Cost of Returns procedural question for an accountant V6.10

Vantage V 6.10

We don't have an accountant here, I'm the IT Manager with additional
accounting responsibilities, so forgive my ignorance - I know just
enough to be dangerous.

Our Returns & Allowances account 41100 seems to be overstated due to
the way things are set-up. When a customer sends back an item, we
usually issue a credit memo, repair the parts, and ship and re-
invoice.

As a result, our Sales Reenue account gets credited twice, once upon
initial shipment and again after the repair. In addition, the Returns
& Allowances account is credited when the RMA is processed.

On my income statement, the Total Sales is correct because the
Returns & Allowances offsets the amount, but an individual Sales
Account is effectively doubled for every return. Example

Upon original ship and invoice:
-Sales-Cable Assemblies goes up $1,000
-AR goes up $1,000

We issue credit memo:
-AR goes down $1,000
-Returns & Allowances goes up $1,000

We repair and re-ship an re-invoice:
-Sales-Cable Assemblies goes up $1,000
-AR goes up $1,000

The net result is that Sales-Cable Assemblies looks like $2,000
(though it is really only $1,000 in actual sales). This is offset by
the negative amount of $1,000 in Returns and allowances. On my income
statement, Sales-Cable Assemblies is overstated by $1,000, but Total
Sales is correct.

Also, the Returns account is much higher than the amount of product
that is actually returned and retained, and is not useful as a
measure of what is happening.

It seems to me that we should be using a different account when the
reworked item is sent back. Do you agree? Should this be done via a
Product Group that would Credit Returns & Allowances and selected in
the sales order?

Thanks in advance,

Randy Weber
IT Manager
TLC Electronics