Application
In accounting, application means assigning received cash to specific invoices.
- Layer
- Lexicon
- Defined in
- Lexicon
- Components
- 1
Not a rule
Bookkeeping convention — not codified. US GAAP governs recognition, measurement and presentation — not the mechanics a bookkeeper uses to get there. Anyone citing a standard for this word is citing the wrong thing.
Every citation in this system, with the text we read and the date we checked it, is in US GAAP and where these rules come from.
Application, in use
Quoted from the 2 documents that use the word — what it does to an interface, in the spec's own sentence.
Outstanding customer credits awaiting application, aged.
The complete receivables stack: quote → order → fulfilment → invoice → collection → cash application → revenue.
For founders
The same idea written for a founder: what it costs a startup that ignores it, and what to do in a real month.
- US GAAP for early-stage startups, in plain EnglishAccrual accounting, revenue recognition (ASC 606), leases (ASC 842), stock compensation and capitalized software: what each means for a small company.
- AR aging and collections: a practical guide for startupsHow to read an AR aging, work out DSO, run a dunning cadence, record a promise to pay, escalate a late account and clear unapplied cash.
What it is not called
Each of these is a real word for a different thing. Using it here is what makes a product read as though it was built by someone who has not done the work.
- matching
- allocation
Components that render this
The concept is not documentation-only. These are the components that name it in their specification, grouped and stated exactly as the catalog states them.
Also in Receivables
Work with this concept
The calculators that compute it and the ledger payloads that carry it. A definition is where a reader starts; these are where they go next.
- Penny-exact allocationSplit 100.00 three ways and get 33.34 / 33.33 / 33.33 — never a cent left in suspense.Tool
- Which invoices make this deposit?A deposit against forty open items. Exact subset-sum over minor units — no floating point.Tool
- Payments and allocationHow is a payment tied to the documents it settles?API
- Journal entry for a customer depositWhen a customer pays a deposit, debit Cash and credit Customer deposits. On delivery, debit Customer deposits for the deposit, debit Accounts receivable for the balance, and credit Revenue for the full price.Entry
Defined in Lexicon. This page is generated from that document, so the two cannot disagree.