Handling Customer ABN Changes or Ownership Transfers in How to manually create a new Credit Application Form in PencilPay and Your Accounting Software

When a customer's ABN changes (e.g., due to ownership transfer or legal entity update), follow these steps to maintain accurate records to ensure legal compliance, and avoid syncing issues between Pencil and your Accounting Software. A new account application with the updated ABN is required to protect against legal risks.

Step 1: Update the Old Credit Form

Remove the bank details from the old credit form.
Mark the old credit form as Inactive. Follow the steps in the support article below:
How to Change Customer Status from Active to Inactive

Step 2: Create a New Credit Form

Create a new credit form using the customer's new ABN and updated legal entity name. Follow the steps in this support article How to manually create a new Credit Application Form in PencilPay
Then you have two options to complete the new credit form with the new legal entity name for legal protection:
- Send the on-boarding email to the customer, follow these steps in this support article: How to Send an On-boarding Email to Customer
- Edit the credit form and complete it on behalf of your customer, follow these steps: Can we sign off on the director's behalf or get all required information then enter it ourselves into Pencilpay?

Step 3: Manage the Contact in your Accounting Software and update the Name of the Contact

To prevent syncing conflicts:

Add any suffix for a clear distinction for example, use the "-OLD" suffix to the old contact name in your Accounting Software (e.g., "ABC Trading -OLD").

This ensures you can distinguish old records, especially if reusing the same Trading Name.

Step 4: Handle NetSuite Customer Records

Choose based on your needs:

Option	Description	When to Use
Merge Customers	Keep one customer record in Accounting Software for ordering and full order history.	You want unified history under the new entity.
Keep Separate	Create two distinct customer records in Accounting Software.	You need to separate data between old and new entities.

Additional Notes

If you want to keep the the old customer records for record-keeping purposes (also so you have the full history of orders for that customer)and if there is already a new credit form that was filled out by the customer, then follow the recommended steps 1-3 and then in step 4 follow "Merge Customers" to merge the two customers is the best option.

If you want to keep the data separate from the two entities and have two customers, then follow the recommended steps 1-3 and then in step 4 follow "Keep Separate" to separate the two customers is the best option.