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Reminder on General Journal

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Posted on by Ahmad Subhani

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Hi,

A quick question — there is an option for “Reminder” under Document Type in the General Journal. How exactly is this used?

I noticed there’s an option called “Issued Reminder.” When I posted one of these, two types of lines appeared: Customer Ledger Entries and G/L Account. My understanding is that the G/L Account should be linked to the additional amount the customer has to pay (for example, reminder fees).

Hypothetically, I believe this line should appear in the same way as an invoice does. Then, when we receive the reminder-related payment from the customer, it should be managed through this process.

Is my concept right or not?

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Dynamics 365 Business Central

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KrisMan 70 on at

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Hi you are correct.

When you post any document in BC, it creates a journal and posts it.

Therefore, anything you can do as a document, you can generally do as a journal.

For example, sales order and Sales Journal achieve the same outcome, except you cant print the invoice for a journal

With reminders the same applies.

Post a normal reminder, check the Entries on the Issued Reminder

Then post a reminder general journal, and you achieve the same result

Then you can test if your journal is working the same as your document.

Last question, why would you do a reminder as a journal, it only will create a ledger entry, it doesnt actually provide any tangible outcome for the client or their customers to use this as a journal only.

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TarikJerkovich 276 on at

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In Dynamics 365 Business Central, selecting “Reminder” as the Document Type in the General Journal is used to post reminder-related fees that were issued to a customer.
After you create and issue a Reminder (for example, due to overdue invoices), and if that reminder includes a reminder fee, you use this journal entry to record that fee. When you post a line with:

Account Type = Customer

Document Type = Reminder

Balancing Account Type = G/L Account (e.g. "Late Fee Revenue")

Business Central creates:

A Customer Ledger Entry for the amount owed

A G/L Entry crediting your income account for the reminder fee

This works similarly to posting an invoice specifically for the reminder charge. When the customer pays, the payment can be applied directly to this Reminder entry.

However, to fully use this process, you should use the built-in Reminders functionality in Business Central. This allows you to define and configure:

Reminder Terms

Number of reminder levels

Penalty fees or interest percentages

Grace periods, wording, and layout per level

This ensures that reminder fees are calculated and issued correctly, and the general journal entry with Document Type = Reminder reflects those values accurately.

I hope this information is helpful for you

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Jainam M. Kothari 15,639 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Hello,

In Business Central, using the "Reminder" document type in the General Journal allows you to post reminder fees (e.g., late payment charges) to a customer.

When you issue and post a reminder, the system creates a Customer Ledger Entry (representing the amount the customer owes) and a G/L Entry (typically crediting a revenue account like "Late Payment Fees").

This behaves similarly to an invoice, meaning you can apply customer payments against it, and the fee is recognized as income.

Proper setup of Reminder Terms and G/L accounts ensures this process works smoothly.

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Valentin Castravet 31,342 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Yes, your understanding is correct. I'd go through the documentation to learn how the full functionality works - Set Up Reminder Terms and Levels - Business Central | Microsoft Learn

Valentin Castravet
Work: Zander ERP Services
Blog: Dynamics 365 Business Central Insights
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/valentin-c-0500a247/

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Khushbu Rajvi. 20,423 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Yes, your understanding is mostly correct.

https://community.dynamics.com/forums/thread/details/?threadid=6194b47e-3ef2-47bd-9868-f520e38b73ac

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OussamaSabbouh 5,798 on at

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Hello,

The “Reminder” document type in the General Journal isn’t used for normal invoicing. It’s part of reminder management — used to charge customers late-payment fees or interest. When posted, Business Central creates both:

a Customer Ledger Entry (the amount owed by the customer for the reminder fee), and

a G/L Account Entry (the revenue from reminder fees).

So yes, your understanding is mostly right — it behaves like an invoice for the reminder fee, which can then be settled when the customer pays it.

Regards,
Oussama Sabbouh

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Rishabh Kanaskar 6,148 on at

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Hi,

I hope this should help you: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-ca/dynamics365/business-central/finance-setup-reminders

Regards

Rishabh

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Gregory Mavrogeorgis 763 on at

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Hi,

Two different “reminder” things in BC

Issued Reminder (the document)
Just a notice for overdue invoices. No G/L posting, no new balance to pay. It only updates reminder levels on the customer entry.

General Journal with Document Type = Reminder
This is a manual charge (e.g., late fee). Does post to G/L and creates a customer ledger entry you can apply a payment to.

What to use

Only want to notify? → Issue Reminders (no accounting impact).

Want to charge a fee? → Prefer Finance Charge Memos (automated), or use a General Journal line:

Account Type = Customer, pick the customer

Document Type = Reminder

Amount = fee (debit)

Bal. Account Type = G/L Account, choose your late-fee revenue (credit)

Post → you can apply payment to it like an invoice

If you found this helpful please mark it as verified

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Jeffrey Bulanadi 8,760 on at

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Hi,

The “Reminder” document type in the General Journal is part of BC’s Reminder and Finance Charge functionality, which helps notify customers about overdue invoices and optionally apply fees or interest.

Here’s how it works:

Reminder Terms Setup

You define Reminder Terms to control how and when reminders are issued. These terms include:

Grace periods

Number of levels (e.g., first, second, third reminder)

Fee amounts or interest percentages

Text templates for printed or emailed reminders

Issuing a Reminder

When you issue a reminder:

BC creates a Customer Ledger Entry with the document type “Reminder”

A corresponding G/L Account entry is posted for the fee or interest amount

This G/L entry typically uses a predefined account like “Reminder Fee Revenue” or “Interest Income”

Posting via General Journal

If you manually post a “Reminder” document type in the General Journal:

You must specify the Customer Account, Document No., and G/L Account for the fee

The system posts both entries, linking the fee to the customer and recognizing revenue

Receiving Payment

When the customer pays the reminder fee:

You apply the payment to the “Reminder” ledger entry just like any invoice

This clears the customer balance and closes the reminder

Helpful Reference
Set up and send reminders – Microsoft Learn
Customer reminders and overdue invoices – NAV Essentials
Community thread: Reminder document type in General Journal

If you find this helpful, feel free to mark this as the suggested or verified answer.

Cheers
Jeffrey

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Aman Kakkar 2,319 on at

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Hi,

Adding to the other responses — when a Reminder is posted that includes Finance Charges, a corresponding Reminder Entry is automatically created to indicate that it originated from the Reminder process.

Hope this helps.

Aman K

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