I have an Invoice file and a line items file for items/goods sold, would it be wise to use the same "items" file for recording payments as well. If I keep all purchases and payments with in the same file I can create a Statement type invoice. or should I have a seperate file for payments?

still puzzled

I wouldn't use the invoice file to record payments. That approach may allow you to deal with partial payments of invoices, but what about payments that are split across multiple invoices. I would add a Payments file to hold the details of the payment (check no., date, etc.) and a join file with the invoice file to allow allocation of payments across multiple invoices. The structural problem is that Invoices and Payments have a many to many relationship. -bd

I agree with Liveoak, we to have a seperate File for Payments as we have to deal with a lot of Partial invoices for projects.

It makes it easy to manage and for Report summaries etc.

I also agree. In a one file method, if you have products and track returns it would be more difficult to track because you would have to distinguish between credits and payments.