Automatic Customer Offset

Description of process

This process is used to automatically offset customer open invoice/prepayment items with positive balances against customer open invoice/prepayment items with negative balances using an offset proposal.

An offset proposal may be created online or as a background job.

Customers to be included in an offset proposal are specified by selecting a range of customer IDs. You can select only one currency at a time and all open invoices/prepayments (except advance invoices) that are authorized for payment in that currency are considered for the selection. It is also possible to allow open items of any ledger status to be included in the proposal or to allow only open items of a specific ledger status (i.e. either Normal or Bad Debt) to be included. If an allowed difference is specified, an offset proposal will be suggested only if the difference resulting from the offset is less or equal to that amount. Here, the difference is posted as a new difference invoice item against the customer and then written off using the write off code specified by you. (Note that you are required to specify a difference item invoice type, difference item invoice series, debit write off code and credit write-of code and write off code if you enter an allowed difference.) If no allowed difference is specified, the offset proposal will be created if there is no difference resulting from the offset.

There are three possible methods in which open items can be matched against each other to create an offset

• Match All Open Items
  If this matching method is selected, an offset will be suggested for an individual customer only if the balance of all open items are within the specified allowed difference amount. An offset proposal will be created only if at least one customer has a balance within the specified allowed difference amount.
• Match Single Debit Item with Single Credit Item
  If this matching method is selected, the system takes the first debit item and searches through the credit items to find a match within the allowed difference amount. The system will then take the next debit item and continue until all debit items are covered. All matched items will be added to the offset proposal. 
• Match Open Items with One or Mote Credit Items
  If this matching method is selected, the system take the first debit item and matches it with with one or more credit items until matched within allowed difference amount. The system will then take the next debit item and do the same thing until all debit items are covered. All matched items will be added to the offset proposal.
• Match Open Items with Common Invoice Reference
  If this matching method is selected, a reference type must be selected to which the items should be matched . The reference types available are Invoice Reference, Order Reference, Customer Reference and Creators Reference. The system matches debit items and credit items with the same reference information and within the allowed difference amount. All matched items will be added to the offset proposal.
• Write-off Single Items
  If this matching method is selected, an offset will be created if a single item is within the allowed difference. The system will compare each item with the allowed difference amount. All items within allowed difference will be added to the offset proposal.

Once an offset proposal is created it can be modified, printed and approved. It is possible to remove open items already included in an offset proposal, and also to add new invoice/prepayment items to an existing proposal using the Select Batch dialog box and to modify the allowed difference amount.

Approval of the offset proposal too can be performed online or as a background job, and it results in the creation of a voucher which can be viewed in the Voucher Details window. The default voucher date, voucher type and user group suggested by the system in the Payment Parameters dialog box at the time of approving the voucher can be changed if required.

Description of Manual Customer Offset process

This process is used to manually select customer open invoice/prepayment items with positive balances as well as negative balances to be offset against one another. The invoice/prepayment items that can be included in an offset is restricted to a selected currency. The system allows you to approve the offset when the sum of all the balances of all items selected is zero. You can enter pre-postings for the offset, modify tax information and preview postings before the offset is approved. Once the offset is approved, its payment status is changed to Approved and a voucher is created in the hold table.