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Accounts Payable & Receivable › Cash Application

What happens to the AR balance when a receipt is applied?

Beginner

Answer

Applying a receipt reduces the specific open invoice balances it's matched to and lowers the customer's total AR. Fully paid invoices are marked closed; partially paid ones show a residual. The GL AR control account and the customer's sub-ledger both decrease by the applied amount.
Real-world example Applying $5,000 across two invoices closes them and drops the customer's AR balance by $5,000.

Common follow-ups: What happens to a partially paid invoice? | How do the GL and sub-ledger move?