Create credit notes

Managers Partners  Billers

You can draft credit notes from the Draft Bills and (Undefined variable: UKUS.Credit Notes)s dashlet on the Client Dashboard, Data Entry section of the task pad in the Client menu.

Portfolio menu

1. Select Bill Portfolio and then Entire Portfolio from the DRS section.
   

2. Select the client to be credited and click on the action button on the Client Search. This will show the available bills that can be credited.

Creating a Credit Note Linked to a Bill

1. Select the bill that is to be credited and click Credit to initiate the credit note process. A dialogue box will be displayed. Some bills must be fully reversed. The message within the dialogue box will indicate whether the bill must be fully reversed or whether a credit can be raised to the value of the outstanding amount. Any bills that contained jobs that were Based on Job or Scheduled must be fully reversed.

2. Click OK. This will initialise the credit note wizard.

3. Check the details on the Header page. The Memo field will be populated with details of the bill being credited.

4. Select the Analysis tab. For a Full credit note, leave the amounts as they are. For a partial credit note, enter the amount to be credited back per line, or remove any lines that are not to be credited.

5. Select the Narrative tab. This will display the original lines of narrative and amounts from the Bill. If any changes were made on the Analysis tab, ensure that the amounts on the Narrative tab match. Expand the line and edit the narrative if required.

6. View the credit note by clicking View.

7. Either confirm the credit note by clicking Submit and then Confirm or save the draft credit note by clicking Close.

8. Select the Actions tab and select theDelivery Format, Add Documents and select whether WIP is to be restored. By default, WIP will be restored. Only untick this option if the WIP is to be written off. Once confirmed there is no way to restore the WIP.

9. When confirming, select whether the credit note is to be printed.

10. Restore the WIP from the credit note will restore the WIP and any write offs/carry forwards that were allocated to the original bill.

Creating an Unlinked Credit

An Unlinked Credit can be used to apply a credit amount to the DRS balance of the client. They can be allocated to a bill at a later stage if required. Unlinked Credits are created from the same places as a credit note.

1. From the New Credit Note page, select New Unlinked Credit.

2. Set the Organisation, Partner and Manager details as required.

3. Select the Service and Job that the credit is to be applied to. These are required although no credit will be entered against WIP transactions.

4. Select whether the credit is to be a Time or Disbursement entry. The date will default to the current day or the last day of the period if the system is set to restrict to current period.

5. Enter a Reference and Amount.

6. Set the appropriate VAT rate. The system will calculate the amount.

7. Enter the narrative for the Unlinked Credit. This will be used if the Unlinked Credit is to be sent to the client.

8. If applicable, select the relevant layout.

9. Click Create. This will only be available if the mandatory fields have been populated.

10. A confirmation dialog displays. Click Yes to continue and post the Unlinked Credit.

11. If required, the Unlinked Credit can be printed from the client’s DRS transactions.

New draft credit note

1. Credit Notes can be created from the Client Dashboard, Client menu or the Fee Portfolio.
   

   • From the Client Dashboard, select New Credit Note from the Draft Fees and Credit Notes Dashlet.

   • Or, select New Credit Note from the Client menu.

   • Or, select Entire Portfolio from the Debtors node of the Fee Portfolio, and then click onto the Credit button next to the client requiring the credit note.

2. The client’s outstanding fees will be displayed. Clicking Credit next to any will create a linked credit note. Alternatively, clicking Next at the top of the page will create an unlinked credit note. Two further options are also available:

   • Work with WIP - This indicates whether this will be a WIP credit note or a Non WIP Credit Note. A Non WIP Credit Note will only affect the DRS of the client.

   • Credit Type - This option is only needed when not selecting an existing fee note to credit against, that is, an unlinked credit note. It is important to consider what type of entry the credit note will be allocated against in the future. If an ‘RFP Credit Note’ is created it cannot be allocated against an invoice and vice versa.

Creating a credit note linked to a fee

1. To create a credit note linked to a fee click Credit next to the required Fee. You can only credit the amount of the fee that is still outstanding as shown below.

2. Click OK on the dialog window to continue.

3. Having clicked Credit next to the desired fee, the credit note creation wizard will be displayed.

4. First is the Header tab. The header of the credit note looks similar to that of the fee. The Memo field will contain a note relating it to a particular fee note. The Manual Fee No field will remain blank allowing a fee note number to be entered if required (if no number is entered the system will generate its own unique number). The Amount, VAT and Total etc. are automatically calculated

5. Click Next> to continue, or click the DRS tab.

6. The DRS tab displays the line and narrative from the original fee. Amend the narrative or amount as required. It is not possible to add additional lines to a credit note or set the amount to be more than the original line amount on the fee.

   Click Next> to continue, or click the WIP tab.

7. The WIP tab displays the original fee note and will be reinstated when the credit note is confirmed. As per the WIP allocation on fees, the WIP can be removed at various levels using the delete icon. If WIP is removed by accident, the original WIP allocation can be reset by selecting Reset to Original Allocation from the drop-down list at the top left-hand side of the page, and then clicking Go.
   When the WIP allocation is complete, click Check to check thecredit note ready for confirmation, or click Close to save the credit note as a draft. If the ‘Work with WIP’ option was not selected on the main page this step will be omitted from the process.

Confirming Credit Notes

Draft credit notes can be confirmed when all of the relevant information has been entered. The Confirm button will only be available once the Check button has been used.

1. The check button is used to check the credit note conforms to any Fee Policy that has been put into place. The fee policy is based upon a client stored procedure.

2. If the Transaction Setting of Approval Required ? is active then the credit note will need to be Submitted and any Billing Questionnaires completed before the credit note can be confirmed. If Billing Questionnaires are not in use then the credit note can be confirmed as soon as it has been submitted.

3. Select Confirm to confirm the credit note and credit the selected client’s debtors. A Confirm Draft dialog box will be displayed.

   • The first option is standard and if selected displays a copy of the credit note that is available for printing.

   • The second option is a question that will only be asked if the Work with WIP option was selected on the main page. Its purpose is to confirm that the WIP is being re-instated as per the credit note WIP allocation.

   • A third option will be displayed if the date entered on the Header is outside the current system period dates. If the date is not correct, click Cancel. If the date is correct, click the Draft Fee Date is correct option.

Unlinked Credit Notes

An unlinked credit note is created in the same way as a linked one but is allocated later to an invoice.

To create an unlinked credit note click Next > and click OK to continue.

A transaction setting on the organisation controls whether Unlinked Credit Notes can be created.

Working with WIP and Unlinked Credit Notes

If the Work with WIP option has been unchecked, it is still possible to credit WIP back even though there is no original WIP allocation. This is possible using unallocated entries.

1. Select Add an Unallocated Line from the drop-down list in the top left side of the page.

2. An Add On-Account window is displayed, select the Client, Service and Job and the amount of time or disbursements required for credit and click OK.

3. An Unallocated entry will appear in the WIP Allocation page.

4. Once step 1, 2 and 3 are complete the credit note can be confirmed in the same way as a Linked one.

Credit Notes and Unlinked Credits

Credit Notes are used to credit back full or partial bills. They are directly linked to a bill.

Unlinked Credits are used to create an arbitrary credit against a client. An Unlinked Credit is not linked to any bill and does not affect WIP in anyway.

Both credit note and Unlinked Credits are created from the Client Dashboard, the Client Task Pad or from the Billing portfolio.

1. From the Client Dashboard, select New Credit Note from the Draft Bills and Credit Notes Dashlet.

   • Or, select Credit NoteNew from the Client Taskpad.

   • Or, select Entire Portfolio from the DRS node of the Billing Portfolio, and then click the Credit Note action next to the client requiring the credit note.

2. The client’s outstanding bills will be displayed. Click New Credit Note . A new Credit Note dialog will be displayed confirming the outstanding value that is to be credited. Click Credit to bring up the Draft Credit Note Wizard.

The Draft Credit Wizard

The Draft Credit Wizard is very similar to the Draft Bill Wizard and contains the Header, Analysis, Narrative and Actions tabs.

The Header tab

The header of the credit note looks like that of the bill. The Memo field will contain a note relating it to a bill note. For a detailed description of the available fields on the Header, please refer to the Header section within the Draft Bill Wizard.

The Analysis tab

The Analysis tab will display the original WIP that was allocated to the bill. The credit value can be adjusted as required if doing a partial credit note. It is not possible to change the bill type or the VAT rate. WIP lines can also be removed from the credit note if they are not to be credited.

Options are available from the drop-down:

• Field

• Description

• Reset to Original Values - this option will reset the WIP to the original values that were on the bill, if they
  have been changed within the credit note.

• Auto Allocate - this option allows for a partial credit to be auto-allocated across the component WIP.

The Narrative tab

The Narrative tab will display the original narrative that was on the bill. This narrative and the value can be adjusted if needed. The narrative tab behaves the same as the narrative tab in the Draft Bill Wizard. Please refer to the Narrative tab section within the Draft Bill Wizard for further
details.

The Actions tab

The Actions tab allows the delivery format for the credit note to be set. It also contains an option to Restore the WIP. The Restore WIP check box will be checked by default. When ticked, any WIP included on the credit note will be restored to the WIP balance so that it can be dealt with later. If the Restore WIP checkbox is unticked, the WIP will be automatically written off when the credit note is confirmed.

Documents can also be added to the credit note by clicking Add a Document. This will open the dialog. The dialog displays a Choose File button where the file can be browsed to and selected. Although multiple file types can be attached to the credit note, only PDF documents can be sent with the credit note.

Once the file has been selected, click Save. The file will be added to the list of documents on the Actions tab. There are options to set whether the document should be printed and whether it should print before the credit note. If attaching multiple documents, the order of the documents can be set by dragging and dropping the document lines into the desired order.

Confirming the credit note

1. The credit note must be submitted before it can be confirmed. The Submit button will run the policy check. Any issues with the credit note will be displayed in the Policy Error dialog.

2. Once submitted, the credit note can be confirmed. Clicking Confirm will open the Confirm Draft dialog. The Confirm Draft dialog provides a final opportunity to select the delivery format, add attachments and restore the WIP.

3. Click OK to confirm the credit note. A Print dialog will be displayed asking whether a copy of the credit note should be printed.

• If the credit note is to be printed, a print credit note dialog will be displayed indicating the progress of the process. Once the credit note has been generated it will appear on screen for printing.

• If the credit note is to be emailed, an email credit note dialog will be displayed indicating the progress of the process and allowing standard email wording to be applied or ad-hoc wording to be entered.

4. If the credit note fails to confirm for any reason the person who tried to confirm it will be sent an email to notify them.

Combined credit note

1. Create combined credit notes by selecting Combined Credit on the New Credit Note page.

2. Select at least two bills to be credited and click Combined Credit. A new credit note will be created that includes the details and WIP from all the selected bills.

3. The combined credit note is processed in the same way as an individual credit note.