Table Of Contents

As in all of the BMS modules, the flow of processing is outlined on the menus themselves. If you need further help, there are help screens available in from screen. In most screens, there is additional on-line more detailed help available. This will be indicated by (Press <F1> for more detailed help).

There are also examples of various screens found in Accounts Receivable included in this manual. These will help you become more familiar with the look of BMS module screens. Since the modules are integrated, the accounts receivable manual will refer to other modules. To find more information on those modules, check the appropriate manuals.

As in most of the BMS modules, a few basic "rules" or keystrokes are in effect for order entry. They are the following:

All functions must be performed in CAPITAL LETTERS

<F1>=Help
<F9>=Clears screen
<Esc>=Exit
<Tab>=Find
<Backspace>=Clears the line

This manual is intended to be used as a guide in learning the Accounts Receivable program. It is not a replacement for a manager's direction. Some processes in the Business Management System are subjective and require specific instructions from a manager as to how your company would like a particular situation handled. Executive Computer Systems is not responsible for any actions taken based upon information found within this manual.  Top.

Accounts Receivable Menu

As shown in the example menu below, you will select Accounts Receivable from the main menu in Business Management Software.

From the Master Menu, press enter on Accounts Receivable. You will then see the following screen.

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Customer Maintenance Screen

Select Customer Maintenance from the main menu in Accounts Receivable. See page 4 for an example of this menu. A screen asking for your password will then appear. After entering your password, (which is the same password for order entry) press Enter. You will then see the following screen:

This is the screen where the actual customer information is entered. You will also set up customer's tax status, credit limit, credit hold and other important information in this screen.  Top.

On-Line Help

In the customer maintenance screen, if you need to know any of the function key assignments, pressing <F1> will bring up a help screen.. The following is example of the help for the customer maintenance screen.

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Customer Maintenance Setup

This screen allows you to add or edit customer information. Please remember, to save any changes or additions, you must <F10> to save or the information will be lost. The following description

Company Name:
Before adding a new customer, check to see if the customer already exists. You do not want to have duplicate accounts for any customer. Use the "Search Feature" to find your customer. To use the "Search Feature", type the beginning portion of the Customer Name, then press the find <tab> key. Use the PageUp and PageDown keys to scroll through customers. If your customer does not exist, input the company name. You may also edit an existing company name from this field.

You may also search for a customer by using the Customer Lookup screen. This is accessed from a blank customer maintenance screen and then press <F5>. This will list the customers alphabetically. Type the beginning letter of the customer you want and it will bring the cursor to that letter. Once you have found your customer, press Enter and the system will bring up that customer on the maintenance screen.

Customer ID:
The system will assign a customer id for you automatically. There will two id's assigned - one is numeric and the other is alpha. The alpha id is determined by the first 6 letters of the company name. The alpha id can be edited, the numeric id cannot be edited. To edit the alpha id, make your change and <F10> to save immediately following. If you enter to other fields, the system will revert back to original alpha id information.

1st and Lst:
These fields are used to input the name of the credit card holder if your account will be paying by credit card. You can also input the owner's name if different from the contact name. It is not necessary to use this field - check with your manager to see what your company decides.

Address, City, State and Zip:
When adding a new customer, type in the street address. The cursor will then bring you to the zip code field, skipping the city and state. Type your zip code information and enter. This will automatically input the city and state for that zip code. If there is more than one town for a zip code, a popup list will allow you to select the town that is appropriate. When editing, just enter to the appropriate field and make your changes.

Ship To:
This information will be filled in as you enter the customer information. This may be edited but does not usually need to be. This ship-to is primarily used for mail order companies whose their customers pay by credit card. It must be filled or the ship to information in order entry will have to be entered every time you place an order for this customer. Additional ship to's are available through the <F5> feature. This will be discussed later in this manual.

Sales Tax:
The sales tax information is set up in company setup. This information is automatically assigned when you enter the state where your customer is located. If you need to change the tax information, hit PgUp or PgDn to scroll through the choices. Type Y or N to indicate whether the customer is taxable or non-taxable. If you are unsure, check with a manager.

Default Price Level:
The price code default comes from the setup file. To change the default, type in price code that you want customer to be charged. If you are unsure, check with a manager.

Phone/Fax Numbers/E-Mail & Contact Person:
Self-explanatory.

Ad Source:
The ad source field is where you enter how your customer came to use your company. If they heard of you through an advertisement, you would enter the code here. The ad source codes are setup in the order entry system. In this field you would PgUp or PgDn to scroll through the ad source information. Enter on the correct choice or enter DEF for default if they are not responding to an ad. This field must be filled in for any orders to be processed.

Salesperson #:
The salesman information is setup in the company setup. An entry in this field is mandatory. If you do not have a salesperson assigned to this account, use the code for the House Account. Type in the number, or use the PageUp or PageDown keys to find the one you want. Press Enter when done.

PO # Required (Y/N):
Input a "Y" if you want to be prompted in order entry for a PO# every time for this customer. The default is no.

Ship Via:
These are set up in company setup. Use PgUp or PgDn. This is what the default will be when entering an order for this customer in order entry.

Customer Since:
The default is today's date. This field is used for reference purposes. You can change the date by entering a new one.

Terms:
Terms choices are previously set up in company setup. Use PgUp or PgDn to assign the customer terms. If you are changing a customer's terms from cash or credit card to net terms, you must give them a credit limit as well. If you do not the system will still think your customer is "cash" and force you to enter an override code.

Business Type:
This is an optional field and used for your own purposes. The types are set up in company setup and assigned to individual customers. This field is used for sorting in reports. Example, you could use type to separate contractors, homeowners, etc. Bypass this field if you do not want to use it.

Credit Limit:
Input the customer's credit limit. We recommend you do not leave this field blank unless this customer will be paying by cash, check or credit card. If you are changing a customer's terms from cash or credit card to net terms, you must give them a credit limit as well. If you do not the system will still think your customer is "cash". If the customer exceeds his credit limit, you will be notified in order entry. There is also a credit limit report that can be run to alert you of any customers over their credit limit.

Credit Hold:
Input a "H" if you want to put an existing customer on credit hold. The operator in Order Entry will be alerted if trying to place an order for a customer on hold.

Late Charge (N/3/6/9):
Input the number of days before this customer is assessed late charges on past due invoices. You can choose 3=30 days, 6=60 days, 9=90 days. If you do not want to assess finance charges, then type N=No.

Other Ship-to Locations (N/S):
Enter an N if there are no other ship-to locations to be set up in the ship-to table, enter an S if there is. The actual locations are set up by pressing <F5>. See page 11 for details.  Top.

Customer Maintenance Features

The following are features that are available through the customer maintenance screen. Some are setup features, others are sales features. These features are all available from the help menu. Example is shown on page 7. Please remember if you are adding or editing information, you must <F10> to save or your changes will be lost.

Enter Business Type
The business type field allows you to distinguish customers by business type. This information may then be used in query to print reports by business type. To setup the various business types or to add another one, press <F2> from a blank customer maintenance screen. From here you can view the types already setup or add a new one.

Deactivating Customers
As a manager, you may deactivate a customer at any time. Only a manager may access this feature. Operators not setup as a manager cannot deactivate customers. Bring up the customer you want to deactivate. Once you have the right customer, press <F3>. A screen will pop up asking you if you want to deactivate this customer (Y)es or (N)o. Select yes and enter. A message will now appear in the top right corner when this customer is being viewed stating it was deactivated and the date. The customer is now no longer available in Order Entry. You may activate this customer at a later point by using the same <F3> key.

Printing a Mailing Label Per Customer
To print an individual mailing label for a specific customer, you must first have that customer up. Once you have your customer on screen, press <F4>. A screen will then pop up listing the mailing address as it is found in the customer file. You may change this address in this popup screen but be advised it will change what is in the customer file.

Search by Zip Code
This feature is used to verify a zip code for an existing customer. This feature was designed for a mail order company who may be adding many customers everyday. To use it, you must be in an existing customer at the zip code field. Press <F5> and a zip code list will popup. If the city and state information do not match what you have, you may select the correct one and enter.

View Yearly Sales
This feature allows you to view the sales for this customer for each year they have been your customer. Once you have your customer on screen, press <F6>. The following is an example of this screen.

As you can see, there are still even more features available from this screen. The following is a description of those features.

You can view the customer's sales by product by pressing <F2>. This will list all the products purchased by this customer, units sold, sales in dollars, cost in dollars, profit in dollars and profit percentage. You may change the year to view previous years. You may change the view to rank the items in order of highest sales or an alphabetical listing of items purchased.

You can view this customer's sales by year by month by pressing <F3>. This will compare the selected year's sales information by month to the previous year's. You may change years by just typing in a different year.

Another feature available is to view the customer history by item by pressing <F4>. This screen will list the items purchased (in item number order), item description, date last purchased, quantity purchased, price, and next date & price.

The last feature available is the sales by commission by pressing <F6>. This screen shows the commission sales as setup for this customer.

Toggle to Update Address
This is another mail order feature. By pressing <F7>, it will allow you to make changes to the billing information without changing the ship-to information. If you wish to update both, press <F7> again and it will make the changes.  Top.

Ship-To Maintenance

Ship-to maintenance allows you to set up different ship-to locations for your customers who require different shipping locations. Ship-tos are setup through the customer maintenance screen. At the bottom of the screen, the question Ship-To Locations (N or S), should be answered with an "S" for ship-to's for this account. Remember to save this change by pressing <F10>. Then access the ship-to screen by pressing the <F5> function key. Once the ship-to's are setup, they are immediately available in order entry. The following is an example of the ship-to screen.

Your cursor will be in the bill-to field. Type in the customer code or find the record by customer name. All the search capabilities are available here.

If you cannot get past the customer id field in order to enter the ship to, you should check the customer in the maintenance file to see if it is set up for multiple ship-to's. Remember to save the record <F10> after you change it to "S".

You are then prompted for the ship-to code. Assigning code numbers is up to you. Use what is meaningful to your company. Usual procedure is to use a numeric order. Keep in mind that if you will be using single and double digits - use a 0 before each single digit. This will keep them in numerical order when you are scrolling through ship-to's. Press Enter.

Then you are asked for the name of the ship-to. Press Enter to accept the default which is the customer name. Type in the information if you are not accepting the default.

Fill in the address, city, state, tax-id, zip, contact and phone.

The salesperson may be different for this ship-to than is setup for the customer in general. It is up to you. The default is the salesperson assigned in customer maintenance.

To save your new ship-to, you must enter through the screen To save your new ship-to, you must enter through the screen - even if you are not entering all information asked for on the screen. Once you have entered through, your cursor will be at ship-to code again ready to enter another ship-to. If you do not enter all the way through the screen, your entry will not be saved.

Please use the <F1> key for detailed help while entering the new ship-to.  Top.

Customer Notes

Another feature accessible from the customer maintenance is the capability to add notes in the customer file. Once you have entered or brought up your customer, use the <F2> key to take you into the following screen.

This screen allows you to enter notes for each specific customer. You can have up to 10 lines of notes for each customer. The system defaults to today's date. You can change the date if needed. Then type in the notes. This screen allows you to enter notes for each specific customer. These notes may be to keep names and titles of your various contacts or to keep directions to the customer's offices.

You can also enter notes that will be printed on this customer's orders or notes that you want printed on the customer's invoices. If you do not want the note to print on the orders or invoices, then bypass the code. Check the help screen for details on this feature.  Top.

Cash Receipts

The cash receipts program is where you will apply payments made by a customer to their account. The following is an example of the cash receipts screen.

The first screen asks you for your password. This is for security reasons. Type in your password and Enter. The next screen allows you to change the general ledger date for the cash receipt transaction. This is important if you do not enter your cash receipts on the same day that it was received.

The following screen will then come up.

The first step is to make sure you are applying the payment to the correct bank account. This information is displayed at the bottom of the screen. If you need to change the bank account, press <F5>, select the bank account and Enter. You can change bank accounts during a cash receipts transaction.

Cash Receipts Help Screen In Top Portion of Screen

Cash Receipts Help Screen In Bottom Portion of Screen

When you come into cash receipts, your cursor will be on the six-digit customer id field. There are a few ways to find the customer you want.

(1) Enter customer alpha code and press <tab>.
(2) Use Page Down to scroll through customer alpha numbers.
(3) Enter to customer number field, enter number and press <tab>. You can also scroll here.
(4) Hit enter twice to go directly to the customer name field and search there.
(5) Press <F4> to bring up a customer search screen. Type in the customer name and Enter. This will bring up the closest match to the name you entered. If you found the customer you want, press <Esc> and type in the line number of your customer and Enter.

Once you have brought up the customer you want, hit Enter to bring you into the following screen.

Straight Application of Payments:

The system will list open invoices and unapplied credits or cash for this specific customer. The cursor jumps to the amount field. Enter the payment amount. Do not use negative numbers--they will be put in for you.

Enter the check number; the reference which defaults to "PAYMENT" and can be changed, the date which defaults to the current date. The G/L number should be left blank if this is a straight application of payment; otherwise see below.

Your cursor jumps to the first open invoice. Use your cursor down keys until your cursor is beside the appropriate invoice(s) to keyoff payment against. Hit <F7> to keyoff. The upper right-hand corner that says "Tot" tells you how much is left to keyoff. (Keyoff meaning applying payment to invoices). As you keyoff, you will see each item you have selected become highlighted. You will also see on the top of the screen the "Kff" figure increase as you select items, and the "Tot" decrease. You can view an invoice in detail by pressing <F3>. <Esc> will bring you back into the cash receipts screen after viewing the invoice. Below is an example of an account with a $250.00 payment applied to two invoices, before it has been posted (saved).

Did you make a mistake?

(1) This transaction is wrong - I need to start over!
As long as you have not posted (saved) this transaction As long as you have not posted (saved) this transaction (pressing <F10> will save), you can hit <F9> which will clear this transaction without saving what was done. You can then start this transaction over or start with a new transaction.

(2) I applied my check to the wrong items.
Simply move your cursor to the item you want to remove, and hit <F7>. This will "unkeyoff" that item. You will see that the keyoff amount in the upper right will now decrease, and the "Tot" will increase, meaning you still should apply the cash to something. Now go back and keyoff the right item(s).

(3) I notice I put in the wrong check amount or check number.
Press <T>. Your cursor jumps back to payment amount. Hit backspace to erase what is there and type in the corrected amount. Do not put in a negative sign for the check amount; the system will do this for you. Hit enter, and your cursor goes to check number, then reference, then g/l number, and back down to the individual invoices. Of course, you may need to change what you have keyed off.

When you are sure everything is correct, press <F10> to save. Once you have saved the transaction, the information can not be edited, so please make sure your entry is correct.

When a Customer Makes an Overpayment or an Underpayment:

This can be handled in either of the following two ways.

1) Over/Under Payments:
First you must have entered the check information and be ready to keyoff the invoice. You would then keyoff the invoice regardless of whether the check amount matches the invoice amount. At this point, the "tot" will show the amount that is remaining or was overpaid. If you are finished with the transaction, press <F10> to save. At this time the following screen will appear.

For an example, the above invoice was for $150.00 but the customer only paid $100.00 of that. The underpayment of $50.00 will show as the balance and the remaining information references the invoice being paid. If this information is correct, Enter through each field and the transaction will be saved. The invoice will then still show as open but with an amount of $50 instead of the original $150.00. If there is an overpayment, you leave the invoice information which will display with the overpayment or you can change the invoice information to reflect the check information. To do that, you would change the invoice number to the check number, delete the ship-to and po# and put in the check date.

2) Partial Payments:
You can also apply partial payments on the system. This differs from "over/under" payments in that partial payments allows you to make partial payments on more than one invoice. Once you have entered the check information and are in the bottom portion of the screen, get your cursor on the invoice to which you are applying payment. Do not keyoff the invoice, instead press <F8> to apply a partial payment to the invoice. The following is an example of a partial payment:

This program will age your receivables into the proper past due date ranges. These will be shown when you run your statements. It will also tell the computer which statement message this customer should get depending on the number of days the customer is past due. To access this program, select the Reports menu from the Accounts Receivable menu. From there, select More Reports, and then Generate Aging. The following is an example of this screen.

This is the late charges deletion screenThis is the late charges deletion screen.

From the accounts receivable menu, choose one of two statement programs. Print Statements on Forms or on Paper are your two options. Both programs work the same except one prints on a form and the other prints on blank paper. For either program, you will see the following screen.

If you do not want to delete any paid invoices, use the date of 01/01/80If you do not want to delete any paid invoices, use the date of 01/01/80. The following is an example of this screen.