Overview

   This article will document account statements in Cloud Retailer.  Applies to: Cloud Retailer 2.4.16 or newer.


Procedure

Descriptions and Terms 

Below are some descriptions and terms used with Account Statements.
  • Minimum payment:
    The lowest amount the customer should pay towards the account. This amount is displayed on the statements. The Minimum Payment field serves only to advise the cashier/customer about the minimum amount. The customer may pay an amount that is less than the defined minimum payment.

  • Minimum charge:
    The minimum dollar amount a customer is charged if there is an outstanding account balance.

  • Standard due (days):
    The number of days after the "closing date" or "invoice date" a customer with an account balance is given to pay off the entire balance before a finance charge is assessed.
  • Standard due type:
    "After close date" - Choose this option if you want to start calculating past due based on when the date the statement cycle was closed.
    "After invoice date" - Choose this option if you want to start calculating past due based on when the date the transaction took place.

  • Discount due type:
    "After close date" - Choose this option if you want to start calculating Discount due based on when the date the statement cycle was closed.
    "After invoice date" - Choose this option if you want to start calculating Discount due based on when the date the transaction took place.

  • Discount due (days):
    The number of days the customer can pay to quality for a paying early discount.

  • Discount rate:
    The percent off to give the customer for paying early.

  • Annual interest rate:
    The annual finance rate for the charge account. Cloud Retailer determines any applicable finance charge per billing cycle for each account with a balance.
    The finance charge is computed as follows:

    (Daily interest rate) * (Days overdue) * (Chargeable balance)

    Where:
    • Daily interest rate is (Annual interest rate / 100) / 365.
      If I have an 18% annual interest rate, my daily interest rate would be (18 / 100) / 365 = 0.000493
    • Days overdue is the number of days overdue on the Account.
    • Chargeable balance is the average daily balance of the AR during the billing cycle.
Customer Account Types
Account types specify how Cloud Retailer will handle finance charges on Customer Account Statements.
Navigate to Admin > Customer account types to view, edit or create new account types.

Assigning an account type to a customer
Navigate to Admin > Customers, search for and select the customer in question.
Locate the Customer Entity Settings widget and select the account type. Click the [Save] button when finished.

Generating Account Statements

There are two methods that can generate account statements.
  1. Manual:
    Navigate to Reports > Generate Account Statements.

    IMPORTANT: The closing date cannot be run on the current business day.
    As an example, if your statement cycle closes on the 15th of each month, you will need to run the "Generate Account Statements" process on the 16th.

  2. Automatic: Please contact support to set up automatically generate Account Statements.



Generating Account Statements Options
  • Closing Date
    The date in which the cycle will close on.

  • Customer Account Number
    Leave blank to generate statements for all customers. Otherwise, you can generate a statement for a single customer.
    Start typing to search for a customer.

  • Print statements with a balance of $0.00 and no activity?
    If selected "Yes", Cloud Retailer will print a billing statement for every customer with a charge account, regardless of whether certain customers have purchased items from your store. If you want to print billing statements for only those customers that have purchased items since the time when the billing cycle was last closed, leave this selected as "No''.

  • Email Statements?
    If selected as "Yes", the customer will be emailed their statement.

  • Generate a PDF to download?
    By default, this is selected as "Yes". This will generate a PDF file with every statement for mass printing.

  • Dry Run?
    This will go through the actions of generating statements without actually saving them, no documents will print.

  • Show details
    This will show details for each statement being generated.
Printing Statements

You can print a single account statement or en masse. Navigate to Admin > Sales transaction receipt search.
You will need to filter this report for what you need.
  1. Select the date desired.
  2. add a filter with AND DocumentType contains Statement.
    You can add up to 28 filters to refine your search.
  3. Select the statement(s) to print by checking the checkbox to the left. You can select all statements by checking the checkbox located in the header of the report.
  4. Click the export selected items button to generate a PDF file for download. 
Making an account adjustment
Account adjustments can only be done at the Point of Sale. It is designed this way on purpose because all money flows through the Point of Sale.To make an adjustment:
  1. Add a customer to the transaction.
  2. Locate and click on the "A/R Adjustment" button.
    • If this button is not configured on your POS, contact RITE technical support.
  3. Set the required comment.
  4. Set the desired amount.
  5. Tender to AR Adjustment.

Residual Interest - Why does a customer still owe money?
Have you ever received a credit card bill for finance charges the month after you thought you paid the balance off in full? That’s residual interest, also known as ‘trailing interest’. 
Residual interest is the interest charged on a balance that accumulates between the billing statement date and the date you pay the bill. For example, residual interest is the reason why the final payoff balance on a mortgage is typically higher than the balance as of a given date, or the balance that appears on an amortization schedule.
FAQ

Q: I closed my billing cycle on the wrong day, can I undo this?
A: This action is permeant and cannot be undone.

Q: How do I prevent certain customers from being assessed financial charges?
A: If you do not have a "No Fee" account type already, one will need to be created.
You can copy the Default account type and remove the fees/charges. Name the account type "No Fee".
Locate the customer in question and apply the newly created "No Fee" account type.

Q: 
Why don't I see the items purchased by the customer in the statement.
A: The statement will only show the items purchased on-account since the last time a statement was run.
If an item is purchased prior to that, it will not show up on the statement.


General Overview of Accounts Receivable in Cloud Retailer: