Overview

There are a few important foundation blocks for the accounting process in Ranger.

Accounting “basis” - “Cash” vs. “Charge”
- For “Cash” accounts, payment is expected when service is delivered (e.g., like buying an oil filter at Walmart)
- For “Charge” accounts, payment is expected after an invoice/statement has been submitted to a customer. For example, payment for a job follows sending of an invoice/statement to a customer, or after entering job completion data on a motor club web site
- The accounting basis for a customer is configured in “Accounts”

“Invoice Review” - the process in Ranger to “Finalize Pricing”, make adjustments to invoices (such as terms), and/or recognizing bad debt
- The Invoice review process should happen as frequently as practical, particularly to “Finalize Pricing”
- It is recommended that the Invoice Review process be conducted at least daily, or at the conclusion of each shift while events are still current
- Keep in mind that a frequent process will also improve system performance - minimizing the need to recover, synthesize, and display extensive amounts of information

“Finalize Pricing” - an explicit decision/action that locks down pricing on an Invoice
- There is flexibility within Ranger (controlled by user permissions) to adjust or correct the charges on an invoice during or after the completion of a job
- “Finalize pricing” is a required decision/action that prevents further changes to the charges/pricing on an invoice

“Closed” invoices - a status of an invoice that reports when receipts are equal to the balance due (Note: “Closed” is a mathematical result, not a decision/action like “Finalize Pricing”)
- For “Cash” accounts, invoices will typically become “Closed” when a job is complete because payments for the job have been received
- For “Charge” accounts, invoices will typically become “Closed” some time after a job is complete - e.g., when a check has been received and applied to an invoice
- For both “Cash” and “Charge” accounts it may be required to “Write-off” bad debt in order for an invoice to become “Closed”

Statements - can be generated to list/summarize (by customer) invoices where there is a remaining balance due from “Charge” customers
- Statements are optional in that individual invoices can be sent to “Charge” customer as jobs are completed
- Statements are recommended if account-level (off-invoice) commercial arrangements will be used

Transmittal to QuickBooks - is initiated from QuickBooks and will trigger the import of all Invoices and payments from Ranger based on criteria:
- “Cash” accounts: the decision has been made to “Finalize Pricing”, and the Invoice is “Closed” (Could also mean that a decision has been made to “Write-Off” an amount outstanding - i.e., declare as bad debt)
- “Charge” accounts: the decision has been made to “Finalize Pricing”, and the Invoice is “Closed” - where reaching the “Closed” status will include
  - Any appropriate adjustments have been determined/entered - including terms, negotiated discounts, credits and allowances, and bad debt
  - The payment application process is approved - a decision/action has been enacted by “Finished” - locking down the allocations to invoices

For all customers, reporting in Ranger provides filters to look at Invoices from multiple vantage points, for example:
- “Cash” vs. “Charge” accounts
- Invoices where pricing has been finalized, or not, or both
- Invoices that are “Open”, “Closed”, or both

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