Learning

What "balance forward" means on a BasicBMS bill

A member skipped last quarter. This quarter's bill says $150, they pay $150, and they think they are square — when they owe $300. A bill has to show the whole picture: what is still owed from before, what is new, and the one number to pay. The question is how to get that number onto paper without wrecking your books.

How it works in BasicBMS

Two ways to forward a balance. One is to close the old bill and copy what was owed onto the new one as a line called "previous balance." Plenty of systems do this. It looks tidy and it quietly breaks four things: the old bill reads Paid when no money came in; the aging report shows a quarter-old debt as current, because it now lives on a bill dated today; you can no longer tell which bill was late, so a late fee has nothing honest to point at; and when a backdated check turns up, you are unwinding a transfer instead of applying a payment.

BasicBMS does the other thing. Every bill stays open on its own until it is paid — that is what accountants call open-item. The previous balance is never a line on the new bill. It is shown, not booked, in an Account Summary under the charges:

Line	What it is
Previous balance	What the customer owed on all bills as of their last bill
Payments received — thank you	Payments dated since that bill
Adjustments	Anything else that moved it — a credit, a waiver. Usually hidden, because it is zero
Balance forward	Still owed on earlier bills, each one listed with its due date and days past due
Current charges	This bill
Late fees	Any late fee on this bill
Credits applied	Prepayment drawn down when this bill posted, or a payment made before it
TOTAL AMOUNT DUE	Balance forward plus this bill, less credits

Everything in it is worked out as of the bill's date, so a reprint next month reads the same as the paper you mailed — unless someone has since entered a payment dated before the bill, in which case it should change. On screen there is one extra, live line: what the customer owes right now, if it differs.

Paying the total. The member writes one check for the Total Amount Due. When it is matched in bank reconciliation, it is split across the open bills it covers — one ordinary payment per bill, so each bill is paid off on its own. Online, a company can choose for the card link to collect the whole balance too; that payment is split oldest bill first when the money arrives.

What posts behind it

Nothing. The account summary is presentation. The only entries are the ones that were always there: each bill posts its own charges when it is issued, and each payment relieves the bill it is applied to. A $150 bill carried forward is still $150 in Accounts Receivable on the bill that created it — never $150 twice.

When it won’t let you

There are no refusals here; the summary only reads. If it looks wrong:

Questions? Call (509) 949-2162.