Preparing For Month End (Pre-Statement Creation Checks)

 

When preparing to close out the month in DLCPM, the following checklist may be helpful!

 

1.Backdate invoices

If you are closing out the month into the following month, you may have Invoices that need to be backdated. An example of this would be if you are creating April Statements on May 5th and you would like to include Cases with an Invoice Date of May 2nd.

 

•This can be accomplished by setting the Invoice Date to a day within April before creating Statements.  

2.Finance Charge

Have Finance Charges been configured correctly?

 

•Finance Charges should be set up Globally in Global Settings > Accounting > Accounts Receivable. Our Finance Charge help article details the Finance Charge options.

 

 

•Then applied on the Customer > 5. Accounting Form with the option to either use the Global Setting Rate or to apply a custom rate.  

 Please Note: Finance charges will be created at the time of Statement creation.  

 

3.Volume Discounts

Have Volume Discounts been configured correctly?

•Volume Discounts should be set up Globally in Global Settings > Volume Discounts.

•Then applied in Customer > Customer Settings > Volume Discount

•Before creating Statements, Volume Discounts can be previewed under Accounting > Preview Volume Discount Credits

 

4.Delivery Methods

Are Customer and Billing Account Statement Delivery Methods correct?

•The three Statement Delivery Method options are Print, E-mail, and Print & E-mail

•In order for a Customer to receive the Statement by E-mail (that includes Print & E-mail), they will need a Billing Email listed on the 5. Accounting tab.

 

•Billing Accounts require an email to be listed on their account.

 

 

•If a Statement should not be sent to the Customer or Billing Account by any means, the option 'Do not send Statement' should be checked.

 

Customer

 

 

Billing Account

 

 

5. Email SMTP Settings

To send out Statements by email, the Lab will need to have SMTP Settings configured.

 

•If your lab intends to use a general email such as support@lab.com, the SMTP Settings can be configured in File > Global Settings > Email

 

 

•Otherwise, we would recommend:

•Creating a new User in Administrator > System Admin Program > Users with a username such as 'Accounting'

•Logging into DLCPM as the Accounting user and configuring the SMTP Settings in File > Personal Settings

 

 

•Outlook SMTP Settings and Google SMTP Settings can be found on the service providers’ websites.

•Once the SMTP Settings have been configured, the Accounting email address should be set in Global Settings > Accounting > Email

 

 

•We would recommend sending out an Accounting-related email such as an Invoice or Estimate to test before emailing Statements.

 

6. Receivable Methods

There are two Receivable Method options for Customers - Balance Forward and Open Item.

1.Balance Forward Statements will only display the Invoices/Payments/etc. from the current month being closed.

2.Open Item Statements will display all open items for the Customer including those from previous Statement Periods.

 

•Receivable Methods can be set for Customers on the 5. Accounting Tab of the Customers form.

 

 

•There are two Receivable Method options for Billing Accounts if the option 'Combined Statement for all Customers' is selected: Balance Forward Combined and Open Item Combined.  

 

7. Statement Forms

 

We would recommend printing one of each Statement type (Customer Balance Forward and Open Item Statements as well as Billing Account Balance Forward and Open Item Statements)

 

•The Customer's Interim Statement can be printed by navigating to Customer > Reports > Statement for this Customer (https://help.dlcpm.net/V15/index.html?interim_statement.htm)

•The Billing Account's Interim Statement can be printed by navigating to Accounting > Billing Accounts > Interim Statement (https://help.dlcpm.net/V15/index.html?interim_statement.htm)

 

If your lab would like to request new custom Statement forms or make adjustments to existing custom Statement forms, we would recommend submitting a request at least 2 weeks prior to the date your lab intends to close out the month.

 

8. Statement Comments and Messages

There are three places that Statement messages can be added to Statement forms. If your lab is using one of our standard Statement forms, these Comments and Messages will be displayed at the bottom.

 

•In Customer > 5. Accounting > Custom Messages > Statement Custom Message.  These are Customer-specific messages that will appear on the Statement for that Customer each month unless removed.

   

 

•In Global Settings > Laboratory Lists > Laboratories > edit Lab > Statement Comments. These are Lab-specific messages that will appear on the Statement for Customers assigned to that Invoicing Lab each month unless removed.

 

 

•In Accounting > Create Statements. These will only appear on the current Statement but will apply to all Customers regardless of the Invoicing Lab.

 

 

9. Lab Statement Template

         To send out Statements by email, an Email Template will need to be created and assigned to each Lab.

 

•Email Templates can be created in the Marketing Section > E-Mail Templates by copying the existing System email templates (https://help.dlcpm.net/V15/index.html?email_templates_manager.htm) 

 

•Once the Template has been created, it should be assigned to the lab in Global Settings > Laboratory Lists > Laboratories > edit Lab > Lab Templates 

 

•The Lab Statements and Billing Account Statements templates will need to be added to each lab that intends to send out Statements by email.

 

10. AutoPay

Customers can be set up for automatic Payments by navigating to the Customer > Customer Settings > AutoPay.

 

•Please ensure that the Customer has a valid Credit Card or eCheck defined in Customer Settings prior to enabling AutoPay or the payment will fail when run for the Customer.

•AutoPay will run for the selected Balance Type. Please note, the only AutoPay Balance Type that includes charges from the current Period is 'Total Balance'. You can find a breakdown of these Balance Types in our 5. Accounting help article.

•A list of all Customers set to AutoPay can be viewed by running one of our three Auto Pay Customer reports in the Accounting folder of Report Center.

 

11. Running AutoPay

The lab has an option to process AutoPay automatically by setting the AutoPay job in Automated Servicer > Automation Server to Active.

 

 

•Alternatively, AutoPay can be run manually under Accounting > Process AutoPay now.

•Please note, the AutoPay service will not run if the Statement for the previous month has not been created. Once the Statement has been created, the AutoPay Service will continue to run.

 

12. Month End AutoPay

Some Customers may be set to have autopay processed using our Month-End AutoPay only option.

 

•Month-End AutoPay must be processed manually before Statements have been created. This must be done during the current Statement period even if you intend to close out the month at the start of the following Statement period.

 

13. Intercompany Credits

If you have Customers within the system that should be considered intercompany and should not be billed for Cases, they can be marked as such on the 5. Accounting tab.

 

 

•All open Invoices for Intercompany Customers can be viewed with our Preview InterCompany Open Invoices tool.

•Intercompany Credits must be generated before closing out the month using the Generate InterCompany Credits tool.

 

14. Un-Applied Payments and Credits Report

•Before closing out the month, we would recommend generating the Un-Applied Payments and Credits Report in the Accounting folder of Report Center. This report will provide visibility to your Lab so Customer balances can be reduced where possible.

•We strongly recommend applying Payments and Credits for all Customers listed on the report as this prevents confusion from your Customers and overpayment!

•There is an automated job that, when activated, will automatically apply only Payments, only Credits, or both Payments and Credits.