Bad debt

Overview

Use bad debt when some or all of an issued invoice will not be collected.

Marking bad debt removes the written-off amount from the client’s active account balance while preserving the invoice for internal records.

Marking an invoice as bad debt

1. Open Invoices.
2. Select the invoice.
3. Open More.
4. Select Close invoice.
5. Select As bad debt.

The invoice:

• Changes to Bad debt.
• Leaves the Awaiting payment and Past due lists.
• Shows the write-off date.
• Shows the amount marked as bad debt.
• Retains its internal invoice history.

When no deposit or payment has been applied, the complete balance is written off.

Mark a partial balance as bad debt

Record the amount received before writing off the remainder.

1. Open the invoice.
2. Select Collect payment.
3. Enter the payment details.
4. Save or charge the payment.
5. Confirm the invoice balance has been reduced.
6. Open More, then Close invoice.
7. Select Bad debt.

The invoice displays both:

• The payment received.
• The remaining amount classified as bad debt.

Select the payment to review its method and details. The bad-debt amount is informational and has no payment record because that amount was not collected.

Unmark as bad debt

If payment will be collected later:

1. Open the bad-debt invoice.
2. Select Unmark as bad debt.
3. Confirm the invoice reopens.
4. Record the payment.

Review the status and balance after reopening.

How does bad debt look to my client?

Bad debt is an internal classification.

• The invoice is removed from Client Hub.
• The client does not see the bad-debt status.
• A partially paid invoice marked as bad debt is also removed from Client Hub.
• Email and text delivery actions are unavailable while the invoice is in bad-debt status.

Send a receipt for a partial payment when the client needs confirmation of the amount received.

The invoice PDF can still be downloaded and shared. The PDF does not label the invoice as bad debt, and its displayed balance is $0.00.

Reporting

Bad-debt invoices remain available to your team.

Use the bad-debt section of invoice reporting to review:

• Written-off invoices.
• Write-off dates.
• Amounts collected before write-off.
• Amounts classified as uncollectible.
• Client and service trends.

Open Invoice Receivables Report for invoice outcomes.

Bad debt and accounting integrations

An invoice marked as bad debt before its initial accounting sync carries its current invoice data into the integration.

Invoices generally sync once. When bad-debt or payment changes occur after the invoice has synced, make the corresponding adjustment in both Fieldified and the connected accounting system.

The accounting platform can continue to show the original invoice and balance until the write-off is recorded there according to your accounting process.