combining 2 accounts

[mcarey101]

We sometimes get duplicate accounts entered into our system due to variations in how customer names are spelled or written by our sales people (ie- The Bike Store, and Bike Store) . We don't catch these until we run a report that points out duplicates.

The problem is that there are invoices for the original account name and also on the new account name- how should we "combine" these accounts so that all the sales are properly listed under the original account and the new account is deleted ?

[dringstrom]

Edit the invoices assigned to the duplicate ID, then change the ID to the original. Once there are no transactions associated with the duplicate ID, you can delete it. If receipts have been applied to the invoices, you'll have to temporarily unassign the transaction from the customer ID, correct the invoice, then reassign the transaction to the correct ID and corresponding invoices.

[mcarey101]

I finally got around to trying this solution and it didn't work. When I change the customer ID, it basically brings a new invoice to be created.

Is there any way to change the customer ID for an invoice ?

[dringstrom]

What version of Peachtree are you using? As long as the invoice hasn't been paid, you should be able to choose Tasks, Sales/Invoicing, click the Edit button, choose a transaction, change the ID, then save the transaction. It shouldn't create a new transaction when you change the ID. At least it doesn't in my version of Peachtree.

[Deborah Bean]

When implementing Peachtree for my clients, I ALWAYS take a few minutes to discuss ID's in the program. Have a standard for assigning ID's-- and write the standards up in a memo to be followed by all individuals who enter them. Decide whether to include "The" or "A" at the beginning of ID's. The following are thoughts from my book on ID's:

ID Numbers
Let’s take the example of the record ID’s used earlier for the Smart Data Entry. The three ID’s, CALIB01, CHER01, and CHES01, all sort in true alphabetical order. But if you add a new record for a company called Chernook Gallery, you would want to type it as “CHERN01”. That way it will show up in the list in the correct order. If, accidentally, the record ID were entered as “chern01”, the record would not show in the correct order but, because of the way Peachtree sorts, it would actually be placed in the list after ZAXB01.
Decide which way you want information entered into Peachtree and have all your data entry people use that standard for entering data. It can save you hours locating records and changing and editing records to bring them to a consistent look.
Note: Record ID’s are very important. I know it looks very organized to have ID’s such as those cited above, but with the expanded length of the ID field I prefer to make my ID’s as close to the actual name as possible. I just cut out all spaces, dashes, and other characters. I also use only lower case letters in my ID’s because I don’t like all caps and I’m too lazy to use the Shift key. So my ID’s look as follows:
Name Type ID
D-N-B Consultants company dnbconsultants
RDS Metals client rds
Southwestern Bell vendor swbell
Contract Hours Use inventory item usecontract
Dawn Yarbro employee yarbrod

[dringstrom]

Mike and I corresponded offline...for the benefit of the archives it turns out he's using Sales Orders, so he's going to have to delete the cash receipt, delete the invoice, modify the sales order, then reenter the invoice and cash receipt in order to align his customer IDs.

[Deborah Bean]

That's going to be a b___h if he has a lot of them. See my comments on establishing firm guidelines for creating new ID's. Companies cannot just let everyone enter whatever they want. Time saved by not providing training and guidelines is ALWAYS costly in the end.

[TAR]

We are being mighty critical here it seems...there are many instances where it would be helpful to change an ID # other than user error! How about when companies merge...when Pocahontas Welding is bought by Airgas...If we leave the ID as it was, and change the name and mailing address, we will find Airgas alphabetically under P. If we create a new ID simply because of a new name, we risk loosing our history with a vendor...or customer. 3 years from now, we're looking at the newly created Airgas account and wondering who we bought our gas products from prior to the start of that account!

[Deborah Bean]

I agree there are valid reasons to change ID's. I have just seen too many instances of companies throwing half-trained users at systems and then be surprised when major, time-consuming errors appear. Sorry about the vent, but I had just come from a client with a similar problem.