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General Ledger Report: Common Scenarios, FAQ, and Troubleshooting

This article covers the patterns you see most often on the Instinct EMR General Ledger (GL) report, the questions practices ask, and how to triage unexpected results.

Written by Melissa Duarte

Common situations

Situation

What the report displays

Invoice closed and paid in full, same day

Sales rows (credit) + Payments — [Method] (debit)

Invoice closed but not yet paid

Sales rows (credit) + AR (New) (debit)

Payment received toward an invoice from a previous day

Payments — [Method] (debit) + AR (Prior Period) (credit)

Partial payment on a closed invoice

Payments (debit) for the amount paid + AR (New) (debit) for the remainder

Payment received while the invoice is still open

Payments (debit) + Cash Credited to Invoices (credit). Sales rows do not appear until the invoice is closed.

Client paid a deposit yesterday, invoice closed today

Sales rows (credit) + Cash Credited to Invoices (debit). The deposit is now being applied.

Client deposits money as account credit

Payments (debit) + Account Credit (credit)

Invoice paid using account credit

Sales rows (credit) + Account Credit (debit). There is no Payments row because no new cash came in.

Account credit balance refunded to the client

Refunds — Other (credit) + Account Credit (debit)

Refund issued on a closed invoice

Refunds — [Method] (credit). The AR rows adjust to reflect the refund.

Card charged but not yet settled

Cash In Transit — [Method] (debit) + Cash Credited to Invoices or Account Credit (credit). For an invoice payment, AR stays outstanding until settlement. A deposit has no AR involved.

Card from a previous day settles today

Payments — [Method] (debit) + CIT Settlement — [Method] (credit) + AR (Prior Period) (credit)

Invoice closed, paid, then reopened the same day

Sales and tax rows cancel out to zero. The payment stays in Payments rows. Cash Credited to Invoices holds the payment until the invoice closes again.

Note: Any row that includes Sales can also include a Taxes — Sales Tax row and a Discount row, depending on whether tax or a discount is applied to that invoice.


Frequently asked questions

The report totals look much higher than I expected. Why would this happen?

If a card payment from a previous day is settled today, the report records both the cash arriving and the placeholder from the prior day being released. That can make totals look doubled for the amount that settled. Your bank deposit is just the Payments rows. See General Ledger Report: Cash In Transit and Reconciliation with the Bank for more details.

We charged a card, but accounts receivable is still displaying as unpaid. Why?

AR clears when the payment settles with the bank, not when the card is swiped. Gravity typically settles within 15 minutes. Adyen and Interac typically take about two hours after the settlement cutoff. If it has been longer than that, check that the payment went through on the processor side.

We ran card payments today, but there are no Cash In Transit rows. Is something missing?

No. Those payments settled the same day, so they appear directly in the Payments rows. When charge and settlement happen on the same day, Cash In Transit rows do not appear.

What does "Other" mean under payment method?

It usually means a client's account credit balance was refunded. Because that is not a card transaction, there is no payment method attached to it. The refund amount is still included in your reconciliation totals.

The GL report does not match the Transaction Summary report. Why?

These two reports work differently. The Transaction Summary is a snapshot of transactions, based on the date the transaction was recorded. If anything was backdated into a past period after the original Transaction Summary was run, re-running it displays different numbers. The GL report does not work that way:

  • It rolls forward changes rather than reflecting a snapshot of a past period.

  • It separates settled payments from Cash In Transit.

Why do some rows say "No GL code assigned"?

The product, discount, or payment method on those rows does not have a GL account assigned. The amounts are still counted in your totals. After you assign a GL account, those items appear under the correct account on new reports. See Create and Assign General Ledger Accounts.

How do I assign a GL account to a product, discount, or payment method?

Create the GL account in Admin → Practice → General Ledger Accounts, then choose it in the GL account field on the item. Each item can have one GL account. See Create and Assign General Ledger Accounts for the full steps.

A client paid a large invoice using account credit, and today's cash total looks low. Why?

The cash appeared on the day the client originally deposited the account credit, not today. Today, the report displays the revenue from the closed invoice and the account credit balance going down, but no new cash came in because it already did on the deposit day.

Why is there only one AR row even though we created new AR and also collected old AR today?

The report displays the net change in AR for the day, not each movement separately. If you created $100 in new AR and collected $50 in old AR, you see one AR (New) row for $50. For a breakdown by invoice, use the AR for Closed Invoices dashboard.

A transaction's date or location was changed. Where does it appear?

It appears on the report for the day the change was made, as a reversal of the original entry and a new entry with the correct information. The original day's report does not change.

We have multiple locations. How do I know which location's report displays what?

Each location has its own report. Payments and refunds appear on the report for the location where they were recorded. Revenue appears on the report for the location where the visit took place.


When to contact support

Reach out to support if:

  • The Debit and Credit totals on the Summary tab do not match.

  • A Sales — Unattributed row appears, and the amount seems significant.

  • Cash In Transit rows are still displaying well beyond the expected settlement window for your processor.

When you contact support, include:

  • The date range of the report you ran

  • The specific row or amount you are questioning

  • What you expected to see compared with what the report displays

  • Your practice and location name, if you have more than one


Still need help?

Contact support via live chat or email [email protected]

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