A/R Terms is where you set up the discount-schedule terms for A/R customers. You can access the A/R Terms parameter program in two ways.
To access the A/R Terms parameter program:
Select Tools-Administration-Parameters from the Main Menu and then select AR Terms in the parameter list.
Or, enter Customer Properties for a particular customer and choose Add or Edit AR Account from the toolbar near the top of the screen. When the customer's A/R window appears, the AR Terms field is the last field in the window. You can access the A/R Terms parameter program by clicking on the binoculars icon to the right of the AR Terms field.
Once in the A/R Terms parameter program, the first thing you will see is the code-description screen, where all A/R Terms codes and accompanying descriptions are listed. To access an existing code:
Highlight the row of the code you want to access. Once highlighted, click on the Properties button at the right of the screen. The Properties screen for the selected code appears.
To create a new code:
Select File-New-Parameter from the menu at the top of the screen. The AR Terms Properties screen will appear, with the fields waiting to be filled in.
The Properties screen has the following six fields . . .
The Code field is where you assign the Code for the A/R Term you are creating.
The Description field is where you key in the description of the A/R Term you are creating--in other words, what you want to call it. The Description will appear on the A/R customer's receipt.
The Discount Amount field is a percentage discount you are assigning to this A/R Term if the customer pays off the balance within a certain number of days. This works in direct correlation with the Discount Days field. Please note, you will either choose to use this Discount Amount field or the Use POS Discount field below. You cannot use both fields for the same A/R term.
Fill in the Discount Days field with the number of days, either from the Invoice Date or the End of the Month, that the customer has under the conditions of this A/R Term to recieve the percentage discount. If the customer does not pay the balance within this assigned number of days, then the discount will be waved. For example, if you assign a discount of 2% and a Discount Days value of 10, then the customer will only recieve the 2% discount if he or she pays the balance within ten days, either from the Invoice Date or from the End of the Month.
The Use POS Discount field is a checkbox field. If you leave this unchecked, the system will pay attention only to the Discount Amount field discussed above. But if you check the Use POS Discount field checkbox, the system will ignore the Discount Amount field. Instead, it will look at any discounts applied at the POS. If the customer then does not pay the balance within the specified number of days as defined by the Discount Days field, the POS discounts that were applied in the original sale will be canceled, and the customer will need to incur the full price of the products purchased. For example, if the customer bought a book for $8.00 at a 20% discount applied at the POS (therefore, the regular price of the book is $10.00) but did not pay off her balance within the specified number of days, then she would be charged the full $10.00. The customer in effect forfeits the right of the POS discount if she is late paying off her balance.
The Net Days field is where you assign the number of days the balance must be paid off before the customer incurs a late charge. This is an informational field.
The Invoice or EOM field determines how the Discount Days field above is to be calculated: Do you want to calculate the days based on the Invoice Date or the End of the Month? If you use the Invoice Date, then the Discount Day's guidelines kick in from the date of the invoice. If you use the End of the Month, the Discount Day's guidelines do not begin to kick in until the current month ends. At the start of the new month, the Discount Day's guidelines will begin to be in effect. So, for example, if the Discount Days field is set to 10 and a customer purchases a product on March 15, if you use the Invoice Date to determine the discount, then the customer has until March 25 to receive the discount (or lose the POS discount if you checked the Use POS Discount field). But if you choose End of the Month, the guidelines do not begin to kick in until the beginning of the next month--in this case April. The customer will have until April 10 to receive the discount (or lose the POS discount if you checked the Use POS Discount field).