Accounts receivable moves fast. Payments come in, credits get issued, balances change. It can be hard to know exactly where things stand at any moment.
The AR subledger in CRO Billing is designed to give you that clarity. Every payment, credit, charge, and balance adjustment is recorded in one place, organized so you can find what you need quickly and act on it with confidence.
You do not need an accounting background to use these tools. This guide explains what each section does and when to use it.
What is the AR Subledger?
A subledger is a detailed record that sits behind your main accounting books. While your accounting software (QuickBooks, Sage, or similar) keeps a summary of what customers owe in total, the AR subledger in CRO Billing tracks every individual transaction that makes up that total.
When your accounting software says a customer owes $4,200, the subledger shows you exactly how that number was built: which invoices are open, what payments have been applied, whether any credits are waiting to be used, and whether any charges have been assessed.
đ¸ Screenshot suggestion: The CRO Billing sidebar showing all navigation items â Receivables, Credit Memos, Debit Memos, Adjustments, Finance Charges, Ledger â with Receivables selected and active.
What Changed and Why It Matters
CRO Billing tracks AR at the transaction level rather than the account summary level.
In practice, this means two things.
You can trace any number back to its source. If a customer's balance looks wrong, you can find the specific payment or charge that caused it.
Your accounting software stays accurate because the detail work happens in CR. Your GL entries at month-end reflect what actually happened, not an estimate.
The Seven Tools â At a Glance
đ¸ Screenshot suggestion: The full sidebar navigation, zoomed in and clearly labeled, ideally with the section names legible.
Tool | What it tracks |
Receivables | Payments received from customers, deposits, and unapplied balances |
Refunds | Refund checks and ACH payments issued back to customers |
Credit Memos | Credits issued to customers for returns, disputes, or adjustments |
Debit Memos | Amounts charged back to customers, including NSF fees and returned items |
Adjustments | Write-offs, balance corrections, and other AR adjustments |
Finance Charges | Interest and late fees assessed on overdue accounts |
Ledger | A summary of all AR activity for the period, used for month-end review |
When to Use the Subledger
Here are some common situations where the AR subledger tools can be useful:
A customer says they already paid, but the invoice still shows open. Go to Receivables. Search for the customer and open their payment history. You can see every payment recorded, whether it has been applied to an invoice, and whether any balance remains.
You need to issue a credit because a customer was overcharged or returned a product. Go to Credit Memos. You can create a credit, attach it to the customer's account, and either apply it to a future invoice or convert it to a cash refund.
A customer's check bounced, and you need to record the NSF fee. Go to Debit Memos. You can record the bounced check as an NSF debit memo and add the fee to the customer's balance.
You are closing the month and need to make sure AR is accurate before posting to your accounting software. Go to Ledger. The Ledger page summarizes all AR activity for the period: payments in, credits out, adjustments, finance charges, and gives you the numbers you need to post a journal entry.
A small balance has been sitting open for months, and you need to clear it. Go to Adjustments. You can write off uncollectible balances, with a reason code for your records.
A customer is asking about a refund you issued last month. Go to Refunds. Every refund is tracked with its status, Issued, Cleared, or Voided, so you can tell the customer exactly where their check stands.
How It Connects to Your Accounting Software
CRO Billing handles the detail. Your accounting software (QuickBooks, Sage, Xero, or similar) handles the summary.
At the end of each period, you review the Ledger page in CRO Billing and use those figures to create a journal entry in your accounting software.
The Ledger shows the net change in AR for the period, broken down by category.
You do not need to enter individual transactions into your accounting software. The subledger in CRO does that work. You only post the totals.
đ¸ Screenshot suggestion: The Ledger page showing the left summary panel with line items visible (Previous Balance, Sales, Cash Receipts, etc.) and the right panel showing a detail drill-down.
Where to Go Next
Use the links below to learn about each tool in detail.