Found at Equal Bills / Posting, this area is used to create a Budget Invoice for the tanks with the Equal Billing Info completed at File / Open / Tank Information on the Profile tab.
Setup
There are a few items needing a one-time setup prior to using the Budget Billing feature.
- Set up a Budget Billing Receivable G/L Account. It is recommended to add this account immediately below the Accounts Receivable account for regular Invoices.
- Set up a Budget Billing Pay Method at Accounting / Setup / A/R / Pay Methods. This method should post to the Budget Billing Receivable G/L Account.
Note: The Budget Billing Pay Method should never be used when manually entering payments. It is only used for the automatic payments taken when invoicing a delivery. - Set up a Budget Billing Product in a non-inventoried department, such as a Miscellaneous department. On the Product’s Sales Activity tab, set the Sales Account General Ledger Account to the Budget Billing Receivable Account.
- Set the Budget Billing Receivable Account for each Location in the Budget G/L Receivable Setup grid found at Energy / Setup / Preferences.
- Set the Budget Billing Pay Method in the Budget Inv Pay Method area of Energy / Setup / Preferences.
Process
Each Energy Customer who has an Equal Billing Cycle set on a Tank is considered a Budget Customer. Each month, a Budget Invoice is posted (Energy / Equal Bills / Posting). The Invoice Date and Due Date are set in the Posting Information area of the screen. The Location selection in the Posting Information area is the Location for posting the Budget Invoice.
The Cycle is set in the Equal Billing area of the Tank information. From the Filter area, optionally filter to include All Locations or one Location in the grid. Budget Billing Invoices do not affect the Budget balance, the Accounts Receivable balance, or any other General Ledger Account. It is simply a request for payment.
A Budget Invoice is created for each Customer with a checkmark in the Post column. Budget Invoices may be printed from this Post Equal Billing Program Bills screen if the Print Invoices option is selected or can be viewed and printed from Energy / Equal Bills / Budget Invoices. These Budget Invoices can be used to replace ticket books.
Payments against Budget Invoices are recorded in Accounting at the Payment on Account screen. To view Budget Invoices, change the drop-down from Regular to Budget Billing.
When the customer makes a payment, the customer’s Budget account is increased. If the amount of the payment is greater than the amount of the Budget Invoice, the additional amount is applied to the Budget account. Payments on the Budget account post a debit to cash and a credit to the Budget Billing Receivable General Ledger Account.
When deliveries are invoiced, an automatic payment is taken, and the budget dollars pull from the Customer’s Budget account to pay the Invoice, which debits the Budget Billing Receivable Account.
For more information on the Posting Equal Bills screen, see Posting Equal Bills.
Reports to Help Manage Budget Billing
These reports are found at Energy / Reports / Customer Status.
- Budget Billing Statement – This shows all payments and deliveries for the Budget Billing Customer.
- Aged Budget Balances – This shows each open Budget Invoice aged into the appropriate Accounts Receivable aging categories. This assists with the utility that will assess finance charges or late fees on aged Budget Invoices.
- Current Budget Balances – This shows the total of all open Budget Invoices for each Customer. The total for all Customers should equal the amount in the Budget Billing Receivable G/L Account.
- Budget Billing Reconciliation – This assists in reconciling Customers’ Budget Billing accounts. This report should be run on a date range covering all Budget activity for the season or since last reconciled to zero.
End of Month Considerations
As part of a company’s month end processes, it should be verified that the Budget Billing Receivable General Ledger Account balance matches the current Budget Billing balance as indicated on the Customer Current Budget Balances report, found at Energy / Reports / Customer Status / Current Customer Balances. Energy Customers with accounts out of balance display on the Budget Billing Checkup report found in Accounting Reports.
