Use Customer Statements
Statements are an effective way to remind your customers of outstanding invoices. Not only can you generate a statement for a single customer, or all of your customers, you have the option to print the statements on paper, or send via e-mail. Here's how to get started:
1. Choose Customers, and then Create Statements to view the Create Statements window
2. Specify a statement date, which will usually be today's date.
Clean cut-off: Some businesses send statements at the end of each month as a matter of course. If you're generating statements in the first week of a new month, you may wish to specify the last day of the preceding month as your statement date. Keep in mind, though, that any activity posted in the new month won't be reflected on the statement.
3. Next, you'll choose between two statement formats:
a) Statement period: Choose this format if you regularly send statements to customers each month. Make sure that the start date is the day after the ending date of your previous statement.
b) Open transactions: Opt for this when you only occasionally send statements to your customers, or you want to create a quick snapshot of unpaid invoices.
4. Now you'll specify which customer or customers to include:
a) All Customers: As you would expect, this choice will generate a statement for every customer, subject to the choices that you make in the Select Additional Options section that we'll look at in a moment.
b) Multiple Customers: This option enables you to pick specific customers. A Choose button appears when you click this option, and then you can use the dialog box to indicate your selections.
c) One Customer: A drop-down list appears when you select this option, from which you'll choose the customer in question.
d) Customers of Type: This option enables you to generate statements for a cross-section of your customer list, based on types that you've assigned to your customers.
e) Preferred Send Method: This option generates statements for all customers, but delineates between Print and E-mail. Perhaps some customers prefer electronic documents, but others prefer a piece of paper to touch. You can batch process all of your e-mail savvy customers in one pass, and then repeat the statement process for those that need a printed copy.
5. Click the View Selected Customers button to preview which customers will receive statements based on your choices above.
6. You're now ready to set the additional options for your statements:
a) Template: Choose a software that offers a standard statement format, but you can also click the Customize button and tailor a statement to meet your exact needs.
b) Create One Statement: Use this field to indicate whether statements should be generated for each customer or each job.
c) Show Invoice Item Details on Statements: This option eliminates the need to print supporting copies of invoices to attach to a customer's statement.
d) Print Statements by Billing Address Zip Code: If you're generating numerous statements, you may be able to secure discounts from the U.S. Postal Service by presorting your outgoing statements.
e) Print Due Date On Transactions: This option allows you to clearly document the due date of any outstanding invoices.
f) The Do Not Create Statements section allows you to further refine your choices:
With a Zero Balance: Choose this option when you want to provide a transaction history to customers that have paid their balance in full.
With a Balance Less Than: This option lets you exclude customers that have nominal or credit balances on their account.
With No Account Activity: If you want to see a statement for every customer, whether or not they've done business with you recently. If so, choose this option.
For Inactive Customers: This option is disabled unless you choose a Select Customers criteria that includes one or more inactive customers.
7. Click Preview to see how your statements will appear. You can then click the Print button on the Print Preview window to if you plan to print the statements, or click Close to e-mail the statements or refine the selection options.
8. If you didn't click Print on the Print Preview window, you can choose Print or E-mail at the bottom of the Create Statements dialog box to generate statements for your clients.
With a better understanding of your accounting procedures you can improve your bottom line, make more financially savvy business decisions, and more efficiently steer your business into growth and greater profitability.
About the Author:
Pam Newman is the author of Out of the Red, Unlocking the Secrets of QuickBooks, and Boost Your Bottom Line. She is a Speaker, a Certified Management Accountant, and a Certified QuickBooks®
Financial and Point-of-Sale ProAdvisor. For more information, contact her at 816.304.4398 or
www.rppc.net.
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785
Date Published :
Jun 23 2008