Managing Debtors

To determine who will pay for services rendered to a client and who will receive credit notes in the event that an invoice that has already been issued is adjusted, a debtor record needs to be created within the system and must be linked to the relevant client.
A client is a person, group or organisation eligible to receive services either directly or indirectly from an agency. A client can be one of the following:

• single organisation operating within one location

• organisation which is structured with various departments or business units that are financially established as a mixture of:

  • parents and/or clients

  • parents and/or clients and/or cost centres

A client may also be a major corporation with multiple entities, brands, departments and locations which may also be a mixture of the following:

• parents and/or clients

• parents and/or clients and/or cost centres.

A parent company, client or cost centre is created in Recruitment Manager by creating a client details record. Where a client details record represents a cost centre or a client belonging to a parent company, the record is linked to the relevant client or parent respectively. A different debtor record can be allocated to each client details record.

Therefore, each level of the client hierarchy can be linked to a different debtor record. The lowest level debtor record is used in order to determine the debtor to which an invoice/credit note will be issued.

For example, consider the diagram below. Client 1 and Client 2 belong to the same parent company and each administer two cost centres. The parent company is linked to a debtor record (Debtor A). Client 1 is also linked to a debtor record (Debtor B). Invoices relating to supply of labour for Cost Centre 1 and Cost Centre 2 would be issued to Debtor B, as that is the lowest level debtor in the respective branch of the hierarchy. Invoices relating to supply of labour for Cost Centre 3 and Cost Centre 4 would be issued to Debtor A, as there is no client-level debtor in that respective branch of the hierarchy.

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Before a debtor can be created the following objects that will be referenced by a debtor record need to be created within the system:

• taxation records

• billing company records

• time group records

• invoice format group records

• invoice terms records

• invoice message records.

The following details are configured on a debtor record:

• debtor record header information

• debtor contact details

• debtor invoice details

• debtor invoice fees (optional)

• debtor billing details

• custom fields (optional).

Each of these areas is described in detail below.

Debtor Record Header Information

The debtor record header information defines the unique name of the debtor, the country to which the debtor belongs and the organisation number/corporate identity number that identifies the debtor.
The debtor record header information identifies the customer type that the debtor represents and the name of that customer. That is, it specifies whether the debtor represents a parent company, a client company, or a cost centre administered by a client company. The customer name identifies the specific client details record, as created in Recruitment Manager, the debtor record represents.
A flag can also be set in the debtor record header in order to make the debtor record unavailable. This means that debtor records can be created in advance and made unavailable until an appropriate time.

Debtor Contact Details

The debtor contact details define the physical billing address of the debtor company. The exact address details that need to be specified depend on the country format you select. For example, the address format for a given country may require a state or province to be specified as part of the address while other countries may not require a state or province to be specified.

Debtor Invoice Details

Each debtor must have one default set of invoice details that define things such as:

• the billing cycle that applies to the debtor

• the formats that will be used to generate invoices/credit notes that are issued to the debtor

• the method by which invoices/credit notes are to be delivered and to whom they are to be delivered

• any fees that are to be charged to the debtor for delivering invoices/credit notes, if applicable.

A separate set of invoice details can be defined based on individual billing companies that bill the debtor. If a set of invoice details exist for a specific billing company, that set of invoice details are used when that billing company bills the debtor. Otherwise, the default set of invoice details are used.

The invoice details are split into the following areas:

• Invoice Details

• Delivery Details

• Invoice Fee

Each of these areas are described below.

Invoice Details

The invoice details determine the invoice messages, invoice terms, time group, data group, invoice bill code group, document format group and bill to address.

Invoice messages determine the predefined textual messages that are to be printed on each type of invoice/credit note that can be issued to the debtor, including tax exemption and tax non-exemption messages. The invoice messages that can be selected must be created in Billing > Maintenance > Invoice Messages.

Invoice terms determine the invoice payment terms that are to apply to each type of invoice/credit note that can be issued to the debtor. The invoice terms that can be selected must be created in Billing > Maintenance > Invoice Terms.

The time group defines the billing cycle frequency for the debtor. The time groups that can be applied to a debtor must be created in Billing > Maintenance > Time Groups.

The data group determines the subset of invoice items to be included on each invoice/credit note generated for the debtor for each billing period. The following system-defined options are available:

The invoice bill code group can be used to apply a further level of invoice item grouping to timesheet-based invoices and credit notes. An invoice bill code group defines two or more sub-sets of bill codes or bill code types that can be invoiced together on the same invoice/credit note. For example, where a debtor wants to be billed for expanse items separately to other bill items, an invoice bill code group can be created that defines two sub-sets of bill code types; one that includes reimbursement bill codes only and another that includes all other bill code types.

It is not mandatory to assign an invoice bill code group to a set of debtor invoice details but where an invoice bill code group is assigned it will add an additional level of invoice item grouping over and above what is applied by the data group. For example, if the data grouping is set to create a separate invoice or credit note for each job order and an invoice bill code group is also applied to split expense items from all other types of bill items, there will be separate invoices/credit notes created for each job order for expenses versus all other bill items respectively.

The available invoice bill code groups that are available to be assigned to a set of debtor invoice details must be created under Billing > Maintenance > Invoice Bill Code Groups. For more information, see Invoice Bill Code Group Maintenance.

The document format group determines the document formats that are to be used when generating each type of invoice/credit note. The available format groups must be created under Maintenance >Document Designer > Document Format Groups.

The bill to address option determines the address that is to be used when sending printed invoices or credit notes to the debtor.

The From Contact option is useful where the contact person to whom invoice/credit notes are to be sent is not physically located at the debtor company's address. The From Client Cost Centre option is useful where the contact person to whom invoice/credit notes are to be sent is physically located at a client cost centre.

Delivery Details

 The debtor delivery details define the bill to contact, delivery method  and delivery grouping for delivering invoices/credit notes to the debtor.

 The bill to contact determines whose name will appear on invoices/credit notes as the billing contact for manual invoices/credit notes and timesheet-based invoices/credit notes if the data grouping on the applicable set of invoice details is any of the following:

• Cost Centre

• Debtor

• Job Family

• PO Number

• Project Code

For timesheet-based invoices/credit notes where the data grouping is anything other than one of the above, invoices/credit notes will be addressed to the client contact who is identified as the order by contact on the job order that is being invoiced.

The delivery method identifies the debtor’s preferred method of receiving invoices/credit notes. The delivery methods are listed and described below.

The delivery details also allow the following optional settings to be enabled:

• Deliver Invoiced Timesheets – if selected, a copy of each timesheet that has been invoiced/credited will be attached to each invoice/credit note. Note that timesheet items from a single timesheet can be invoiced or credited on different invoices/credit notes depending on the time group and data grouping that applies to the debtor. This option will attach a timesheet to an invoice/credit note if one or more items on that timesheet are invoiced or credited on an invoice/credit note

• Deliver Invoiced Timesheet Attachments – if selected, any timesheet attachments, such as medical certificates or scanned copies of manual timesheets, will be attached to each invoice/credit note.

• Use Client Position for Timesheet Invoicing – if selected, where invoices and credit notes are formatted to display the name of the job position to which invoice/credit items correspond, the client job position name will be printed instead of the agency job position name if the client uses a different name to refer to the job position.

Delivery Grouping

Delivery grouping controls how invoices and credit notes that are to be delivered to the same billing contact or contacts are to be grouped when being delivered via email. The delivery grouping options that are available are listed and described below.

To understand the affect the delivery grouping option will have on how invoices are delivered via email, consider a scenario where the debtor invoice delivery details are configured as shown in the table below:

Given the debtor invoice delivery details configuration shown above, consider a situation where the following invoices are selected for delivery on the Billing > Manage Delivery screen:

In this scenario, the following will occur when the user delivers the invoices that are identified above to the debtor:

• Invoice 1 will be attached to an email that will be sent to Jo Blogs and John Citizen

• Invoice 2 will be attached to an email that will be sent to Jo Blogs and John Citizen

• Invoice 4 will be attached to an email that will be sent to Jo Blogs and John Citizen

• Invoices 3, 5 & 6 will be attached to an email that will be sent to Bob Green

• Invoices 3, 5, & 6 will be attached to an email that will be sent to Jenny White.

 Therefore, in this scenario a total of five emails are sent to deliver the six invoices that were selected for delivery.

Debtor Invoice Fees

An invoice fee is an additional fee charged to a debtor by a billing company for each invoice the billing company issues the debtor.
Invoice fees have a validity period and a different invoice fee can apply depending on the billing company issuing the invoice. Multiple invoice fees can be configured for each debtor/billing company combination. However, the validity period of each invoice fee cannot overlap that of another invoice fee for the same debtor/billing company combination.

When an invoice is generated via the Invoice Batch process or the Credit Rebill process, the system automatically applies the invoice fee that is valid on the invoice date, if any, based on the billing company issuing the invoice. Invoice fees are also applied automatically to manual invoices by default. However, if necessary, the Exclude Invoice Fee option can be enabled on a manual invoice prior to closing the invoice to prevent the invoice fee being applied. The Exclude Invoice Fee option is available on a manual invoice only if there is a valid invoice fee available and which therefore will be applied by default unless the Exclude Invoice Fee option is enabled.

Invoice fees are subject to all taxes applicable to the debtor, as defined by the debtor billing details.
The system takes into account any invoice fees applied to the original invoice when a credit note is generated for a debtor. Depending on how a credit note is created, the system reverses or credits the debtor the invoice fee amount applied to the original invoice, where the entire original invoice is reversed or credited to the debtor.

Bulk Updating of Invoice Details

Whenever you edit the default invoice details, on saving your changes the system will prompt you to bulk update the changes you have made to all other sets of invoice details that are defined against the debtor. For example, if you change the data group that applies to the default set of invoice details, you can choose to apply the same data group to all billing company-specific sets of invoice details that are defined against the debtor.

Debtor Billing Details

The debtor billing details define the debtor's credit limit and whether the debtor is currently in excess of their credit limit.

Where a debtor is deemed to have exceeded their credit limit, one of the following credit warning types can be manually assigned to the debtor:

• Warning – displays a warning message when front office staff attempt to create a job order that is billable to the debtor, warning that the debtor has exceeded their credit limit. However, job orders can still be created and submitted to timesheet.

• Halt – prevents front office staff from creating job orders that are billable to the debtor.

 
Assigning either of these credit warning types to the debtor effectively flags the debtor as having exceeded their credit limit.

The credit warning type that applies to a debtor can be cleared when the debtor is no longer under a credit warning.

The debtor billing details also require a taxation number to be specified for each type of tax that is applicable to the debtor. The tax types that are applicable to the debtor depend on the country to which the debtor belongs and are automatically applied to invoices that are issued to the debtor.

If the debtor is exempt from a particular tax, an Is Exempt option can be ticked against the relevant sales tax type in the debtor billing details. Where that is the case, when the billing company that is linked to the debtor billing details issues an invoice to the debtor, the exempted taxes are not applied to the debtor’s invoices.

Custom Fields

If your business requires additional information to be captured against debtor records, custom debtor fields may be configured to capture the relevant additional information. Some custom fields may be configured to be mandatory, in which case you will need to key in information into the relevant custom fields before you will be able to save the debtor record. Custom fields are configured in Maintenance > Custom Fields, and made available for ‘Debtor’.

Remittance Office

A remittance office can be specified on a debtor record if remittance details on invoices issued to the debtor to be based on the address and contact details of the agency office with which a debtor does business rather than the address and contact details of the billing company that issues the invoice.

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