Accounts Receivable (AR) Documents

All payment and payment clearing activities of a provider or a customer result in Accounts Receivable documents (AR documents) in the system. AR documents serve for accounting purposes such as making financial statements, adjusting customer balances, determining the ageing invoices, and so on.

Billing uses the following types of AR documents:

• Invoice: It is the main billing document. Invoices are created as a result of order processing and are cleared with payments. Payment processing depends on the order flow. For most order flows, services are provisioned after an order is paid:

  1. A customer places an order paying for services in advance.
  2. A payment document is created in the system for the order sum.
  3. The services are provisioned.
  4. An invoice is generated.
  5. The payment is applied to the invoice.

  However, you can also configure an order flow to allow partial or no advance payment:

  1. A customer places an order paying for services partially (or there is no advance payment); the customer has an outstanding balance.
  2. The services are provisioned.
  3. An invoice is generated and issued to the customer.
  4. The customer pays the invoice.
  5. A payment document is created in the system and is applied to the invoice.

• Payment: This AR document type represents the money received from a customer. Payments are used to clear invoices and can be made by different means such as cash, credit card, wire transfer, and so on. Billing provides different payment method types for different ways of payment, which are processed differently in the system:

  • Payments by credit card can be processed online through special payment gateways; the corresponding payment documents are created in the system automatically.
  • Cash payments must be handled manually outside the system; the corresponding payment documents must be created in the system manually.

  You can also register a standalone payment in the system to top up a customer's balance. Such a payment remains open until it is applied to an invoice.

• Credit Memo: This document type is used to credit a customer or reseller account to reduce the amount on a previously issued invoice (due to a pricing error, a promotion campaign, an individual discount, a cash-back and so on). The account balance is displayed with different signs in PCP and CCP (or RCP) and changes accordingly:

  • In PCP, the account balance is displayed as decreased by the credit amount.
  • In CCP (or RCP), the account balance is displayed as increased by the credit amount.

  A credit memo can be generated by a cancellation or change order when a customer cancels or downgrades a prepaid service.

• Debit Memo: This document type is used to debit a customer or reseller account to increase the amount on a previously issued invoice (due to a pricing error or to offset an incorrect payment or credit memo). The account balance changes accordingly:

  • In PCP, a debit memo increases the account balance.
  • In CCP (or RCP), a debit memo decreases the account balance.

  Debit memos are cleared with payments or credit memos.

• Void Check: This document type is used to cancel recent online payments confirmed by a payment gateway but not yet settled. When a payment is voided, Billing generates a Void Check document, unapplies the payment from the order and corresponding invoice, and applies the payment to the void check. Void Check documents are created automatically and cannot be created manually.

• Refund: This document type is used to refund customers after an online payment is settled (the money is transferred from the customer's to the merchant's account) and can no longer be voided. After you request a refund and Billing receives a confirmation from a third-party system, Billing generates a Refund document, unapplies the payment from the order and corresponding invoice, and applies the payment to the refund. Refund documents for online payments are created automatically by the system and cannot be created manually. However, you can manually create a standalone refund document to credit a customer account. Such refunds are similar to invoices or debit memos: they increase customer balance and are applied to payments or credit memos.