Introduction to Invoicing (AR Suite)

Editor's Notes

• #3: (Tara) I’d like to introduce Donna to those of you who may not know her. Donna is our customer success manager here at Fusebill and she spends her days with our customers, addressing requirements, helping to onboard, and being there for whatever our customers need. In fact, Donna even helps people who aren’t customers with any questions about Fusebill they may have as they are researching our service. Anyone on the call who has ever talked to Donna knows how important it is to her that our customers succeed, not just with Fusebill but with their own business as well. Before starting at Fusebill Donna worked her magic at Premiere Global Services, Phresseia, and like many of us at Fusebill - Protus.
• #4: Before we start, I just wanted to give everyone a quick introduction to Fusebill. Fusebill automates invoicing, billing and collections for subscription based companies. We solve “real world billing problems” and are ideal for both B2B and B2C businesses.One of the things that sets Fusebill apart is our history. The founding team of Fusebill helped build Protus – the maker of MyFax, Campaigner and my1voice – into a business supporting over 550,000 paid subscribers and a wide variety of pricing models and real-world billing issues. Many of the people who work at Fusebill, including both Donna and myself, used to work for Protus. We’re the product of a 10 year history of building & running large scale billing systems with hundreds of thousands of subscribers. We've lived the pain of billing outages & architected Fusebill to avoid them.
• #5: On today’s call we will cover the following topics:A general overview of Fusebill’s Invoicing/AR Suite Review setup options for your invoicesReview creating an AR customerThe new Invoice tab in the Fusebill UIApplying manual charges and posting an invoiceThe Invoice EmailReview the differences between Credit Card and AR customer invoice statuses, as well as payment options including manual payments and one time payments via Credit Card
• #6: Fusebill is a complete billing system that lets you automate ALL of your billing, whether your customers pay electronically (e.g. by credit card or ACH) or pay offline (e.g. by check or wire transfer). Many of our customers use both capabilities because that suits their business  - often smaller clients pay by credit card, while larger, longer term clients are granted credit terms and pay after being invoiced.There are a number of related features that help you manage your invoiced clients:With Fusebill you can:Add your logo & customize invoice appearance.Set up for automated email delivery.Set payment terms per client (30 days, 60 days) and automate dunning emails.Access detailed reporting on outstanding balances & collections.Adjust invoices with manual discounts, charges and refunds.Create one-off invoices between billing dates.Accept offline payments, including cash, checks and credit card.Specify recurring billing dates or distribute throughout the month.Itemize to show one-time charges, recurring charges, and line-by-line usage-based charges.
• #7: Via the Fusebill UI, under General Options in SETTINGS, you have the ability to personalize the look of the invoices you send out to your customers.Options to personalize the invoice include:Adding your Logo - By simply clicking on Choose File, you are able to locate an image file on your system and click Upload to import the file into Fusebill. If upload was successful, a sample of your image will appear on your screen.Choose your Default Terms –Allows you to define the Default Terms for your Invoiced Customers. With the handy dropdown you can just select your terms from the list! Add a Default Note – With the Default Note section you can add a generic message for all your customers. You can use this area to provide more details on late payments, advertisea sale, or provide other general information for your customers. The information can be changed when needed and provides up to 400 characters for the message.Choose the Next Invoice # - Allows you to use your own invoice numbering system by entering the starting number in the box. When you finished your modifications, just click Save Invoice Settings for your changes to take effect.
• #8: A example of an invoice created in Fusebill. This invoice includes the customer logo, and custom notes in the Default Notes section.
• #9: Via the Payment Methods option, found under each of your customers, you have the flexibility to customize each customers Payment Method, Terms, and Invoice Frequency, as well as set the Invoice Date going forward.For Terms – the Terms you set up under the Invoice settings is prepopulated with the default Terms you set up under Account Settings. You can override the default to any of the other options that appear via the drop down, giving you the ability to customize terms per customer.Send Invoices every – allows you to define when an invoice would be generated for this customer. To have the invoices created every month, you would enter a 1 in the first box and choose Month from the dropdown box. Other options include quarter and year, providing you the flexibility to create almost any invoice frequency for your customers.Override next Invoice date – allows you to determine the next invoice date. While the system will create and send the initial invoice, you can override the original invoice date, setting a new date for this customers invoices going forward. Currency – will display your default currency. This field cannot be changed.
• #10: If you have existing customers you want to change from Credit Card payment to AR, the steps are simple. From the Customer tab, locate the customer you want to change.Click Details.Click Payment MethodOn the “Change current customer’s payment method to”, change from Credit Card to AR. Modify the options under AR that you’d like to set for this customer such as the terms, how often you’d like to send invoices every month and the next invoice date. When you’re don, click the Update AR Settings buttons to save.
• #11: Have you ever tried to find a specific invoice for a specific customer in a filing system that seems to only make sense to the person who created it?Frustrating isn’t it?It’s even more frustrating when you’re on the phone with a customer while you’re looking.  And it’s not just frustrating -  it wastes time, not just yours, but the customer on the other end of line.Fusebill’s Invoice features including the invoice tab, puts an end to all of this. Located in the Customers section of Fusebill, the Invoice tab displays all of a customer’s invoices as well as their current Open invoice.Current InvoiceThere will always be a single invoice in the open status labelled Current Invoice.  All new financial records for the current period belong to the Current invoice.   It can be reviewed and posted at any time, and if it is posted, will be replaced with a new Current Invoice.The Invoice Grid contains Invoice #Status (Due, Overdue, Paid)Posted Dateand Downloadfor any/all invoice(s)  generated for a customer:Each column can be sorted and each invoice can be viewed by clicking the PDF icon under the Download column.   The status column changes depending on the status of the invoice:Due – The invoice is waiting for payment.Overdue – Payment has not been received by the assigned due date.Paid – Invoice has no outstanding amount due.With the Fusebill Invoice tab you’ll be able to find what you’re looking for in record time!
• #12: Other than the statuses that may appear in the Status field, the Invoice grid for Credit Card Customers versus AR Customers are identical. A Credit Card customers initial status should show as PAID. In the instance where Fusebill was unable to collect the payment, the Invoice status would show as Overdue. For an AR Customer, invoices would reflect the customers terms, so for a customer with terms other than Net 30, the initial status would be Due and once 30 days has passed, would change to Overdue. A customer with the Terms 0 would immediately be shown in an Overdue status. Along with the Past Invoices, there will always be a single invoice in the open status. It is found above the grid and labelled Current Invoice. All new financial records for the current period will be flagged as belonging to the Current invoice. The Current invoice can be reviewed and posted at any time, and will be replaced with a new Current invoice if posted.
• #13: There will always be a single current invoice that would reflect the status of Current if opened. Any new financial transaction are automatically assigned to the open invoice, including any regular subscription charges, manual charges, balance reductions, write offs or manual discounts. The invoice would be posted on the Invoice Date.One of the options available with the Current invoice is the ability to post it at any time. This gives you the ability to create an manual invoice where once you add any manual charges, the invoice can be posted and emailed to the customer. This is a great option for items outside of your regular product components (ex. Consulting Fee, custom development, special projects) and allows you to post invoice outside of the regular invoice period. The Current invoice once posted will move to the Invoice Grid with a status of Due or Overdue, depending on the customer’s terms.
• #14: Adding Manual Charges to the Current Invoice is simple.From Accounting Functions, available when you are in Customer Details, choose Manual Charge. Then just enter an Amount and a description if you like, and check the boxes if you want to apply taxes. When finished, click on Submit Charge.The Current invoice can be posted at anytime, giving you the ability to create an invoice outside of the customers regular billing period. Once posted, the invoice will move down to the Invoice grid and reflect the appropriate status based on the customers terms. This will not interfere with the customers default invoice date in any way.Once posted, and if you are configured to send invoices via email, the invoice will be sent to your customer.
• #15: Once posted, if you are configured to send invoices via email, the invoice will be sent to your customer via email by the email address listed in their customer details. For A/R customers, invoices will be sent out to the email address configured in the customer detail section. The email will be generated and will be sent once the invoice has been posted. The email has a pdf copy of the invoice attached. Fusebill takes email deliverability very seriously. It is very important to us that your customers receive your invoices, emails, dunning emails, renewal notices etc. We’ve partnered with SendGrid-a cloud based email delivery company. They have a highly scalable email infrastructure and they are the industry leader in reality and scalability. With their service, we are able to make sure that your emails get to where they want to get. As mentioned earlier, payment grids provide information on invoices that are in current, outstanding and paid status. Each invoice can be downloaded and reviewed or forwarded to your customer. If you open an invoice, the invoice will reflect the status on the invoice grid.
• #16: As mentioned earlier, the payment grid provides information on invoices that are in a current, outstanding and paid status.Each invoice can be downloaded and reviewed or forwarded to your customer. If you open an invoice, the invoice will reflect the status on the invoice grid. The next few slides will review the differences between a Paid or Due/Overdue invoice.
• #17: A Due or Overdue invoice will reflect a Due or Overdue status. The Amount Due should reflect the total amount owing, but if a partial payment has been made, as in the Overdue example, you can see it outlines the amount already paid and reflects the actual amount owing.In the case where you receive a payment for a customer via check, and the check is returned as non payable, you can do an adjustment via the Accounting functions that will reverse the payment on the invoice and move the invoice back into a Due or Overdue status.
• #18: A paid invoice will show a zero status and will reflect a zero dollar balance. If you were to do an adjustment reversing the payment, it wouldn’t back remove this invoice. It would take it from a “paid” status to an overdue or due status. It would return the amount owing back into the amount due column.
• #19: For manual payments, when entering cheques or cash payments into the system, you would use the manual payment option via the accounting function. When a payment has been received and the invoice has been paid in full, the status will change from “due” or “overdue” to ‘paid’. For invoices that are only partially paid, the statuses will remain as due or overdue and the actual amount owing will be reflected in the amount due column.Any information entered into the description field in the manual payment screen will be captured in the transaction log.
• #20: There may be times when an AR customer wants to make a onetime payment via Credit Card, this can be done using the Manual Payment option under ACCOUNTING FUNCTIONS.For an A/R customer, under the accounting function, choose manual payments. Change the payment type to credit card and the screen will have a new section for credit card information. Enter in the amount, description and credit card details including name on the card, card number, card type, expiry date and cvv on the card. Once this information has been added, click submit payment.The payment will be reflected on outstanding invoices and changes any that have been paid in full to the paid status. As this is just another method of manual payment, any information entered into the description field will be entered into the transaction log for that customer.When an invoice is received and a status has been paid in full, the status will change from “due” or “overdue” to “paid”. For invoices that are only partially paid, the amount still owing will be reflected in the amount due column. The amount paid will be reflected on the invoice grid and note that the credit card data entered will NOT be stored in the Fusebill vault. The customer’s payment method will still remain as A/R.
• #21: An AR aging report shows not only the amounts owed to a company by its customers but also the length of time the amounts have been outstanding. It is probably the most important debt collection tool a company has because it helps you keep on top of customers who owe you money. The Fusebill report classifies AR as either Due Within Terms, Overdue 0 to 30 Days, Overdue 31 to 60 Days, Overdue 61 to 90 Days, Overdue 91 to 120 Days, and Overdue 120+ Days.  An important feature here is that you can drill down to particular customers and invoices – it is not a static ‘report,’ but a path to explore the balances due.The calendar functionality at the top of the AR Aging Report screen gives you the ability to view this report as of any date so that you have accurate data for your accounting records, and it can be downloaded to a CSV file which contains further information such as company and customer contact information, payment terms, payment type, etc.An AR Aging Report has multiple purposes:Keeping up to date on open invoices, and invoices beyond terms.Helping the business owner prioritize the receivables to be dealt with in a more urgent manner based on the length of time overdue.Distinguishing which customers may be bad credit risks. If a customer is always paying late, you may decide to no longer do business with them.Indicating the financial health of your customers, and therefore the health of your overall business.The AR Aging Report can also be an early warning sign for your business, slower collection could mean your business is slowing down or that your sales team is taking customers that are bigger credit risks than they should be.Remember, the most important rule when it comes to debt collection is that the longer a debt is owed, the less likely you are to collect it. Our AR Aging Report shows you at a glance the information you need about your customers and what they owe so you can start collecting.
• #22: In summary, the Fusebill invoice suite provides you additional functionality. You’ll be able to manage your clients with these features: branded invoices, account level credit control risk, record offline payments and optionally link invoices, online invoice access, and real time reporting view in outstanding payments and accounts receivable aging report.