Overview

An Account is a ledger of the financial transactions carried out between your company and its customers, such as invoices and payments. It keeps a running balance of debits and credits, and displays the amount a company is owed in exchange for goods supplied and services rendered. Multiple currencies are supported.

Billable processes, such as subscriptions result in an account debit transaction. These may be funded by the parent accounts of beneficiary groups. The credit limit determines how much money a customer can owe a company.

Setting Up Accounts 

Before you start using Accounts you must set up the system to reflect your own business needs.

Global Settings

Define settings that will control the behavior of accounts in the system. 

• Allocation Principle: This is the default allocation principle which is used to allocate credit transactions against debit transactions. The following are supported:
  • FIFO: (first-in, first-out) where credit is allocated against the oldest (non-allocated) debit.
  • FIFO and against item: where credit is allocated against a designated debit and the remaining amount is allocated using FIFO.

• Account name generation method: Define how the account names will be generated when initially saving the account. Available options are:
  • Manually: This is the default. The user enters the account name on creation. 
  • Based on Account Number: Using the generated account number.
  • Based On Account Number and Contact Name: Using a combination of the generated account number and the contact name.

Billing Address Rules 

Billing address rule: Defines when the accounts billing address is mandatory and when it's not:

• Always Mandatory: The billing address is always mandatory.
• Never Mandatory: The billing address is not mandatory.
• Not Mandatory on Conditions: The billing address is not mandatory if one of the following conditions are fulfilled:
  • For standalone accounts
  • For Parent Accounts 
  • For Member Accounts
  • For accounts related with reward participants
  • For accounts related with subscriptions of specific type / billing term scheme / free subscription - you must specify the conditions if this option is enabled. 

Recurring Payment Rules 

Recurring payment rule: Defines when account owners will have to opt in to recurring payments or not.

• Always Mandatory: (default) account owners must always opt in to recurring payments.
• Never Mandatory: Optional for account owners to opt in to recurring payments.
• Not Mandatory on Conditions: The account owners can optionally opt in to recurring payments if the specified conditions are fulfilled, e.g. based on subscription plans, billing term schemes or account classifications.

Classifications 

Define the allowed classifications for accounts which will be used to label accounts in a meaningful way. System processes such as pricing, billing and subscription activation can group results according to their classification and apply different actions to each group. 

Accounting Periods

Optional setup. An accounting period is defined as the time frame in which financial transactions are posted.  It can cover a month or a year and can have a status of either Open or Closed. Only one accounting period can be open at any time.

Accounting period settings can only be specified once, and define whether the accounting period will be monthly or yearly as well as the day considered as the first day of the accounting year.

The first accounting period is automatically created by the system when the settings are specified. The following periods are then created once the current period is closed. Once closed a period cannot be reopened and transactions can no longer be posted against it.

From the Actions menu option, the user can choose to:

• Close Accounting Periods: The accounting period can be closed once financial transactions have been posted and any errors corrected.
  • The closing process is executed by the scheduler and can take place right away or is scheduled for later. It cannot be scheduled to be executed repeatedly.
  • 'Terminated' accounts with posted transactions (submitted before the termination) which are not yet related to any accounting period are also considered during the period closing process.
  • An Error Log is used to register all accounts or financial transactions that could not be processed.
• Period Closing Correction: Incorrect data, such as wrong periods in financial transactions, can be identified and corrected. This step is optional as the system will run a check during the 'Closing of the period'. If necessary, the user is instructed to run the Correction step.
• Post Financial transactions: Draft financial transactions that should be included in the current period must be posted before it is closed (you can't post against a closed period). Draft transactions created within a specific period can be viewed, selected from the respective tab in open periods and posted using the Post Financial Transactions action.

Accounting Period Settings

Optional setup. Define how accounting periods will be created in CRM.COM through the accounting period closing process. Accounting period settings can only be configured once.

Credit Terms

Credit Terms of an account include the credit period which specifies the time granted to a customer by a company to meet their financial obligations, this is indicated in the invoice due date and the credit limit which defines the maximum allowed account balance.

The terms of an account are set when it is created based on the selected credit rating and the settings in the Default Credit Terms.

The credit period of each account is set equal to the Default Credit period however it can be extended or shortened per account to manage exceptional customer cases. This is possible by providing a proximity range in the default credit terms, within which an account's credit period can be amended.

The credit limit of each account is set according to the credit rating selected for the account. The credit limit of each rating is set in the Default Credit terms. However, it is possible to differentiate the credit limit of each account, regardless of the selected credit rating.

The action 'Change Credit Terms' in the Accounts Actions menu allows you to change the default credit period, credit rating and credit limit of an account. 

Using the credit limit rating, the system will calculate the Credit Limit status which can be 'Exceeded' or Not Exceeded (Visible on Finance > Accounts).

As a rule, if the credit limit has been 'Exceeded' any customer actions that use funds are blocked. Subscription events related to activating a subscription or service are blocked.

It is possible however to provide specific events which will not take into consideration the general credit limit rule based on predefined conditions. This is possible by setting rules in Override Credit Limit Rules. In these rules you can define the events that the general rule should not be applied, as well as the conditions when the rules should be overridden such as the classification, the credit rating of the account or the KYC profile of the customer.

Presentment Preferences

Presentment Preferences are used to define the account owner preferred method for receiving and exporting bills and integrating bills with third-party systems. The preference type can be based on classifications, such as Post, Email, SMS, F2F or other depending on business needs.

Account presentment preferences can also be taken into consideration when communicating with the customer through Communication Plans. For example, a customer is contacted only if the communication template's media matches that of the presentment preference set on the account.

Banks

Optional setup. Define the banks to be used throughout the Finance module. Banks are used as information in accounts payment preferences in cases where the payment preference is classified as a direct debit.

Bank Account Types 

Define the bank accounts types (e.g. Credit, Savings, Debit etc.). Bank Account Types are used as information in Account Payment Preferences, if the Payment Preference is classified as a direct debit.

Payment Medium Brands 

These will be used to establish the brands of cards that are accepted for payments to and from customers and (goods and services) providers, such as American Express, Visa or Electron. Accepted brands are added in the payment preference (not in the definition).

Payment Medium Types 

These will be used to establish the accepted types of payment. For example, where payment medium brands are Visa and American Express, the type can be set to Debit and/or Credit. Accepted Types are added in the payment preference (and not in the definition).

Payment Preferences 

Payment preferences are used to define the customer's preferred methods of payment for each account. They hold the information, such as bank account and credit card numbers, which are necessary for third-party systems to perform payments. Additional finance settings may be used which vary based on the payment preference type; you can set up these settings before creating your payment preferences.

The payment preference Type defines how the customer would like to make a payment to the account. Each customer can have multiple payment preferences and different information is kept on the account according to each payment preference. For example, if the payment preference is associated to a credit card then the details of the card will have to be provided on the account, or if the customer would like to pay with a direct debit then the details of the bank account are kept on the account.

For some types the system has a preset of the information which must be kept on the account, while for other types it can be defined by the user using additional information (e.g. credit card details) specified on the account when enabling the payment preference.

Automatic Recurring Payments 

Define how the automatic recurring payments process should be performed for bill payments and/or wallet top ups. Account owners must opt in to recurring payments in order for the company to have the authorisation to automatically request for a payment made through Payment Gateways or a payment based on the account owner's wallet funds. 

Allowed payment gateways: The automatic recurring payments setup is applicable only for payment preferences of type Stripe, Braintree and Generic payment gateways, and only if recurring payments are enabled in the contacts Account settings. 

Wallet top up rules: Are applicable when the account owner owns a wallet and the scope of automatic wallet top-ups allows the customer to define their own top-up rules. Wallet top up rules are also applicable when account owners have opted-in to recurring payments (i.e 'opt-in for subscriptions' or 'opt-in for purchases'.

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Using Accounts 

Specify the criteria that match the account you are interested in or use the New option to create a new customer Account. Provide the mandatory information on the Accounts screen before you Save the account.

Use Edit in order to make changes to the Account, or select View to see the account details. The Actions menu option provides additional actions to be performed against the account depending on the status of the account. 

Accounts can be Terminated so that they are no longer operational, and no subscriptions, wallets or service requests can be created for terminated accounts. You can Terminate Accounts as long as all of their financial transactions have been posted.

The Account Balance is calculated as the latest accounting period's opening balance plus all the financial transactions posted against the account during this latest accounting period, while the Outstanding Amount is the aggregated amount of posted debits which are not settled and are past their due date.

A Wallet Balance is available as long as a wallet is associated to the account.

Usually Accounts have a Billing Address which is the address used to communicate accounts billing information, selected from a list of addresses specified in the customer's Contact details. If an address is not yet available you can create one by selecting the address type and providing the respective information. If there are multiple addresses, select one from the drop-down list to be the billing address. Contact addresses are updated when a billing address is modified. The respective rules of the accounts definition determine whether a billing address is mandatory or not.  

Suspending and reactivating an account 

Accounts can be suspended in case of a dispute or while running a credit check. When an account is in a suspended state, financial transactions can still be created, but new subscriptions or service requests cannot be related to the account. The account can be reactivated once the issue is settled or the check is successful.

Suspend the account using the Suspend Account from the Actions menu.

Reactivate the account by using the Reactivate Account from the Actions menu. 

 Writing off an account 

It's possible to write off an account in cases where you identify that an account owner's debt will never be collected, and the remaining debt will be overwritten. Write off the account by using the Write-Off Account option available through the Actions menu.

Managing account assets

Once a customer purchases a (traceable or non-traceable) physical good it becomes an account asset. Assets can change hands through: 

• Buying a physical good. 
• Transferring an asset from one account to another
• Importing a physical good into CRM.COM and relating it to an account.

Click on Manage Assets from the Actions menu to manage your assets. Through the assets screen click on one of the following actions from the Actions menu:

• View history: View the physical goods sold to the account owner and returned or replaced.
  
• Return physical goods: Goods sold are added to the account as assets. Agents can return a product by using the respective action available in the account data entry page. The product is returned to the warehouse through a 'Stock In' transaction. View the Inventory Management manual for more information on warehouse transactions. Multiple items can be moved simultaneously.
  
• Transfer ownership: Transfers an item from one account to another. The original owner of the good is responsible for the cost of the purchase. Once the ownership is transferred, a physical good will appear in the asset history of the initial owner, and as a current asset of the new account. If the transferred good had a warranty policy, then the policy will be transferred unchanged with the good.
  
• Import asset: Usable items located with the customer and registered with the provisioning provider (not with CRM.COM) can be imported, associated with the account, and added to subscriptions. The items remain with the account when they are returned or replaced. They are easily identified on the installed items page by their 'Owned by Customer' status.

Setting account currency

The Currency used for transactions is defined when creating a new account and cannot be changed subsequently. A default currency is set in the general system settings (Configuration > System Settings > Set up general settings > Organisation settings > System settings). To change currency, enable the multi-currency setting in the system settings. When a currency other than the default is selected, the account's bills, rewards and wallet transactions are converted using the system's conversion rates.

If the user does not define an (exclusive) currency when creating a new account, and multi-country and multi-currency are enabled in System Settings, then the currency defined for the country/'owned by business unit' is used. Refer to System Settings > Set up General Settings (or refer to the Platform manual) for more information on setting up and using multiple currencies.

Setting up an Account Pricing Agreement

It is possible to agree special pricing with your customers. For example, you can make a deal with a hotel chain of multiple hotels offering them special prices for goods and services purchased. In such cases, you can set a specific price plan on the account (only applicable to the specific account) and every time the account is billed the prices will be taken from the specific price plan.

Using group accounts

Group accounts are useful in cases where a company wishes to pay for its employees' goods and services purchased, either partly or fully. A good example would be a company with a fleet of buses, where the company will be responsible for paying for refueling of buses. Group accounts are made up of a parent account and one or more member accounts.

Set an account as a 'parent' by adding 'member' accounts.  Funding applies to services that are provided through normal subscriptions, termed services and expenses. A parent account is responsible for fully or partially settling the balance of member accounts (depending on the funding scope).  Fully funded members can subscribe and consume the services at the expense of the parent account. Partially funded members must settle bills for non-funded services. The agreed pricing for the parent corporate accounts also applies to the members.

Rules, restrictions, and actions (such as suspension, reactivation or termination) that apply to a parent account also apply to its members.

Add a member to an account through the Members section on the data entry screen. You can add an existing account as a member (using the +Member option)  or remove member accounts (by selecting X next to the relevant member account). Select the funding scope for the new members and add the specific services that will be funded (i.e. by product, product type or product family).

To create a group account the following conditions must be met:

• The parent account must:
  • Be active
  • Not be a parent or member of another account group
  • Not be a system account.
• The member account must:
  • Be active
  • Not be a parent or member of another account group
  • Not be a system account
  • Be in the same currency as the parent account
  • Belongs to an owner other than the parent
  • Not have its own pricing if it is a corporate account.

Registering a card

A payment gateway card is used for online payments and handles the transfer of funds from the bank account of the customer to that of the seller. For security purposes, only a part of the information (which is required to register the card with the payment gateway) is kept on CRM.COM.

 CRM.COM is integrated with the following payment gateways: Stripe, Braintree, Generic. For more information refer to Payment Gateways.

1. Edit the account and go to the Account Preferences tab. 
2. Locate the Payment Preferences section and click on +Payment Preference.
3. Select a payment preference that is based on a payment classification associated with the gateway to which you would like to register the card.
   
4. Fill out the card information and 'Verify' the card information using the respective button.
   • To add more cards click on the 'View Customer cards' link and then select '+New card' and fill out the card information.
   • Select the card that should be used as default.
5. Select whether to 'Opt in for subscriptions' and/or 'Opt in for purchases', and whether the registered billing address should be used.
   • Opt in for subscriptions: The payment preference is selected to be used in the payment of subscription related invoices e.g. Billing Run or Bill Subscription. The payment preference will be used automatically whenever the Credit Limit is about to be exceeded (including the FT's amount) and is available only to payment preferences which are related to one payment gateway provider or a wallet.
   • Opt in for purchases: The payment preference is selected to be used in the payment of one off purchases e.g. Invoices. The payment preference will be used automatically whenever the Credit Limit is about to be exceeded (including the FT's amount) and is available only to payment preferences which are related to one payment gateway provider or a wallet.

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