Payment Entry

About Account Payments

The lifecycle of an account payment is outlined in the diagram below. Payments can be entered and applied to carrier/dealer accounts using this option. However, payments do not have to be applied here. If a payment does not have a corresponding charge, for example, it is considered unapplied. The Payment Journal includes information about both applied and unapplied payments.

When payments are applied, they offset charges created in account billing processing. When billing processing is run again, new charges are created. Depending on Business Rules, unapplied payments can be applied to these new charges automatically during bill processing. This can also be done using the Apply Unapplied (specific payments) or Apply All Unapplied (all unapplied payments) options. The last steps for the payment are to create a general ledger transaction for it, along with other carrier/dealer accounting information, using Payments To GL. General ledger transactions can then be exported to a file using the Export GL option.

Business Rules and Payment Entry

Business Rules determine, among other things, whether:

• Payments should be entered and applied as a combined or separate process, or either one.

• Payments are applied automatically, manually by invoice, or either method.

• A check number is required.

• Credit card payments are allowed in payment entry, and if so the credit card authorization vendor (Payway Complete, Cybersource, Braintree, etc.). If using a hosted payment page for entering credit card data, the host name and URL are also specified in the Business Rules.

Payment Entry/Application

In Payment Entry, you can enter and apply account payments. The steps you take to verify the accuracy of account payment entries depends on whether you are entering and applying payments in one or two steps:

• If entry and application are done in two steps, you should enter the batch, suspend it (by selecting Suspend rather than Accept), and then print the Payment Journal. Examine the cash batch entries and correct any errors by restarting the batch and modifying the payments. Then, accept the entered batch and apply it. Entry and application as two steps means that you must handle each account payment twice (i.e., once to enter and once to apply).
• If entry and application are done in one step, you forego the opportunity to print the Payment Journal in between entry and application. You can, however, print the journal after the payments have been applied, and correct any errors by selecting Cancel Payment.

Payment adjustments are also entered in Payment Entry. For example, if a payment was entered incorrectly in a previous batch, you can make an adjustment to correct the error.

Before you begin entering payments, calculate the total amount of payments, coupons, and adjustments in this batch. This will give you the control totals for each category. The control totals are compared against what you actually enter, which can prevent entry errors.

To enter account payments:

1. Select Payment Entry from the Account Payments menu.

   

   Note:

   If an account billing run is in progress, Circulation displays a warning message with the bill source that is being billed. Do not enter payments for that bill source (whether or not the payments are within the billing period), or the accounts will become out of balance.

2. Enter the batch header information, such as batch control totals and defaults for payment entry (described below). Click OK when you have finished. If you are restarting a suspended batch, enter the batch ID and click OK; the rest of the fields will default.

   Field	Type	What to enter
   BATCH	open (10)	Specify the batch ID for the payments you are entering.
   DESCRIPTION	open (30)	Enter a description of this batch of payments.
   BATCH DATE	date	Type the date on which you are entering this batch. The current date defaults.
   BANK	setup	Enter the ID of the bank to which these payments will be deposited.
   COLLECTOR SCHEME SCHEME DATE	setup setup date	These optional fields allow you to enter payments for some or all accounts on a truck as a single payment. This would be applicable if a truck driver collects payments from single copy outlets along their route. • In Collector, enter the ID of the collector (typically, the driver) who collected the payments from the account. • In Scheme, enter the truck sequence from which you will select accounts for payments. You will typically have special truck sequences set up for payments. • In Scheme Date, enter the basis date for selecting routes (and their corresponding accounts) for the truck sequence.
   ENTRY METHOD	predefined	Specify the entry method for these payments: combined entry and application, entry only, or application only. Depending on Business Rules, only one of these options may be available. If you enter and apply payments in two steps, use entry both to enter payments and restart suspended batches. Then use application to apply the batch.
   APPLY METHOD	predefined	Indicate how you will apply payments: • Automatic—The payment will be applied to the oldest open invoices, with leftover amounts going to the next oldest invoice, and so on. • Invoice—The Invoices window opens during payment entry, and you select the invoice to which you are applying the payment. Depending on Business Rules, only one of these options may be available. This field is not active if you are only entering (not applying) payments.
   CASH TOTAL	integer (14)	Enter the total amount of all payments in this batch.
   ADJUSTMENT TOTAL	integer (14)	Enter the total amount of adjustments in this batch.
   COUPON TOTAL	integer (14)	Enter the total amount of coupons in this batch.

3. Enter individual payments by clicking Add and completing the fields in the Payment Entry panel. When you click OK, the payment is added to the Payments table on the right side of the window, and the cash, coupon, and adjustment amounts are updated automatically. Continue entering payments in this manner.

   

   Column	Type	What to enter
   PAYMENT DATE	date	Enter the date this payment was made. The default is the current date.
   ENTITY	setup	Specify an account, account group, or truck: • Account—Enter the carrier/dealer’s name (or part of the name), ID, social security number, telephone number, route ID, or invoice number. • Account Group—Enter the account group ID. You must use an entry method of “combined” and an apply method of “invoice”. When you enter an account group ID, open invoices for accounts in that account group will be displayed for selection. • Truck—If you selected a collection scheme when adding the batch information, you can enter a truck ID in this field. This option is documented on Entering Payments by Truck.
   TYPE	predefined	Indicate the type of payment—cash, check, or credit card. If you select cash, no additional details need to be entered. If you select “check”, the Check Detail window will appear for entry of the check number. You also have the option of changing the account holder name. If you select “credit”, the Credit Card window opens for entry of the credit card number, validation value, expiration date, and authorization number. The fields in this window vary based on Business Rules, your selected credit card authorization vendor, and whether you are using the Hosted Order Page. See About Payment Authorization for more information on credit card authorization.
   PAYMENT AMOUNT	decimal (8)	Enter the amount of this payment.
   COUPON AMOUNT	decimal (8)	Enter the coupon amount, if any, included in this payment.
   ADJUSTMENT	yes/no	If you are making an adjustment for an account, enter charge (charge the account) or credit (credit the account).
   ADJUSTMENT AMOUNT	decimal (10)	If you are making an adjustment for an account, enter the amount of the charge or credit here.
   SUBSCRIPTION		Sometimes, carrier collect subscribers make “over-the-counter” payments directly to the newspaper (rather than the carrier). Since carrier collect subscribers do not, by definition, pay the newspaper, this payment is treated as an account payment. If this is an over-the-counter subscriber payment, enter the name, account number, or phone number of the subscriber making the payment. This payment will appear under the payment section of the account’s bill with the name and address of the subscriber. Note: If you populate this field and the remarks field, only the remarks will be printed on the account’s bill.
   REMARKS		Enter any remarks about this payment. The remarks will appear on the Payment Journal and may appear on invoices (as determined by Business Rules).

4. When you have finished entering the payments for a batch, if the cash amount entered does not equal the cash total entered in the Batch Entry panel, an out-of-balance condition exists. Coupon values and adjustment values are not included in the cash total (they have their own control totals). You will be given the option of updating the cash total.

5. When the entered payments are correct, click Cancel and then Accept (in the header) to accept the batch. If you are applying a batch that was entered as a separate step, click Apply instead and indicate which payments should be applied. All of the control totals must match at this point—otherwise Circulation will not allow you to accept the batch (you must Suspend, Reject, or Modify the batch).

Entering Payments by Truck

It is possible to enter a payment that covers some or all of the accounts on a truck. This method could be used, for example, to enter payments truck drivers collect from single copy outlets along their route.

In order to enter payments by truck, you must select a truck sequence in the Collection Scheme field when entering the batch information. This determines the accounts that display for a truck (based on the scheme date entered). Special truck sequences may be defined just for account payment entry, or existing truck sequences used in Publishing can be selected. A collector is also specified.

Note:

If the payment amount is different than the balance for the selected routes, the collector assigned to the account in Account Setup (typically the collector selected here) is charged for the difference.

To enter a payment for the truck, enter the truck ID in the Entity field. The Select Accounts popup window displays, listing the accounts delivering routes on the truck. If the truck contains relay trucks, accounts on those trucks will be displayed as well. Check all accounts for which payments have been collected, or click Select All to select all accounts on the truck. Click OK to accept the account selection.

Note:

If the Apply Method is “Invoice”, each account will show the open items outstanding. If the Apply Method is “Automatic” or the entry method is “Entry”, the accounts will be displayed on one line with only the total balance showing.

The total balance for all the selected accounts will default in the Payment Amount field, but can be changed.

Example—Entering a Batch of Payments

Suppose you are entering a batch of payments from four accounts, and the total amount of checks and cash is 700.00. One account also has a coupon for 5.00, and another account, who was shorted one day last week and had to buy extra papers at the grocery store, has a credit adjustment of 10.00. At this newspaper, payments are entered and applied in a combined process, and applied to specific invoices. The example below illustrates how the batch entry panel would be entered for this batch.

Since your apply method is by invoice, for each payment you enter, the Apply Invoices window will open, listing the open invoices for this account. You can then select one or more invoices to which the payment should be applied.

Select the appropriate checkbox(es) and click OK to continue. If this window does not open, it is because the account has no open invoices. Print the Summary Age Analysis Report or the Detail Age Analysis Report to check the status of carrier accounts.

If an invoice is not selected, the payment amount will remain unapplied. Likewise, if the payment amount is greater than the invoice amount, the leftover amount will remain unapplied.

For example, say the carrier made a payment of 500.00. The oldest invoice (for 494.75) could be selected, but 5.25 of the payment would be left over. If there were a next-oldest invoice, you could apply the 5.25 toward that.

Note:

Account payment adjustments are applied to the “oldest” balance, while miscellaneous charges/credits are applied to the current balance.

As we continue with our example, we enter a payment for Chris Bragg—a check for 200.00. Chris has also sent in a 5.00 holiday coupon, so we enter this in the Coupon Amount field. Another carrier, Rhonda Coon, was shorted 10.00 when her payment was entered last month; so an adjustment credit for 10.00 is entered. After all of the payments have been entered and the control totals equal the entered totals, you accept the batch.

Next, you print the Payment Journal and check your entries. Any payments that were entered incorrectly can be canceled using Cancel Payment, and then reentered in another batch.