Recalculate and Update Open Dues Invoice

Learn how to recalculate dues invoices.

Pete Zimek, CAE avatar
Written by Pete Zimek, CAE
Updated over a week ago

There may be times that call for a do-over for a dues invoice or multiple dues invoices. Let's say that dues auto-renewals ran, things are looking great, but oh no! ABC Company had the wrong information in a custom field and now their invoice has the wrong dues amount.

No problem! Novi allows you to easily recalculate the invoice without starting from scratch.

On a larger scale, let's say it was overlooked that a dues rule needing updating before the auto-renewals ran. Now all of of the renewal dues invoices are incorrect! No worries, Novi can recalculate in bulk as well.

Please note that recalculation only applies to open dues invoices that have not been manually edited in QuickBooks Online.


First Step

The first step will always be to update the incorrect information. If a custom field is incorrect or a member type setting needs to be updated, correct the incorrect information before re-calculating anything. This ensures that recalculation will show the correct changes.


Four Options to Recalculate

Once the first step above is completed, determine which of the following options is best for the current scenario...

1. Recalculate a Single Dues Invoice.

  • Open the invoice and press the Recalculate button.

Note: This button will be grayed out if the invoice is unable to be recalculated. See Error Messages section below.

2. Recalculate in Bulk by Member Type.

If there are larger scale changes to make to invoices, each Member Type has a button on the Settings tab to "Recalculate Open Dues Invoices."  

Note: This option is only available to Association Admins - staff with Limited Admin Access will not be able to recalculate invoices.

To recalculate dues invoices in bulk:

  • Go to Members > Member Types > and select the member type you want to recalculate

  • Go to the Settings tab

  • Scroll down and click the Recalculate Open Dues Invoices button (see screenshot below). Clicking this button will schedule all open invoices for this member type to be recalculated in line with the latest dues rules, invoice date, & accounting settings. When the confirmation prompt appears, click Yes to schedule the recalculation.

  • On the Accounting > Transactions page, you'll see that the invoice Balance and Total columns on the transaction list will display spinner icons to indicate that the recalculation is in progress. You'll see the new amounts when the recalculation is complete.


3. Select Specific Invoices in the Transactions List (Batch Action).

If needing to recalculate more than one open dues invoice but option #2 above (by member type) is too broad, select specific invoices in the Transactions list and use the Batch Action feature to recalculate them.


4. Manually Adjust in QuickBooks Online.

If an invoice has already been paid or if it needs to be customized to meet a member request, manually update the dues invoice in QuickBooks Online.

Note: Any invoice that is manually edited in QuickBooks Online would not be able to be recalculated in Novi later.


Additional Info

Transaction and Due Dates:

  • If the invoice is for a renewing member (they had an old expiration date), the due date is updated according to "Due date for invoices set to X day(s) after expiration date" in the member type settings and transaction date is updated according to "Transaction date for invoices set to x day(s) after expiration date" in the member type settings.

  • If the invoice is for a new member (no old expiration date), no change is made to the dates upon re-calculation.

Invoice Message:

  • If editing the invoice message, the updated verbiage will be applied to the invoice(s) during recalculation.

Display Order of Dues Rules & Product Add-ons:

  • The same applies to the order of Product Add-ons, but these will always be listed below the dues rules.

Companies with Seat-Based Dues:

To add or remove seats from a seat-based dues invoice, then the recalculation process above would not apply. Instead, follow the steps to:

Error Messages:

If there is an issue with a recalculation, a helpful message will display with the reason which may include:

  • Membership dates were previously cleared

  • Invoice is already paid

  • Only invoices that have not been modified in QuickBooks Online can be recalculated

  • The account period has closed (i.e. the “Books Closed” date in QuickBooks Account Settings is later than the transaction date - see below)

  • Can’t find the particular customer (perhaps they were deleted in QuickBooks and that info hasn't synced back to Novi)

It is possible for a general unforeseen error, i.e. if QuickBooks is having issues at the time of a recalculation, so please feel free to contact Novi if that occurs.

When an error occurs while bulk recalculating invoices, Novi will recalculate all applicable invoices and display the invoice numbers of the invoices that could not be recalculated with the bulk action. These invoices can then be manually updated if needed.


Closed Books Message:

Closing the books in QuickBooks means that transactions dated prior to a specific "close date" can't be updated. Some accountants or bookkeepers close books after an accounting period has ended for tax prep or reporting reasons.

That said, all association admins aren't always in the loop on these things, and it will impact certain aspects of Novi - namely that admins will not be able to re-calculate open dues invoices that are dated prior to the closed books date.

If a QuickBooks Admin has closed the books, a specific message will display. This message explains which invoices fall into this range and what to do to edit these invoices.

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