Recording payments and sending receipts

A healthy payment workflow means invoice status, payment records, client balances, and receipts all tell the same story.

If one of those layers is wrong, support and finance questions become much harder than they need to be.

If an invoice is settled, update it in a way that also creates or aligns the payment record. Manual payments should still be logged with method, amount, and timing so the ledger stays trustworthy.

Whenever possible, tie the payment to the invoice and the client instead of treating it like an isolated event.

Send receipts as close to the real payment event as possible. That reduces follow-up friction and gives the client immediate confirmation.

If a customer asks for another copy later, the payment detail and receipt flow should make that request easy to support.