Clean It Up

UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Erithwc on April 26, 2012, 12:25:07 pm

Title: Customer payment records ?
Post by: Erithwc on April 26, 2012, 12:25:07 pm
I have read a few topics through the search button but im still unsure.

Do you need to keep a record of every  payment received or can you just keep a day record what i mean is

Job 1 =£15
Job 2 =£10
Job 3 = £12

or can you just keep a day record

Monday = £37

Thanks Paul
Title: Re: Customer payment records ?
Post by: Johnny B on April 26, 2012, 12:36:14 pm
I have always kept an itemised record of every payment that every customer has made. It has come in useful whenever I have needed to prove income. Not sure if you need to go into this kind of detail, but it's my preference. 

John
Title: Re: Customer payment records ?
Post by: SB Cleaning on April 26, 2012, 04:45:06 pm
I use george and print off a payments list.
Title: Re: Customer payment records ?
Post by: Erithwc on April 26, 2012, 04:54:22 pm
I use george and print off a payments list.

But are we required to keep an itemised record of every payment or is it just up to us if we do or don't  ???

I don't want in a few years time be told i should have been keeping an itemised record of every payment received.

thanks paul
Title: Re: Customer payment records ?
Post by: dazmond on April 26, 2012, 04:55:28 pm
get some round software paul so much easier!!.george is only £50 with £12 a year internet backup!!great!! ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Customer payment records ?
Post by: richardlingard on April 26, 2012, 04:58:02 pm
i have been window cleaning for about 10 years on and off, 3 years on my own with my own company and a year waterfed pole, my brothers and my dad have had rounds for now pushing 40 years....in all of this time the most memorabley excellent product that i have ever purchaced was george the window cleaners assistant
Title: Re: Customer payment records ?
Post by: H S and Son on April 26, 2012, 05:00:35 pm
I have read a few topics through the search button but im still unsure.

Do you need to keep a record of every  payment received or can you just keep a day record what i mean is

Job 1 =£15
Job 2 =£10
Job 3 = £12

or can you just keep a day record

Monday = £37

Thanks Paul


Surely if you keep a record of houses cleaned and customers paid then you will automatically have every payment you have received and processed??
Title: Re: Customer payment records ?
Post by: Tom White on April 26, 2012, 05:29:59 pm
I have read a few topics through the search button but im still unsure.

Do you need to keep a record of every  payment received or can you just keep a day record what i mean is

Job 1 =£15
Job 2 =£10
Job 3 = £12

or can you just keep a day record

Monday = £37

Thanks Paul


Surely if you keep a record of houses cleaned and customers paid then you will automatically have every payment you have received and processed??

Not necessarily.  I only account for daily turnover; I would not be able to show an itemised breakdown of that daily amount from three years ago (for example).

I use a spreadsheet, I mark on there in a box who is owing - that's how I keep track of debtors - and I have another spreadsheet where I put my daily turnover (I class turnover as income in - since it's rare I get knocked).

When it comes to annual turnover, I just put that figure in my tax return, even though I may not have received all the money due - effectively I may pay a little extra tax in that year - but it evens itself out.

I'm not sure if this is the 100% way to do it, but it's how I do it, and I'm sure I could justify it to the tax man should I get an inspection.
Title: Re: Customer payment records ?
Post by: Ian101 on April 26, 2012, 05:42:50 pm
2 questions

Whats a payment record ?

Whats tax ??

 ;)
Title: Re: Customer payment records ?
Post by: H S and Son on April 26, 2012, 08:11:57 pm
Not necessarily.  I only account for daily turnover; I would not be able to show an itemised breakdown of that daily amount from three years ago (for example).

So you dont keep some sort of record of when a house was last cleaned and a record of if its been paid for?
Title: Re: Customer payment records ?
Post by: Tom White on April 26, 2012, 09:05:24 pm
Not necessarily.  I only account for daily turnover; I would not be able to show an itemised breakdown of that daily amount from three years ago (for example).

So you dont keep some sort of record of when a house was last cleaned and a record of if its been paid for?

Not long term.  I have two columns on a spreadsheet for dates.  Date last Cleaned and another for the current month which I fill in when it's cleaned.  I have a separate column for outstanding payments; I may annotate BT (Bank Transfer), Cheque, or Chit - depending on the method of payment.  When I'm paid, I'll delete the annotation.

Once that month has passed, I delete the dates in that old column of the spreadsheet.

Since it's all on a spread sheet, it's easy to copy the master document to a working document, manipulate the data depending on what information I want (a list of customers due, or a list of customers who're outstanding payment) and print it off.

I've probably made it sound more complicated than it actually is.  It's simple if you understand spreadsheets.

I guess I could provide details of a breakdown of my daily total, but that'd involve cross referencing my handwritten diary to the daily totals, but it'd be a pain.