Setting Up Customer Credit Limits

Credit limits in AccuArk allow you to control the maximum outstanding balance a customer can accumulate across all of their open invoices. When a customer has multiple unpaid or partially paid invoices, their combined balances count toward this limit. Setting appropriate credit limits helps protect your business from extending too much credit to any single customer while still allowing flexible payment terms for trusted accounts.

This guide explains how to configure credit limits on customer records, the difference between hard and soft enforcement, the permissions that control credit-related features, and how the credit summary appears on the invoice form.

Where to Configure Credit Limits

Credit limits are configured directly on the customer record. Each customer has two fields that control credit behavior:

• Credit Limit — A decimal dollar amount representing the maximum total outstanding balance the customer is allowed to carry. For example, setting this to 5000.00 means the customer can have up to $5,000 in unpaid invoice balances before the limit is triggered.
• Enforce Credit Limit — A boolean toggle that determines whether the credit limit is enforced as a hard block or a soft warning.

To set a credit limit:

1. Open the customer record from the Business module.
2. Navigate to the credit or financial section of the customer form.
3. Enter the desired credit limit amount in the Credit Limit field.
4. Set the Enforce Credit Limit toggle to your preferred enforcement mode.
5. Save the customer record.

A credit limit of zero or a blank value means no credit limit is set for that customer. The system will not perform any credit checks when processing invoices for customers without a defined limit.

Hard vs. Soft Enforcement

The Enforce Credit Limit toggle controls how strictly the system responds when a customer's outstanding balance would exceed their credit limit:

Hard Enforcement (Enforce Credit Limit = On)

When hard enforcement is enabled, the system blocks invoice creation or submission if the customer's proposed total balance would exceed their credit limit. The user sees an error message explaining that the customer has exceeded their limit, along with their current outstanding balance and available credit. The invoice cannot be saved or submitted until the situation is resolved.

Hard enforcement is appropriate for customers who have a history of slow payments, customers with whom you have a strict credit agreement, or any situation where you want an absolute cap on exposure.

Users who hold the INV_OVERRIDE_CREDIT permission can bypass a hard block. When a hard limit is triggered, these authorized users see an additional override option that allows them to approve the transaction despite the credit limit being exceeded. This is useful for managers who need the flexibility to make exceptions on a case-by-case basis without changing the customer's credit configuration.

Soft Enforcement (Enforce Credit Limit = Off)

When soft enforcement is used, the system displays a warning message when the customer's proposed total balance would exceed their credit limit, but it does not block the transaction. The user can acknowledge the warning and proceed with saving or submitting the invoice.

Soft enforcement is appropriate for customers where you want visibility into credit exposure without restricting sales. It ensures that staff are aware of the credit situation and can make an informed decision about whether to proceed.

Credit Summary Display

When a customer is selected on the invoice form, the system displays a credit summary panel that provides an at-a-glance view of the customer's credit standing. The summary includes four key metrics:

• Credit Limit — The maximum allowed outstanding balance configured on the customer record.
• Outstanding Balance — The total of all currently open (unpaid or partially paid) invoice balances for this customer.
• Available Credit — The difference between the credit limit and the outstanding balance, representing how much additional credit the customer can use before reaching the limit.
• Open Invoice Count — The number of invoices that are currently open and contributing to the outstanding balance.

This summary updates in real time as invoices are created, payments are recorded, and invoices are closed. It gives staff immediate context about the customer's financial relationship with the business before committing to a new order.

Permissions

Two permissions control access to credit-related features on the invoice form:

• INV_VIEW_CREDIT — Allows the user to see the credit summary panel on the invoice form. Users without this permission will not see any credit information, even if the customer has a credit limit configured.
• INV_OVERRIDE_CREDIT — Allows the user to bypass a hard credit limit block. This permission should be reserved for managers or authorized personnel who can make judgment calls about extending credit beyond the configured limit.

Assign these permissions through the role management system under Employees > Manage Roles. For most businesses, the INV_VIEW_CREDIT permission should be assigned to all roles that create invoices, while INV_OVERRIDE_CREDIT should be limited to manager-level roles and above.

Best Practices

• Start with soft enforcement for new customers until you have a payment history to evaluate, then switch to hard enforcement once you have established a credit limit that matches their payment behavior.
• Review credit limits periodically as customer relationships evolve. A customer who consistently pays on time may deserve a higher limit, while a customer with increasing past-due balances may need a lower limit.
• Use INV_OVERRIDE_CREDIT sparingly and track overrides through the audit trail. Frequent overrides may indicate that the credit limit is set too low or that the enforcement policy needs adjustment.
• Set credit limits on all commercial accounts rather than leaving them blank. Even a generous limit provides a safety net against unexpected exposure.

What to Read Next

• How Credit Limit Enforcement Works — Understand the technical details of how the credit check is performed during invoice processing.
• Multi-Location Inventory Fulfillment — Learn how to check and transfer stock across locations to fulfill orders.
• Creating Inventory Transfer Requests — Formalize inter-location stock movements linked to customer orders.