QB Monday Minute | Statements, Reminders, and Late Fees

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General Ledger

In June’s QB Talks, I showed off the new Modern Invoices, including all the new enhancements they’ve added since they were first introduced. Intuit has been taking our feedback to heart and adding in all the features we’ve come to know and love. Now that I’ve taken the time to get used to it, there are a few things I truly like about it, like the ability to edit the Customer Details pane right from the invoice, and the ability to turn on and off certain fields on an invoice-by-invoice basis. 

If you missed my demo, please check it out here!

During the webinar, I briefly mentioned a few other accounts receivable workflow features like Customer Statements, and sending payment reminders. To tell you more about them, here is an excerpt from my textbook, QuickBooks Online Complete, from Questiva Consultants at questivaconsultants.com.

QuickBooks Online Complete takes a step-by-step approach to learning QBO, because hands-on learning, click by click, is the most effective way to make the learning stick! 

Open up the Craig’s Design and Landscaping file at qbo.intuit.com/redir/testdrive and follow these instructions. If you enjoy this mini-lesson, please pick up a copy of the book for yourself!

Creating Customer Statements 

Customer Statements provide a summary of the activity for a credit customer during a specific period  of time. There are three Statement Types: 

• Balance Forward shows the customer balance as of the Start Date, and all transactions that  occurred until the End Date. 

• Open Item shows all unpaid invoices after the Statement Date. 

• Transaction Statement lists invoices and credit memos, with the Total Amount invoiced and the  Total Received. 

The Balance Forward and Transaction Statement both give the option of including only open  transactions, overdue transactions, or all transactions during the date range. 

It’s a good idea to preview and experiment with the statement types, the customer balance status, and  the date ranges until you get the reports you prefer. 

HANDS-ON PRACTICE 

Craig’s Landscaping only emails statements to customers who have open balances, but they do like to  include the entire transaction history for the year. 

Step 1. From the +New button click Statement to open the Create Statements window, as  shown in Figure 5-39.

Step 2. Confirm that Balance Forward appears in the Statement Type (see Figure 5-40).

Step 3. Use today’s date in the Statement Date field. 

Step 4. Leave Open selected in the Customer Balance Status. 

Step 5. Set the Start Date to 1/1 (press the letter Y, the first letter in “Year”).

Step 6. Set the End Date to today (press the letter T, the first letter in “Today”).  

  • You need to include a Statement Date and a date range, because the Statement Date is the "current" date on the Statement, while the date range filters the transactions  shown. 

Step 7. Click Apply. 

Step 8. The Recipients List shows all customers who qualify under the selected parameters.  

  • If any customers are missing email addresses, you can enter them here, but it is a  best practice to edit the customer record so that you keep the information  permanently on file. 

Step 9. Click Print or Preview in the black bar at the bottom of the window. 

Step 10. While you could Print the statements from here to snail-mail to customers, most  companies elect to send them via email instead. 

  • After previewing the statements in the Print Preview window (see Figure 5-41),  click the Close button.  

Step 11. Normally, you would click Save and Send to send the statements by email. Because this is a sample company, change the green button to Save and Close.

Sending Payment Reminders 

Instead of manually sending Statements, consider sending a Payment Reminder. You can manually  initiate reminder emails, or turn on QuickBooks Online’s feature to automatically notify customers about  upcoming or late invoices. 

A payment reminder can be initiated from the drop-down arrow to the right of any open invoice, as  shown in Figure 5-42.  

You can also Batch Send Reminders from any invoice list, including the Invoices Center or a Customer  Transaction List, as shown in Figure 5-43. 

HANDS-ON PRACTICE 

Instead of manually sending Payment Reminders every month, Craig’s Landscaping would like to  automate the process. 

Step 1. Open Account and Settings from the Gear, and go to the Sales settings. Scroll down  and click on Reminders. 

Step 2. Turn On the slider for Automatic Invoice Reminders. 

Step 3. Click on Reminder 1, then change the slider to On.  

Step 4. Note that you can change the number of days before or after the invoice’s due date  for the reminder to be sent. 

Step 5. You may further customize the subject line and the body of the email so that it  reflects your company’s branding and style. The content in brackets pulls in  customer’s company name, or invoice number. These fields should not be edited,  although they can be removed.  

Step 6. Review Figure 5-44 to make sure it matches your screen. 

Step 7. Let’s add a second reminder in case the customer doesn’t pay the invoice. Click  Reminder 2, and turn on the slider. Set the reminder to send 7 days After the due  date, as shown in Figure 5-45.  

Step 8. Consider using a third reminder 30 or 60 days after the due date, to follow up with  overdue invoices.  

Step 9. Click Save at the bottom of the Reminders section to accept the changes. Step 10. Click Done to close Account and Settings. 

Adding Late Fees 

You can also add Late Fees to your customers’ overdue invoices automatically. Once this feature is turned  on in Account and Settings under Sales, fees will calculate automatically, but you can turn off the option  manually on a customer-by-customer basis. 

As you can see in Figure 5-46, late fees are completely flexible. You can apply flat fees or a percentage of  the open balance. You can also accrue them just once, every month, or every day. If you automatically apply late fees, it is good courtesy to add that policy to your invoices using the  Message box (see Customizing Sales Forms on page 81).

When you turn on late fees, it only applies to new invoices; it will not update existing overdue invoices.

To manage late fees for a specific customer, go to the Late Fees tab in their Customer record. There you  can disable the automatic entry, or customize their terms, as shown in Figure 5-47.

If you would rather apply late fees manually on a case-by-case basis, create a new Income account in the  Chart of Accounts called Late Fee Income, and a new Service on the Products and Services List called Late  Fees that points to the new Income account. Then add an additional line on existing invoices, or create a  new invoice for the fees.

Conclusion

If you enjoyed this experiential learning for Statements, Reminders, and Late Fees, please pick up a copy of Alicia’s book at http://www.questivaconsultants.com.

All contents on this page are subject to copyright © Questiva Consultants 2024 and are not to be reproduced or republished by any means.

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