Credit Notes
A credit note records a reduction against what a client owes you — for a return, a billing correction, or a goodwill adjustment — without editing or deleting an invoice that has already been issued. In PMSuite, Credit Notes live in the Finance module under the Spending navigation group, alongside Expenses and Recurring Expenses.
Who can use it
Credit Notes are part of the Finance module's invoicing area, so access follows your role's invoice permissions: you need view access to open the Credit Note list and add access to create one. If the menu entry is missing, ask a Company Admin to review your role in Settings → Roles & Permissions.
Prerequisites
- The invoice you are crediting must already exist and have at least some payment recorded against it (status Paid or Partially Paid).
- If you want credit note numbering to follow your own scheme, set the Credit Note prefix first in Finance Settings → Prefix Settings. Prefixes for invoices, credit notes, estimates, estimate requests, orders and proposals are configured independently there. The default credit note prefix is
CN#001.
How to Access
Navigation: Sidebar → Finance → Credit Note (/account/creditnotes).
The Finance module dashboard is at /account/finance-dashboard, and related screens sit beside it: Invoices at /account/invoices, Payments at /account/payments, Expenses at /account/expenses.
Creating a credit note
Credit notes start from the invoice, not from the Credit Note list. Open Finance → Invoices (/account/invoices), find the invoice you want to credit, and choose Add Credit Note from its row action menu — the same action is available from the invoice detail view. This ties the credit to a real billing document rather than typing it in from scratch.
The action appears only on invoices that already have a payment recorded (status Paid or Partially Paid), and only while the invoice has no credit note against it yet.
Complete and save the credit note. The saved record then appears in the Credit Note list (/account/creditnotes), where it can be searched and opened again later.
Practical points while filling it in:
- Match the source invoice. Keep the currency and tax treatment consistent with the invoice you are crediting; mismatches show up later as discrepancies in your finance reports.
- Be explicit about the reason. Using a small, consistent set of descriptions ("product return", "billing error", "goodwill adjustment") makes the list far easier to review at period end.
- Credit, do not overwrite. Issuing a credit note leaves the original invoice's line items and number untouched — you never edit or delete an issued document, which is what keeps the audit trail readable. PMSuite does flag the invoice as credited and may move its payment status to Paid or Partially Paid depending on the credited amount.
When to issue one
| Situation | What a credit note does for you |
|---|---|
| Client returns goods or cancels part of the work | Records the reduction against the client without touching the original invoice |
| The invoice was overstated | Documents the correction; you can then bill the corrected amount separately |
| Goodwill adjustment | Leaves a formal record of the discount rather than an unexplained shortfall |
| Duplicate billing | Offsets the duplicate document cleanly |
Effect on other features
- Invoices. The credit note is anchored to the invoice you started from, so the relationship between the two documents is preserved for review and audit. The invoice is marked as having a credit note, its number appears on the invoice view, and its payment status is recalculated against the credited amount.
- Applying the credit elsewhere. A saved credit note can be applied against the same client's other outstanding invoices, provided they use the same currency and do not already have a credit note of their own. See Applying Credit Notes.
- Payments. A credit note is not a payment. Recording money actually moving back to a client is a separate action in Payments (
/account/payments). PMSuite invoices also carry a Refunded status with a Mark as Refunded action — use that when the money genuinely went back, and a credit note when the balance is simply being reduced. - Finance reporting. Credit notes are part of your Finance module records and are visible from the Finance reports area (
/account/finance-report,/account/income-expense-report).
Limitations
- Numbering is driven by settings, not by the form. You cannot invent an arbitrary numbering scheme per document. Workaround: set the pattern once in Finance Settings → Prefix Settings, where the credit note prefix is configured independently of invoices and estimates.
- Creation starts from an invoice that is already paid or part-paid. There is no standalone "new credit note" form, and an invoice can carry only one credit note. Workaround: if the adjustment does not correspond to such an invoice — or that invoice already has a credit note — handle it on the next invoice you raise, as a discount or adjustment line.
- Credit notes do not record cash movement. They adjust the invoice balance and status, but no money is logged as leaving your accounts. Workaround: if a refund was actually paid out, record it through Payments and/or mark the invoice Refunded, so cash records and document records agree.
- There is no dedicated credit-note report. Workaround: use the Credit Note list's own search together with the Finance reports for period reviews.
Troubleshooting
"Credit Note" is missing from the Finance menu. The entry sits under the Spending group in the Finance navigation. If it is still absent, your role does not include access — a Company Admin can adjust role permissions.
The "Add Credit Note" action is missing on an invoice. The action only appears once a payment has been recorded against the invoice (status Paid or Partially Paid) and while the invoice does not already have a credit note. Confirm the invoice's status on /account/invoices; a fully Unpaid invoice is normally corrected by adjusting the billing rather than by crediting it.
The numbering does not look right. Check Finance Settings → Prefix Settings. Credit note numbering is set there and is independent of the invoice prefix.
Amounts look wrong in reports after crediting a multi-currency invoice. Verify the currency and exchange rate on the source invoice — Finance dashboard and report totals are presented in your default currency, so a wrong rate on the original document propagates into the credited figures.