Khata: customers, credit limits and recoveries

Khata is credit for customers you know: a school that pays at the end of the month, a teacher who settles every Friday, a shop that buys wholesale. In BooksPOS every customer has an account with a credit limit, a running balance and a statement of every bill and payment. This guide covers adding customers, selling on khata, receiving payments, and reading the statement.

How to add a customer

1. Open Khata (customers) (under Sales in the menu).
2. Choose New.
3. Fill in:

4. Choose Save customer.

Adding and editing customers needs the party-editing permission, which owners, managers and accountants have. Cashiers can find customers and take their payments, but cannot create them.

Selling on khata

At the till, press F4, choose the customer, and on F9 put the unpaid part on On account (khata). The rest can be paid now in any way. See Taking payment.

The limit is checked when the bill is saved. If Hamid owes Rs 8,000 of a Rs 10,000 limit, a Rs 3,000 bill on khata is refused: "Hamid owes 8,000.00; this bill would exceed the 10,000.00 limit." Take part of it in cash, or raise the limit first.

How to receive a payment

1. In Khata (customers), search by Name or phone and choose the customer. The panel shows what they Owe and any Advance held.
2. Choose Receive payment. The amount starts as what they owe; change it if they pay part.
3. Choose Paid by: Cash (through this counter's drawer), Bank transfer / cheque, Card, EasyPaisa or JazzCash.
4. Add a Reference (cheque, transaction ID) and a Note if useful.
5. Confirm. BooksPOS shows, for example, "MAIN-RC000014: received Rs 5,000.00 from Hamid. Balance Rs 3,000.00."

Cash received here goes into this counter's drawer and is counted at the shift close ("Cash is counted in this counter's shift"), so a shift must be open. Bank, card and wallet payments do not touch the drawer.

A customer cannot pay more than they owe as a khata payment: "Hamid owes Rs 3,000.00. To keep the rest for later purchases, record it as an advance." See Customer advances.

Who owes the shop

The cards at the top of Khata show Udhaar to collect (what every customer owes) and Advances held (money customers paid ahead, owed back to them in goods or cash). They add up every customer, whatever the list shows.

Search by name, account code, phone or CNIC. Choose Owes the shop to list only customers with khata to collect, largest first, or Has an advance for those with an advance. The list shows 50 customers at a time; the arrows under it move between pages.

Reading the statement

With a customer chosen, the statement lists every Date / document with what was Billed, what was Paid and the running Balance: bills on khata, payments, returns to their account, and their opening balance. It starts from 1 July (the financial year); type other dates in From and To as dd-mm-yyyy and choose Show, or choose This month, Last month, Year or All. The first line then says the Balance before the start date.

Choose a line to open what is behind it: a bill or a return opens as its receipt, a payment as a summary.

• Unpaid bills lists the bills still owed today, whatever the dates: each bill's amount, what has settled it, what is due and how many days old it is. Payments settle the oldest bills first.
• Advance lists the advance taken, used on bills and refunded, with what is held. Advances do not change what they owe.
• Contract prices lists the customer's own prices for particular items, such as a school's agreed price for its textbooks, with the usual price beside each. An owner or manager adds one with Add item, changes it with the pencil or removes it with the bin; the till then charges it for this customer before any price list, wholesale price or promotion. See Price lists, quantity breaks and promotions.
• CSV, PDF and Print give the statement for the dates shown, with the unpaid bills and the advance, to send to the customer or keep.

The Ageing report shows who owes what, and for how long (0–30, 31–60, 61–90 and over 90 days). See Reports for the owner.

Khata. Customer accounts: what each owes, advances held and a statement for any dates. Screenshot of the current build (28 Sep 2026), synthetic demo data.

Money owed from before BooksPOS

Use Opening balance on the customer, once, for what they owed on the day you started. It is not a sale and does not change today's takings. See Opening balances and opening stock.

Rules worth knowing

• A bill on khata is a sale on the day it is made. It counts in that day's sales and profit; the payment later only settles the account.
• The total owed to the shop is shown at the top of Khata as Udhaar to collect.
• Each branch keeps its own khata. A customer of one branch is not automatically a customer of another. From BooksPOS 0.9.7, the owner portal's Khata page and the Owner app show each branch's balances as it last reported them; payments are still received and recorded on the store PC.
• Nothing is deleted. A wrong payment is corrected by a new entry; the statement keeps both.

Common questions

Why is On account greyed out for a regular customer?

They have no credit limit, which means cash only. Open them in Khata (customers), choose the pencil (Edit customer) and set a Credit limit (Rs).

Can I send the customer their statement?

Yes. Choose the customer, set the dates, and choose PDF to save an A4 statement you can send on WhatsApp or email, or Print. CSV opens in Excel.

Can a cashier receive khata payments?

Yes. Receiving payments is part of the cashier role, and cash goes into their drawer. Creating customers and changing limits is not.

Does BooksPOS send payment reminders by SMS or WhatsApp?

No. There are no reminders. The Ageing report shows whom to call.

Related guides

• Taking payment: split tenders, EasyPaisa, JazzCash and khata
• Customer advances
• Opening balances and opening stock
• Reports for the owner
• Price lists, quantity breaks and promotions