A paid deposit on a field-service estimate can be real cash before it is accounts receivable. Keep it outside the open-invoice forecast until work is billed and the deposit is applied to an issued invoice; then forecast only the invoice’s remaining balance.

Intuit’s estimate-deposit guidance explains that a deposit can be requested and paid on an estimate, recorded as a liability, and later applied when the estimate becomes an invoice. Intuit’s invoice-deposit guidance explains that an applied deposit reduces the customer’s balance due.

Keep four stages distinct

Field-service teams often move through estimate, scheduled work, completed work, and invoice. A deposit can enter the cash record near the beginning of that sequence, but it does not make the unbilled estimate an open receivable.

Use four separate states:

  • **Deposit requested:** no cash and no issued invoice.
  • **Deposit paid:** observed cash with its recorded liability or prepayment treatment.
  • **Invoice issued:** a receivable exists; verify how the deposit was applied.
  • **Remaining balance paid:** the invoice is settled and later bank evidence can be reconciled.

Mixing the paid estimate amount with open AR can count the same economics twice: once as cash already received and again as a future invoice collection.

Handoff from operations to finance

Operations should identify the estimate, customer, job or work order, deposit amount, payment date, completion status, billing approval, and final invoice number. Finance should confirm the accounting record rather than relying on operational status alone.

When the invoice is issued, check that the deposit was applied to the intended customer and invoice and that the remaining balance in the dated AR export agrees with the invoice. If the project scope changed, preserve the approved estimate and final billing evidence instead of assuming the original percentage still applies.

The field-service invoice readiness checklist covers the operational-to-billing gate. The progress-invoice forecast guide covers staged invoices after they are issued.

Four-week forecast treatment

Show the paid deposit as observed cash, not expected AR collection. Before the final invoice exists, keep any expected remaining billing in a non-AR billing outlook. After issuance and deposit application, forecast no more than the verified open invoice balance.

If the deposit is refundable, disputed, or not yet applied, flag the condition without inventing a collection or refund date. Retain an owner and next review date. The retainer-versus-AR guide provides a related boundary for advance funds.

Decision rule

Cash received on an estimate is not automatically an open receivable. Record the deposit once, wait for the issued invoice, verify the application, and forecast only the remaining traceable balance. Finance teams can view the AR Pulse example to see that invoice-level boundary.