Account Receivable Documents

All financial activities of vendors and customers result in Account Receivable documents (here and further – AR documents). These documents serve various purposes, such as making financial statements, adjusting a customer balance, and ageing.

Billing uses the following types of AR documents:

• Invoice – this is the main billing document. Invoices are always created as a result of order processing. When a customer pays for the services in advance, a payment is created for order sum. After successful service provisioning, an invoice is generated, and the payment is applied to it.

• Payment – this is the only AR document type, representing the money received from customers. Money can be paid by different means – cash, credit card, wire transfer and so on. In CloudBlue Commerce it is represented as different payment methods. Payment methods are processed differently, for instance, credit cards are processed online through special payment gateways, while cash is always handled manually.

  A payment document can be created during order processing even when an invoice does not exist yet. When order processing is completed, the payment gets assigned to the invoice, keeping its link to the order.

  A payment document can also be created independently of any order. Such a payment increases the customer balance and remains open until it is applied to an invoice. Payment application procedure is very important as it has direct effect on the customer balance ageing and customer statements.

• Credit Memo – this document is used to credit a customer account. In this case, an account balance is shown with different signs in the provider CP and customer CP. In the provider CP, an account balance is decreased by a credit amount. In the customer CP, an account balance is shown as increased by a credit amount. Such adjustment can be used in case of incorrect invoice pricing, promotion campaign, bonus pay-offs and so forth. A credit memo can be generated by cancellation or downgrading orders, when a customer has prepaid for the services that are being cancelled or downgraded. A credit memo can have multiple lines (details), each representing a purchase transaction (related subscription, subscription period, price, discount and other).

  Similar to payments, credit memos should be applied to invoices to ensure proper ageing.

• Debit Memo – this document is used to debit a customer account. From the provider CP, a debit memo increases an account balance. From the customer CP, a debit memo decreases an account balance. Such adjustments are usually needed in case of incorrect invoice pricing or to offset incorrect payment/credit memo. A debit memo can have multiple lines (details), each representing a purchase transaction (related subscription, subscription period, price, discount and other).

  Debit memos should be closed by the application of payments or credit memos.

• Void Check – this is a special type of transaction that is only applicable to payments.

  One of the most common cases in which a void check is created, is when voiding a credit card payment processed online. A payment, confirmed by a payment gateway, is considered as processed in Billing. However, a payment gateway does not settle the confirmed payment immediately. If during this time the payment is voided, Billing generates a void check, detaches the payment from the order or invoice, and applies the payment to the void check.

  A void request sent before a confirmed capture does not generate a void check because the payment at this moment is not yet processed. A void request sent after the payment gateway settles the transaction with the banking network is rejected by the payment gateway, and no void check document is created.

  A void check document cannot be created manually by the provider.

• Refund – this document is similar to a void check. After the payment gateway settles the payment, the payment can no longer be voided as money is already transferred from a credit card to a merchant account. Such a payment can only be refunded. Upon receiving a confirmation of a successful refund, Billing generates a refund document, detaches a payment from the order or invoice, and applies the payment to the refund.

  The refund of a payment processed earlier cannot be entered manually by the provider; it is always created automatically after a successful response to a refund request.

  You can also create a refund manually as a credit to a customer credit card rather than reverting a previously made online payment. Such a refund is similar to an invoice or debit memo: it decreases a customer's balance and should be applied to a payment or to a credit memo.

• Fraud Check – this document is used to verify whether a customer can pay for the ordered services, his/her credit card is valid, has not been mentioned in the fraudulent actions, and has sufficient credit to cover the purchase. Documents of such type are automatically generated in the system on specific conditions.

For more information about managing financial documents, refer to the Billing Provider's Guide.