How to record client deposits – All the options

How to register customer deposits in Magaya

There are different ways to register customer deposits or advance payments in Magaya. Choosing the right one depends on the type of operation, the timing of billing, and the accounting rules that apply in each country.

What will you learn in this article?

• What options exist for recording customer advances in Magaya
• When it makes sense to use a customer credit, an early invoice, or a liability account
• How to maintain better accounting and operational control over those values

Why does a customer pay before the operation?

In logistics, it is common to receive payments before billing or even before the logistics operation is carried out. This can happen for several reasons:

• Your business does not offer credit terms.
• The operation costs are high and represent a financial risk.
• The customer is new or still unknown.

In every case, the accounting regulations of each country should be considered, since not all methods are accepted equally in all contexts.

Option 1: receive a payment without an invoice and generate a customer credit

This is one of the easiest ways to handle advance payments in Magaya and in other logistics software with similar capabilities.

Later, that deposit can be applied to a future invoice in two ways:

• Apply it when the final invoice payment is received, using the advance together with the remaining balance.
• Apply it as soon as the invoice is issued, either by editing the original payment or by creating a $0 adjustment payment to net the credit and the invoice.

Option 2: create an invoice before the operation exists

This option works well in places where you can invoice and recognize income even if there are still no costs or logistics operations created in the system.

From the initial quotation, an invoice is created from the actions button. At that point, the invoice is not linked to any operation, but it can still be sent to the customer to collect full or partial payment.

Later, once the operation is finally created in the system, that invoice can be linked to the related shipment, warehouse receipt, or operational record. In this way, the charges now belong to the operation.

In this case, once the invoice exists, future customer payments will no longer generate credits in favor of the customer.

Option 3: record the advance as a liability

Unlike the first option, where the payment creates a credit as a negative accounts receivable value, an advance can also be recorded as a liability because the company is receiving money for a service that has not yet been provided.

One way to do this is to create the payment as in option one, enter the received amount, and before saving, go to the Accounts tab, add a line, select the desired liability account, and post the value there. When the payment is saved, the credit goes to the liability account instead of the asset account.

Another very similar alternative is to create an invoice that affects the liability account directly. This is especially useful when the customer requests an invoice before paying the advance.

In that case, the invoice is created from the Accounts tab instead of using charges, and once the final service invoice is issued, the balance in that advance account must be debited by the same amount either from the invoice itself or from the final payment.

More efficiency through accounting structure

From an accounting perspective, these small configuration choices make a major difference. They help teams work with more clarity, avoid rework, and maintain better control over the flow between sales, operations, and billing.

Everything we do as an accounting consulting firm is focused on exactly that: more efficiency for your business and better alignment across the areas that affect your books.