Monthly Billing Procedures

The end of the month (or more accurately the beginning of a month) is a very busy time as you get out the end of the month bills. This sequence of steps will guide you through a typical monthly billing cycle. The actual procedures you use may involve more or fewer steps. Use this list as a starting point to develop your own monthly billing procedures.

Click here for a printer-friendly one-page checklist of these procedures.

Click here to see information regarding Billing Mistakes

  1. Make sure all the logs have been accepted for the billing period, the Media Month and the Calendar Month. See Weekly Traffic Procedures for more information.
  2. Run the Projection Vs. Actual Report - Discrepancy Only. This report compares orders to the log, and compares orders to invoices once the logs have been accepted. Resolve any discrepancies between orders and invoices. Hint: This report can be run throughout the month, so you can resolve discrepancies as they occur rather than letting them pile up until the end of the month.
  3. Print the Pre-Billing Reports Once logs have been accepted there are reports that can be run prior to invoicing, to show what will bill for the month. These reports can help you find mistakes you should correct before invoicing is done.
    1. Invoice Analysis (Current) lists each invoice and shows both Gross and Net billing.
    2. Invoice Income Analysis shows Gross Billing and Income with Net total. This report helps in making sure Billing and Income balance.
  4. Back up the VT Database. On the VT Server, go to VT Utilities, and select Backup from the Database Menu. Processing Invoices is a critical process. If something happens to interrupt the process, you could be left with a damaged database.
  5. Print Invoices from the Billing MenuPrint Invoices Current
    1. Suggestions for option settings:
    2. Be sure to check Print Invoices.
    3. To print any Notary Required invoices first, set that checkbox. You can then get those invoices to the Notary for signing while the other invoices are processed.
    4. Set the checkbox for Set Invoices Official. It is still possible to edit invoices that have been set Official. Note: The invoice date will be the date the invoices are set Official.
    5. Be sure to enter processing dates for each of the billing frequencies. These dates will most likely not be all the same.
    6. Set the checkboxes for the frequencies you want to print. Set the checkbox for All Frequencies to print them all.
    7. Select the AR Account for which you want to print invoices, or choose All A/R Accounts. This will print all invoices in the statement group regardless of the AR Account.
    8. Set the other options for script and co-op as desired or needed.
  6. Print a Daily Sales Report. Configure the report dates to the dates of the billing period – normally the first day of the media month through the last day of the calendar month. This report produces income figures. Hang on to this report for use later in the month-end procedures.
  7. Verify that all Cash Receipts and Adjustments have been entered. See Daily Billing Functions for more information. Before print statements, you need to make sure that all of the information that goes on the statements has been entered.
  8. Print Statements from the AR Menu Print Statements. Print them for Advertisers and Agencies in whichever order is best for you.
    1. Suggestions for option settings:
    2. Set the Presentation according to the paper you will be printing on. Typically it is Graphic Presentation.
    3. Set Group by Advertiser to have all statements for an advertiser printed sequentially. That way you will not have to manually find them all when it is time to mail them.
    4. If you Do not want to print statements for all A/R Accounts, select the one you want. To create combined statements for an advertiser showing all A/R accounts, set the Combined checkbox. Note: that the Combined setting will combine trade and cash accounts onto one statement. Most stations do not like to do that.
    5. Set the checkbox to Include Official Invoices. Official invoices are those generated within the current month. Unless you check this, the statements will show only invoices prior to the current month. Most stations want statements to include the current month’s invoices.
    6. Set the other options as desired or needed.
  9. Verify that all invoices for the month have been set official and are marked as printed.
  10. Back up the VT Database. On the VT Server, go to VT Utilities, and select Backup from the Database Menu. Committing Invoices is a critical process. If something happens to interrupt the process, you could be left with a damaged database.
  11. Commit Invoices from Billing Menu > Commit Invoices. The commit date should be the last day of the calendar month. Once invoices are committed they go to history and CANNOT be edited.
  12. Print a Daily Sales Report. Configure the report dates to the dates of the billing period –normally the first day of the media month through the last day of the calendar month. This report will now show invoices within the date range that DID NOT bill. (These could be media, weekly invoices, etc.) Compare this new report with the Daily Sales Report you printed before you printed statements. The total of the new report subtracted from the earlier report will be the income earned for the billing period.

     NOTE - It is normal to have some income dollars on the second report. These probably represent the income value of spots from media month invoices scheduled for the next billing cycle. In other words, it is the income value of spots on next month’s invoices. This is always a period of time from zero to six days. However, any invoices that should have billed but did not are also reported in this figure. If the figure is larger than expected, you should check to make sure all your invoices are committed.

  13. Post Transactions from AR Menu> Statement Processing. This step posts Invoices, Cash Receipts and Adjustments to the Journal. It is recommended you use a posting date of the last day of the month. The consistency of using the last day of the month helps in the future when running Journal Reports. Note: Posting the transactions at this time is optional. It is only necessary to post transactions at this time if you need to print ANY Journal Reports before the month is closed. If you do not need Journal Reports at this time, you can wait to post at the time you close the month. Closing the month automatically posts all transactions to the Journal.
  14. Print your Month End Reports. These are the recommended reports; your list of reports may vary depending on the information you or management needs to see.
    1. A/R Aging Report - Advertiser
    2. A/R Aging Report - Agency
    3. A/R Journal Entry Detail
    4. A/R Journal Entry Summary
    5. Cash Receipts Master List for the entire billing period
    6. A/R Adjustment List for the billing period.
    7. Salesperson Commissions Report – be sure to recalculate. If commissions are based on sales, keep in mind the invoices will not be reflected on the report until the invoices are committed. If commissions are calculated on cash receipts and the report appears incorrect check to make sure a commission plan is attached to each payment.
    8. A/R Invoice Master List (the A/R Amount column should match the Invoice totals on the A/R Aging Report)
  15. Balance the Accounts Receivable. It is critical that your Accounts Receivable be in balance at the end of each month. Compare the A/R Invoice Master List and the A/R Aging Report. You should be able to track all money using the suggested reports. Do not continue until you are certain you are in balance. This is the best time to correct anything that doesn’t seem to make sense.
  16. Close the Month from A/R Statement Processing. This step ends the monthly billing for the period. It CANNOT be reversed. Make sure that you have all the reports you need from the open month, and that everything is correct. Closing the month automatically posts invoices, adjustments and cash receipts to the Journal. This procedure also clears all old zero balance activity off the statements.
  17. (Optional) Print the Finance Charge Report. If you use finance charges, this report will list those applied as the month was closed. Finance charges are actually debit adjustments automatically created by VT when you close the month. While you may be able to see pending Finance Charges before the month is closed, they are just projections of what will be actually applied at the end of the month. The actual finance charges can also be seen by printing an A/R Adjustment List for the closing date after the month has been closed.
  18. Print the Journal Reports for the month just closed. They will list all journal entries for the billing period.
    1. A/R Journal Entry Detail Report
    2. A/R Journal Entry Posting Report

    Other Reports. There are a couple more reports you will find helpful.

    1. Outstanding Invoices Report lists all unpaid invoices.
    2. Invoice Sales Analysis – grouped first by Station, then by Salesperson. This report details A/R invoices by station and Salesperson, showing Gross and Net income dollars with a breakout of Agency and Order Discounts.
  19. Print any other reports that may be wanted by management.