Use the Terms tab to set default trading terms of your customers and suppliers. For example, credit limits, payment due days, and finance rates for credit charges. These apply to new customer and supplier records you create. You can also edit each record individually.

Customer Trading Terms

Credit Limit

The default customer credit limit.	Up to 11 characters. By default this is zero.
Payment Due Days	The default number of days allowed to pay invoices.	In the range 0 to 999. By default this is zero.
Set. Discount	If you want to offer an early settlement discount, enter the default percentage here.	In the range 0 to 99.99. By default this is zero.
Set. Discount Due Days	If you want to offer an early settlement discount, enter the days within which the customer qualifies for the discount.	In the range 0 to 999. By default this is zero.
Terms	Terms text, for example "Payment within 30 days" to describe the terms offered. You can print this on your invoices or statements, if required.	Up to 30 characters of text. By default this is blank.

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Supplier Trading Terms

Credit Limit	The default supplier credit limit.	Up to 11 characters. By default this is zero.
Payment Due Days	The number of days that suppliers allow you to pay invoices.	In the range 0 to 999. By default this is zero.
Set. Discount	If your supplier offers you an early settlement discount, enter the default percentage in this box.	In the range 0 to 99.99. By default this is zero.
Set. Discount Due Days	If your supplier offers you an early settlement discount, enter the days within which you'll qualify for the discount.	In the range 0 to 999. By default this is zero.
Terms	Terms text, for example "Payment within 30 days" to describe the terms offered.	Up to 30 characters of text. By default this is blank.

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Customer Finance Rates

Use this area to set up finance rates when applying credit charges to outstanding customer invoices.

• To add customer finance rates, click Add then enter the following information:

  Date Applying	Enter the date from which the finance rate is to apply.
  Base Rate* %	Enter the relevant base rate of interest.
  Additional %	If required, enter the percentage to add to the Base Rate figure.

You can also amend or delete an existing finance rate by selecting it then clicking Edit or Delete.

Create up to 100 different named statuses to apply to your customer and supplier accounts. For example, On hold, Cash only or Bad Debt. You can also specify if applying a particular status marks an account as on hold.

Edit an Account Status

1. Go to Settings and click Configuration.
2. Click the Account Status tab and select an account status from the list and click Edit.
3. Complete the Edit Account Status window as follows:
   

   Description	Enter the required name for the account status.
   Marks Account as "On Hold"	Select this box to place the account on hold and set the relevant status. NOTE: Applying an on hold status to an account displays a warning on the record. This doesn't prevent you from entering or amending transactions.

4. Click OK.

To help with reporting and stock management, in this tab you can set up product categories and custom product record fields. 

Product Categories

1. Go to Settings and click Configuration.
2. Click the Products tab and click Product Categories.
3. Select a product category from the list and click Edit.
4. In the Name box, enter the required name and click OK.

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Product Category Label

To amend the name of the product category field on the product records, type the new name into the Label box. This can be up to ten characters.

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Product Custom Fields

Each Product Record has three custom fields associated with it which are on The product record Web tab. You can rename them by entering the new names in the Field 1, 2 and 3 boxes. You can enter up to ten characters.

To help you to track your fixed assets, you can group them into named categories. This can help you to produce more useful reports about the value of your fixed assets.

Fixed Asset Categories

1. Go to Settings then click Configuration.
2. Click the Fixed Assets tab then click Fixed Asset Categories.
3. Select a fixed asset category from the list and click Edit.
4. In the Name box, enter the required name and click OK.

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Fixed Asset Category Label

To amend the label for the fixed asset category fields throughout Sage Accounts, type the new name in the Label box. You can enter up to ten characters.

Use Custom fields to record information about a record or order. You can then analyse using the search option or when generating reports.  This is useful to differentiate between different types of customers, suppliers, or orders.

Customer Record 

Analysis fields

The default labels for the custom fields are Analysis1, Analysis2, and Analysis3 but you can amend these as required. These appear on The Customer record Defaults tab. 

For example, if you want to use Analysis1 to represent your customer's location, you can enter Region here. This label changes to Region from Analysis1 on all customer records.

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Supplier Record

Analysis fields

The default labels for the custom fields are Analysis1, Analysis2, and Analysis3 but you can amend these as required. These appear on the Supplier Record Details tab of each Supplier Record. 

For example, if you want to use Analysis1 to represent a sales agent, enter Agent Name here. This label changes to show as Agent Name from Analysis1 on all supplier records.

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Quotations / Sales Orders / Invoices 

The default labels for the custom fields are Analysis1, Analysis2, and Analysis3 but you can amend these as required. These appear on The Order tab on invoices, credits, purchase orders, sales orders, and quotations.

For example, if you want to use Analysis1 to represent a sales agent who dealt with the order, you can enter Agent Name here. This label changes to Agent Name from Analysis1 on all quotations, sales orders, and invoices

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Purchase Orders

The default labels for the custom fields are Analysis1, Analysis2, and Analysis3 but you can amend these as required. These appear on The Order tab on invoices, credits, purchase orders, sales orders, and quotations.

For example, if you want to use Analysis1 to represent a sales agent, you can enter Agent Name here. This label changes from Agent Name to Analysis1 on all purchase orders.

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Departments

The default label is Department. To rename the department option within Sage 50 Accounts, enter the new description here.

NOTE: This option doesn't rename departments in column-based windows, or on the Criteria window when running a departmental report.

Update the email fields within customers and suppliers to personalise your records. 

The default labels for the custom fields are Email1, Email2, and Email3, but you can amend these as required. These appear in:

• The Customer record Details tab
• The Supplier Record Details tab

When you mark a customer or supplier invoice as being in dispute, add a reason code to explain the dispute reason. Sage 50 Accounts contains 1000 unnamed dispute reason codes which you can personalise to suit your business requirements.

Edit a Dispute Reason

1. Go to Settings then click Configuration.
2. Click Dispute Reasons and select the dispute reason from the list then click Edit.
3. In the Name box enter the required description, then click OK.
   NOTE: You can't edit dispute reason 1 - No Reason and leave the description blank. If no other reason codes exist, Sage Accounts uses this as the default entry when you dispute an item. 

Use the Credit Control features to generate letters to your customers automatically, to remind them of any outstanding balance. Use the Credit Control tab to specify which of your standard or customised reports to use for each type of letter.

Edit the Credit Control letters

1. Go to Settings then click Configuration.
2. Click Credit Control and use the Browse options to browse to and select the following defaults:
   
   • Statement
   • Reminder Letter
   • Warning Letter
   • Legal Threat Letter
3. From the set status to drop-down lists choose the status code you want to apply to your customer's record. This applies after you send them each of the following letters:
   
   • Reminder Letter
   • Warning Letter
   • Legal Threat Letter

Here you can edit default project costing information such as project status, custom fields, cost types, and cost codes.

Read more in our Configuration Editor - Project Costing tab article.