Sage Accpac ERP version 5.4 New Feature – Accounts Receivable Refund

In Accounts Receivable this new feature is used to:

1. Refund prepayments, credit notes, unapplied cash, and partially applied receipts
2. Issue cash, check, or credit card refunds
3. Process refunds for jobs you manage using Sage Accpac Project and Job Costing. Specifically in Receipt Entry, the new Refund feature will allow you to refund particular details of job-related documents. 
4. Assign optional fields to a refund. (Note optional fields are available only if you use Sage Accpac Transaction Analysis and Optional Field Creator)
5. Print checks for the refunds you issue, and void printed checks, if necessary. 

Note: You do not use the Refund Entry form to enter returns or advance credit for returned goods. You use the Invoice Entry form to process a credit note for damaged goods or returned goods you have received. You use the Receipt Entry form to issue advance credit for goods the customer has returned, but which you have not yet received.

Working with Refund Batches

Before creating new batches of refunds, you must add the following information for Accounts Receivable:

• In Bank Services, on the Banks form, for each bank you use to issue refunds, specify the check stock and check forms to use when refunding by check. 
• On the Transactions tab of the A/R Options form, specify whether Accounts Receivable displays an error message, a warning, or no message when you try to process a refund using a check number that has been issued for the same bank.
• On the Numbering tab of the A/R Options form, enter the prefix and next number to assign to refunds.
• Update currency information and exchange rates in Common Services.
• Find out the rate type, rate date, and exchange rate to use for each multicurrency refund you plan to add to the batch.
• If you are refunding by credit card, make sure you have the credit card information, including the authorization code you must use with the refund.
• Create or select the refund batch to use.
• If you use optional fields, define refund optional fields using the Optional Fields setup form (available in the A/R Setup folder).

Creating or Selecting a Refund Batch

Before you can add refunds, you must either create a new refund batch or select an existing batch. To create a new batch, you click the New button beside the Batch Number field in the Refund Entry form, or you can click the New button on the Refund Batch List.  You can also use the Finder or the navigation buttons to select an open batch to which to add or edit transactions from either of the refund entry forms or from the Refund Batch List.

Refund Payment Types

Accounts Receivable lets you refund your customers by cash, check, or credit card, so you can refund them in the same tender in which they paid you.

You can process a single refund using any combination of cash, check and credit card. The total amounts refunded for each payment type appear on the Refund tab as Customer Cash Amount, Customer Check Amount, and Credit Card Amount.

When adding a refund, you specify a tender for each refund detail in the Payment Type field. Accounts Receivable displays the payment type used by default payment code specified on Options form, but you can change the payment type for individual details.

You specify additional information for the cash, check, and credit card refunds using separate forms designed specifically for each payment type.

Using the Cash Payment Form

You use the Cash Payment form to identify the cash account or bank code to credit for the total amount you are refunding in cash.

In a multicurrency ledger, you also specify the currency, and, if the cash refund is not in your customer’s currency or your functional currency, the exchange date, rate, and type.

The information you enter on the Cash Payment form applies to all the details you are refunding in cash.

Using the Check Payment Form

You use the Check Payment form for check refunds to specify the check language and whether to print the check using Accounts Receivable.

In a multicurrency ledger, you also specify the currency, and, if the check refund is not in your customer’s currency or your functional currency, the exchange date, rate, and type.

The information you enter on the Check Payment form applies to all the details you are refunding by check.

Using the Credit Card Payment Form

For credit card refunds, you enter the card type, card holder, and your authorization number separately for each detail line using the Credit Card Payment form.

In a multicurrency ledger, you also specify the currency, and, if the refund is not in your customer’s currency or your functional currency, the exchange date, rate, and type.

Adding Refund Transactions

If you have a multicurrency ledger, and you are adding a multicurrency refund, you specify the bank and the currency for each tender (cash, credit card, or check) you use on the refund. You use one bank and one currency per tender, although you can issue a single refund that uses different tenders and currencies.

If you are refunding in a currency that is neither your functional currency nor your customer’s currency, you specify the rate type, rate date, and the exchange rate on the payment form.

If you are refunding in your customer’s currency and it is different from your functional currency, you use the Rates tab to specify the exchange rate for amounts you are refunding by cash or check.

Allocating a Job-Related Refund

Accounts Receivable maintains outstanding balances for details on job-related documents. Therefore, when you refund a job-related credit note or prepayment, you must specify how much to refund for each detail.

You can accept the allocation that Accounts Receivable calculates using the apply method you specify for the refund, or you can allocate amounts to specific details manually using the Job Details form.
When you post refunds for job-related prepayments, Accounts Receivable updates the Total A/R Customer Receipts information on the Activity tab for the project in Project and Job Costing.

Assigning Optional Fields to Refunds

When you add a new Refund, the program assigns any refund optional fields that are set up for automatic insertion, along with their default entries.

To check or to change the optional field entries for a Refund, click the Optional Fields tab, which lets you view and edit refund optional fields.

Accounts Receivable assigns default entries as follows:

1. If you assigned exactly the same optional fields to the customer record as you defined for refunds, the entries from the customer record appear.
2. If an optional field is defined for refunds, but is not assigned in the customer record, the value specified in the Optional Fields record appears as the default entry.

You can accept the entries that appear as defaults, or you can delete any optional fields that are not required fields. You can also add different refund optional fields.
If an optional field is a Required field, it must contain an entry before you can save the refund.
If an optional field is a validated field, you must specify an entry that is defined for the optional field in Common Services. If the optional field is not validated, you can select an entry from Common Services, or you can make any entry that is consistent with the type of optional field.

Printing Refund Checks

Accounts Receivable provides two ways to print a refund check. You can:

• Print a single refund check using the Refund Entry form.
• Print a range of checks using the Refund Batch List form.

When you accept the check and the payment advice, if you printed one, Accounts Receivable posts the check information to Bank Services, and closes the Print Checks form.

Voiding Printed Checks

Accounts Receivable provides two ways to void printed checks:

• If you successfully printed a check, then realize after closing the Print Checks form that there is a problem with the check, display the refund in the Refund Entry form, then click the Void Check button.
  The Print Check button becomes available again, letting you reprint the check.
• If you are using the Print Checks form to print checks, and you cannot reprint immediately, set the check status to Not Printed to void the checks when you close the Print Checks form.

If you do not void printed checks, Accounts Receivable sets the batch status to Check Creation In Progress, and you must reset the batch status in order to edit the batch later.

Voiding Printed Checks When You Reprint

Accounts Receivable assigns check numbers to checks just before printing them.

If you did not cancel the previous check run, Accounts Receivable must void the old check numbers and issue new ones when you reprint checks.

Voiding Printed Checks that You Accepted as Correct

Once you accept checks as correctly printed (and advices, if printed separately), Accounts Receivable posts the check information to Bank Services, and closes the Print Checks form.

Resetting Batch Status from Check Creation In Progress

Accounts Receivable sets the batch status to Check Creation In Progress if you reject a printed check, then leave the Print Checks form without voiding the check.
When the Refund Batch List next appears, you see that Accounts Receivable has reset the batch status.

If you are interested in the detail process including screen shots please contact us at info@axisglobalpartners.com or call your AXIS Solution Provider for further information.