Auto Repair Shop Books Cleanup A supplement is the same job
Paint, lamps, and a set of mats can land on one job. A supplement is more of that job, not a new month.
The second piece of paper
Body work rarely finishes on the first sheet. A supplement adds labor, or a lamp, or a blend the first estimate missed. If the supplement is posted as a brand-new sale in a later month, the original job looks underpriced and the later month looks busy for work that belonged to the first repair. The car did not come back as a new customer. The estimate grew.
We keep the supplement on the original job and we let the month of the close follow the rule the shop already uses for deposits. If the shop recognizes the work when the car leaves, the supplement waits for that day. If the shop recognizes the work as it is approved, each approval is dated and still tied to the same job number. What we will not do is drop the supplement into undeposited funds and hope the next reconciliation explains it.
Accessories are parts
Floor mats, a tow hitch, or a bulb pack sold with the job are parts, even when the body of the job feels like pure labor. They have a vendor cost. They have a price on the ticket. Treating them as a rounding error on the paint labor hides a parts margin and, in a state that taxes parts and not labor, it also hides the tax base. We still do not print a rate. The state where the shop sits publishes what is taxable. Our job is to keep the accessory on a parts line so that state has a true base to read.
A customer-pay dent and an insurer-priced panel can share a job without sharing a line. The insurer's price is not the shop's labor rate. Write them as they were agreed, and let the deposit from each payer stay identifiable.
One job number
Bring the original estimate and the supplement that followed it. If they share a job number, they should share a trail in the books. We will say whether the month split them apart.
Send the supplement
You will be talking to the Steven Palmieri practice.