date we have to unlock that period which risks other changes.
Although sales credits will always be raised against a specific invoice our customers don't always use them that way so we wait until the credit is deducted from a payment to match it against the invoice. Since payment is generally a month or 2 after payment date we have to unlock the earlier period.
Can the accounting date for the allocation not be the day it is completed in Xero therefore removing the need to reopen the period?

Better options for user setting where Standard users have the role of Adviser without having access to locked dates and periods.

Standard users are not able to apply credit notes to invoices without having to open up the period because only Adviser can do so. This is very frustrating because they need to ask the adviser role to open up the period each time they need to apply credit note to invoices.

The comments saying it does not change the numbers are not entirely correct... if it is a foreign currency invoice then it does change the currency gains or losses.

The way around this would be the ability to set an allocation date which could be within an open period

Your accountant wouldn't care. Allocating a credit doesn't affect the GL which is what your accountant cares about.
Applying credits to invoices, regardless of what period the invoices or the credits are from should not be subject to lock period restrictions. I've no idea why Xero would have this.

The issue here is that the credit allocation event does not have a separate date to the credit note. If credit note allocation was given a separate data field and it was recorded as a new year event this would have no impact on the records in the locked period. Allocating a credit note is not a new entry of data, it is just tidying the ledgers and so should not be blocked by the lock date. If there was a date field on the allocation event it could be reported on and reviewed by managers in the current period