Sales Day Book
A sales day book is a manual record of all the credit sales by a business to customers. It is a book of prime entry it is a record of transactions before entering the accounting system. It is also known as the sales book.
It lists all the details from the credit invoice in one place, making it easier if a business uses a manual system for issuing credit invoices.
In this article, we look at the following:
- What is a credit Sale
- What to include in a sales day book
- Examples
- Free Excel Template
If you use a computerised accounting system, the sales day book is unnecessary as it is included in the software.
Why Should I Use Accounting Software?
If you are using a manual system, you might consider using accounting software like QuickBooks or Xero. If you issue credit invoices for customers using software has the following advantages:
- Customer details are stored in the software, making it easy to issue credit sale invoices.
- The software keeps track of outstanding invoices, and reports are available.
- Most will automatically send out customer statements and reminders.
- Saves the manual sales journal entry to the general ledger
- Automatically completes double entry bookkeeping
- Saves time
What is a Credit Sale?
A credit sale is a sale made to a customer on credit. The customer will have agreed on payment terms for the sale.
If you are a business offering credit, it is worth stating on the invoice due date and including terms of sales with the invoice.
Credit Notes
The chances are if you issue sales invoices on credit to customers at some point, you will have returns to deal with or a change to the invoice amount.
When you receive a return, you will issue a credit note to the customer. The credit note is included in a separate book called the sales return daybook.
Cash Sales
So far, we have looked at credit sales, but what happens with cash sales?
Cash receipts are recorded in a separate ledger, not confused with credit sales. The cash is recorded either by transaction or by day and then transferred using a sales journal to the general ledger.
What to Include in a Sales Day Book
A sales day book is a list of all the credit sales and will include the following information:
- Invoice Date
- Invoice Number
- Customer Name
- Sales Amount
- Sales Tax
- Total amount
If you require more information in the daybook, it is possible to add further columns.
At the end of a period (day, week or month), you total the sales day book and transfer the amount to the sales ledger in the accounting system using a sales journal.
The sales ledger is part of double entry bookkeeping.
Example Sales Day Book
The above example sales day book shows 4 credit sale invoices totalling £1250. The total is transferred to the general ledger using a journal. The sales ledger will only show the total, so the daybook is the detailed list of the credit invoices.
Sales Invoices
A sales Invoice is issued to a customer when you make a sale of goods or services. It is worth including as much information as possible and checking the details against the quote or estimate agreed.
The information required is:
- Your business name, address and contact details
- The customer name and address
- Unique invoice number
- Invoice date
- Payment terms and due by date
- Description of the goods or services, quantity and invoice amounts
- Vat amount and number
- Details on how to pay
If you require a sales invoice template, we have two available VAT and one non-VAT.
Sales Day Book Excel Template
If you require a sales daybook for your business, we have created one, and it is available at the end of this article for free.
Our template allows you to record all the credit sales, including customer name, invoice number, invoice date and amounts. It will automatically total the columns, ready for you to transfer.
One advantage of using Excel is the search feature. If you are looking for a particular customer or amount of an invoice, you can search within the spreadsheet.
Sales Day Book PDF
We have also created a PDF version of the sales day book. This is the ideal solution if you prefer to write the credit sale entries manually.
Licence Agreement
By downloading our templates, you agree to our licence agreement.
Sales Day Book Summary
A sales day book lists all the credit sales that a business issues.
If you use an accounting package, you will not require a sales day book, as the software takes care of everything within the sales ledger for you.
[INSERT_ELEMENTOR id=”8389″]
