Customer accounts

📍 Where can I find this module?
Main Menu > Sales

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Introduction #

The Accounts module centralizes information about your customers, prospects, partners, and suppliers. It can be accessed via Main Menu > Sales > Accounts.

An account represents an entity (company, organization, government agency) with which you have a business relationship. It serves as the central hub for all business documents: quotes, orders, invoices, credit memos, support tickets, etc.

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1. Create an account #

Access #

1. Access the Accounts module via Main Menu > Sales > Accounts
2. Click the Add Account button

Information to provide #

Key information:

• Account name: the business name or entity name (required)
• Account type: the nature of the relationship (Customer, Prospect, Partner, Reseller, etc.)
• Industry: the sector in which the entity operates
• Website: the entity's website URL
• Phone / Email: primary contact information

Addresses:

• invoicing address: used by default on quotes, orders, and invoices
• Shipping address: used by default on delivery slips

Good to know: The account details are automatically populated when creating sales documents (quotes, orders, invoices). You can edit them on a case-by-case basis for each document.

Parent Account:
The Parent Account field allows you to establish a hierarchy between accounts. For example, a subsidiary can be linked to its parent company. This tree structure allows you to visualize the organizational structure of multi-entity groups and can be used for invoicing and pricing based on rate schedules (see Section 5).

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2. Account Types #

The account type determines the nature of your relationship with the entity:

Good to know: The account type has no functional impact on sales documents. It is primarily used for segmentation and reporting.

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3. Account Overview #

record account record provides a comprehensive view of the business relationship through the relationship tabs:

• Contacts: Individuals associated with this account
• Quotes: commercial proposals issued
• Customer orders: saved purchase orders
• Invoices: Invoices issued
• Customer credits: credits issued
• Documents: related files (contracts, attachments, etc.)
• Activities: calls, meetings, and tasks related to this account
• Tickets: Related support requests
• Locations: the various locations (delivery addresses) associated with this account

This centralized view allows you to quickly access a customer's complete history without having to switch between different modules.

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4. Available actions #

Create a document from the account #

From record account record , you can directly create:

• A quote
• A customer order
• An invoice

The account will be automatically pre-filled in the new document.

Send an email #

You can send an email directly from the record . The email will be saved in the activity history.

Duplicate #

Use the Duplicate feature to create a new account based on an existing one. The main information is copied over (excluding linked documents).

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5. Account hierarchy #

The " Parent Account " field allows you to organize your accounts into a tree structure:

• A parent account can have multiple subaccounts
• Each subaccount keeps its own documents and contacts
• The hierarchy is visible from record parent record

Important: Kafinea does not provide a consolidated view of quotes and invoices for a group of accounts. Each account (parent or sub-account) manages its own documents independently.

Invoicing on the parent account #

When creating a recurring purchase order, a "Bill parent account " option is available in the " invoicing information" section. When this option is enabled, automatically generated invoices are linked to the parent account rather than the purchase order account. This allows you, for example, to centralize invoicing the parent company while managing orders at the subsidiary level.

Example of use:

An industrial group (parent account) with several subsidiaries (subaccounts). Recurring purchase orders are entered for each subsidiary, but by enabling the “Bill parent account” option, the generated invoices are automatically linked to the parent company.

Pricing based on a rate schedule by group #

The pricing plans offer two pricing strategies that leverage the account hierarchy:

• Volume-based pricing (group): The unit price is determined by the group’s total consumption (parent company + subsidiaries). Each subsidiary is billed for its own consumption at the unit price determined by the group’s overall volume.
• Tiered pricing (group): Price tiers are calculated based on the group’s total consumption. Each subsidiary’s share is proportional to its contribution to the overall consumption.

These strategies allow a group to benefit from more favorable rates by pooling consumption volumes across the parent company and its subsidiaries. For more details and sample calculations, see the Help pricing strategies.

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6. Special Cases #

Account with multiple shipping addresses #

Each account has a default invoicing address invoicing a default shipping address. For customers with multiple shipping locations, Kafinea offers the " Sites" feature.

The Sites allow you to set up multiple addresses linked to a single account. Each site has:

• A code and a name to easily identify it
• A complete address (street, city, ZIP code, country)
• A "Default Site " indicator to designate the main site

You can view and manage an account’s sites directly from the record , in the Sites tab. This allows you to maintain a centralized repository of all your customer’s shipping addresses.

When creating a sales document (order, delivery note, etc.), you can edit the shipping address by selecting from the locations saved in your account.

Merging duplicates #

If the same customer has been created twice, use the Merge function to combine the two records. Any documents associated with the duplicate will be linked to the retained account.

Deleting an account #

Deleting an account does not delete the associated documents (quotes, invoices, etc.). These documents simply lose their link to the account. Before deleting an account, make sure there are no pending documents.

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7. Frequently Asked Questions #

What is the difference between an account and a contact? #

An account represents an entity (company, organization), while a contact represents an individual within that entity. An account can have multiple contacts.

How do you turn a prospect into a customer? #

Simply change the "Account Type " field from "Prospect" to "Customer." There is no specific conversion process for accounts.

How do I view all of a customer's invoices? #

From the record , go to the Invoices tab to view all invoices issued for this customer.

Can accounts be imported in bulk? #

Yes, Kafinea offers an import feature that allows you to create or update accounts from a CSV file. You can access this feature via the Actions menu in the Accounts module.

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8. Glossary #

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Related references 🔗 #

• Contacts
• Customer quotations
• Customer purchase orders
• Customer payments
• Suppliers
• Prospects