The Goal: Configure General Billing Settings, the organization-wide defaults behind every invoice, payment and scheduled billing: logo, default accounts, templates, automated billing, invoice numbers, payment terms and Info Hub options.
Before You Begin:
- Go to Finance, Administrative section, click Billing Settings and select General Billing Settings.
- You need full control of Finance settings to see and change the more sensitive options, such as Allow Deletion for (days).
- These settings affect all future billing. Decide your defaults first; you can record them in the finance settings planning guide.
- Jump to: Every setting, in page order | Split payment gateways | Step-by-step articles for individual settings.
Every setting, in page order
Before You Begin:
- You must have full control over Finance Settings to view and change the more sensitive settings (for example, Allow Deletion for (days)).
- Set up the accounts in your accounting software first—your default accounts here should match them. Plan to replace all system defaults.
- Have your finance logo ready (recommended size 500px wide by 150px tall).
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Click Finance in the left-hand rail.
- Go to Administrative section, click Billing Settings, and select General Billing Settings.
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Set Logo for Invoices and Statements
- Click the pencil icon below Logo for Invoices and Statements. NOTE: the icon is visible when you dwell the mouse below Logo for Invoices and Statements.
- Click Upload to browse to the location of your logo. Recommended image size for a finance logo is 500px wide by 150px tall.
- Click Open.
- Crop the image as needed, then click Crop & Save. The logo will now be displayed on all of your invoices and statements.
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Set Default Accounts
- For each of the listed accounts, select your default. This default will automatically be applied when you create fee items, but you will be able to over-ride if needed. IMPORTANT!! These accounts should be setup to match the accounts in your accounting software. Replace all system defaults!
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Overpayment Accounting Transaction: This setting allows you to select what accounts an overpayment should debit/credit when an overpayment is created by overpaying an invoice:
- Record in accounts tied to the overpaid invoice will create the overpayment using the Accounts Receivable (A/R) and Deposit account of the original invoice.
- Record in default accounts will debit/credit the A/R and Deposit accounts that are selected as the default under Finance, Administrative section, Billing Settings > General Billing Settings. As of 7/30/2021 this option is enabled by default.
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Default Templates for Transactions. These templates will automatically be used anywhere you are creating a transaction in the database. Recommended that you choose the templates that you wish to use the majority of the time. In most cases, these defaults can be overriden when you are creating the transaction. For example, the invoice template can be overridden in the following situations:
- You can apply a specific invoice template to a membership type: Add Pricing to A Membership Type
- You can apply a specific invoice template when delivering invoices: Deliver Invoice via Email and Print Invoices for Delivery
- You can apply a specific invoice template when re-delivering invoices: Find past-due invoices and unpaid dues Refer to Setting up Your Invoice Template for details on setting up a template.
- Select your Default Invoice Terms. Select the terms you wish to use by default.
- Allow Deletion for (days) - This setting determines the number of days within which any transaction may be deleted (invoice, payment, write off, credit, refund, applied overpayment/credit, etc). Best practice is to limit the transaction window, as once an invoice is deleted, it is completed removed from your view which could cause issues with audits and/or reconciling. Additionally, there is risk that an invoice deleted from the database may already have been posted to your general accounting software. This would cause the two systems to become out of sync. The system provides a Void option that can be used instead of deleting. A void will create a counter entry. The option to edit line items on an invoice also ties to this setting. IMPORTANT! You must have full control over Finance Settings to view and change this setting.
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Scheduled Billing Settings
- If you wish the system to automatically generate invoices for recurring billing enable Use Automated Billing. You will then enter the Lead Time Days. Lead time days is the number of days ahead of Next Bill Date that invoices are created when Use Automated Billing is enabeld. You will go to Finance, Billing section, click Unsent Invoices to actually send the invoices. This lead time gives you time to review invoices, apply credits, and apply un-applied payments, etc. before sending out the invoices. NOTE: Billings that have stored payment profiles will be charged on the actual Next Bill Date.
- Months Back Allowed: This setting allows you to set the number of months back you will be able to look back for invoices that need to be created, when manually running upcoming billing from the Upcoming Billing page in the Billing section.
- Auto Apply Credits to Newly Created Invoices: this setting will automatically apply any overpayments or credits on a contact’s profile to a new invoice. IMPORTANT: The credit will be apply regardless of the fee item associated to the credit. For example, you may have created a credit for an event registration but enabling this setting would apply it to membership dues.
- Invoice before Autopay: Enable this option to create invoices for contact who have a payment profile attached to a scheduled billing in advance (either when invoices are automatically generated or when billing is manually run). Invoices will be created without charging the credit card. On the actual invoice Next Bill Date, the system will then automatically charge the profile. See Create Invoices prior to Charging Stored Payment Profiles for further details.
- Automatic Invoice Emails: Enable this option if you wish the system to automatically send out your invoices once they have been generated (either automatically or manually). If selected you will then choose the Email Template that you wish to be used when the invoices are sent. IMPORTANT!! Invoice before Autopay and Automatic Invoice Emails are mutually exclusive. You can only choose one or the other.
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Event Invoice Tracking
- My Association typically tracks and records information under the: This setting allows you to configure whether event registrations invoices should be tracked on the business (member) account tab, or the individual account tab. NOTE: When Advanced Options are enabled the setting “Tie to Parent Organization” is displayed. In a Parent/Child relationship, if this option is enabled, the invoice will be tracked on the parents’ account tab.
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Invoice Number Editing
- Click the Allow Invoice Numbers To Be Edited check-box if you wish to allow for invoices numbers to be edited after an invoice has been created. If this option is enabled, a warning message that will be displayed if an invoice number is duplicated. This setting is disabled by default.
- Next Invoice Number: This field displayed the next sequential invoice number, and would allow you to set the starting number for invoices. It will increase each time a new invoice is created.
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Allow Partial Payments: Select this option if you wish to allow users to make a payment less than or greater than the invoice total. If this is not selected the user must pay the full amount of the invoice when making a payment.
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Payment Terms & Conditions
- If you wish to display terms & conditions on your online payment screens enable Payment Terms Visible
- Payment Terms Title: Enter a title for your terms & conditions to display on the payment screen
- Payment Terms Summary: As terms & conditions may be quite lengthy, enter a summary of the terms & conditions to display on the payment screen.
- Terms & Conditions: If you have not already created terms & conditions go to Finance, Administrative section, click Billing Settings and select Terms/Conditions. Once created, select those you wish to apply to payments.
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Info Hub Finance Settings
- Allow Info Hub Users to Access Related Contacts Invoices: Select this option if you wish to allow Info Hub users to view and pay other staff’s invoices. The contacts must be assigned an access level that allows full control for the Related Contacts. See Create a New Access Level - Users (Members) for more information on how to set up an access level.
- Allow Info Hub Users to Select Invoice Delivery Method: Select this option if you wish to allow user, via the Info Hub, to change how they receive their invoices.
- Click Save to finalize your changes.
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NOTE: For Invoice Line Items, go to Events & Learning → Events → Settings → General Event Settings — top row, right of Payment Gateway. Here you will find the following options:
Select what you would like included in the invoice line items. Individual events can override these defaults in the event’s Attendee Setup section. Full option lists: Attendee — 12 options:
Sponsor — 2 options:
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Common Pitfalls
- Leaving system default accounts in place: Default accounts should match the accounts in your accounting software. Replace all system defaults so your transactions reconcile correctly.
- Deleting instead of voiding transactions: Deleting removes an invoice from view and can put your database out of sync with your accounting software. Use the Void option to create a counter entry instead and limit the Allow Deletion for (days) window.
- Choosing both Invoice before Autopay and Automatic Invoice Emails: These two settings are mutually exclusive. You can only enable one or the other.
Split payment gateways
If you have more than one GrowthZone Pay gateway, turn on the split gateway feature here. It lets you choose which gateway processes each fee item. See Split Payment Gateways; to set up your first gateway, see Set Up GrowthZone Pay.
Step-by-step articles for individual settings
- Automated Scheduled Billing (turn on, auto-email invoices, turn off)
- Invoice before charging stored payment profiles
- Allow or prevent partial payments
- Credits and overpayments: auto-apply and accounting
- Payment terms, invoice terms and terms & conditions
- Enable Option to Display Invoice Created Date
- Setup Trade & External Payment Types
- Set Up Your Invoice Template(s)