SA Administrator Options - Customer - Service Charges field descriptions

Service Charge Minimums

Minimum Balance to be Service Charged

Specify the minimum balance required to assess service charges. If the customer’s balance is greater than the minimum balance amount specified, service charges are calculated and applied through the Customer Entry Roll Balances Report.

Minimum Service Charge Amount

Specify a minimum service charge amount assessed for each customer during Customer Entry Roll Balances Report. If the computed service charge for a customer is less than the minimum service charge amount, then the minimum charge is applied. If the computed service charge for a customer is greater than the minimum service charge amount, the computed amount is applied. You can leave this field blank.

Service Charge Options

By Division or By Ship To (Job)

By Division and By Ship To (Job) determine at which of these levels service charges are applied:

  • Customer
  • Group
  • Division
  • Ship To (Job)
  • All

These values, in conjunction with Customer Service Charge Administration, establish minimums and charge rates.

This table shows which values to select to determine the service charge application level.

Levels for service charge application Value(s) to select
Customer None
Group None
Division Division
Ship To (Job) Ship To (Job)
All Division and Ship To (Job)
By Customer or Group

To apply service charges by customer or group, clear both By Division and By Ship-to (Job). Service charges are calculated based on the total of all transactions and against past due balances. The past due balances are from the customer’s Customer Setup record or the group's Customer Master Group Setup record, depending on the periods and rates defined on this window. This includes transactions for any ship to records.

Service Charge must be selected in Customer Setup and Customer Ship To Setup to calculate service charges by customer, and selected in Customer Master Group Setup to calculate service charges by group.

Note:  If you apply service charges to all group members, the typical system hierarchy is changed. Group is placed first in the Customer Entry Roll Balances Report to find Customer Service Charge Administration records.
By All

To service charge by all, select both the By Division and By Ship-to (Job) options.

By Ship To (Job)

Select By Ship To (Job) to calculate service charges on balances in the Customer ShipTo Setup record and customer record separately. Service Charge must be selected in both Customer Setup and Customer Ship To Setup to calculate service charges by division, customer, and ship to.

The difference between calculating by ship to or job is that transactions and services are processed by each ship to or job number separately. A separate service charge transaction is created during the Customer Entry Roll Balances Report. If you service charge by customer, service charges are calculated based on the total of all transactions. This example shows how service charges can differ if this option is selected. Assume that these balances exist on the Customer Setup and Customer Ship To Setup records in the system:

Customer Record Past Due Transactions $500
Ship To/Job #1 Past Due Transactions $400
Ship To/Job #2 Past Due Transactions $100
Total of all Past Dues $1,000

Assume that the minimum service charge amount is $2.00, and the period rate is set to 1.5%.

If the service charge type is set to customer neither option is selected. The service charge is calculated:

  1. The Customer Entry Roll Balances Report is performed on all transactions, including ship tos.
  2. Service charges are calculated as: $1000 x 1.5 % = $15.00.
  3. Since $15.00 exceeds the minimum service charge amount of $2.00, a $15.00 service charge transaction is written to the Customer Transaction Entry file.

If the By Ship To (Job) service charge type is selected, this is how the service charge is calculated:

  1. The Customer Entry Roll Balances Report is performed on Ship To/Job #1.
  2. Service charges are calculated as: $400 x 1.5% = $6.00.
  3. Since $6.00 exceeds the minimum service charge amount of $2.00, a $6.00 service charge transaction is written to the Customer Transaction Entry file for this ship to.
  4. The Customer Entry Roll Balances Report is performed for Ship To/Job #2.
  5. Service charges are calculated as: $100 x 1.5% = $1.50.
  6. The service charge calculated is less than the minimum service charge amount. A $2.00 service charge transaction is written to the Customer Transaction Entry file for this ship to.
  7. The Customer Entry Roll Balances Report is performed for all transactions that do not have a ship to/job number.
  8. Service charges are calculated as: $500 x 1.5 = $7.50.
  9. Because $7.50 exceeds the minimum service charge amount, a $7.50 service charge transaction is written to the Customer Transaction Entry file.
  10. Total Service Charge transactions = $15.50.
By Division

If you are using full divisionalized accounting, and the Divisional option in SA Company Setup is selected, you can select to service charge by division number.

Service Charge Rates

Rates By Period / By Balance

Indicate whether you want to assess service charges by period or based on the customer’s balance. If you do not want to assess service charges, leave the Rate field blank. The default value is determined by the type of values that were saved in a previous session.

Rates

You can assess service charges by period or based on the customer’s balance.

If you selected By Period, specify a flat service charge percentage for Periods 2-5. This service charge percentage is multiplied by the period balance when you process the Customer Entry Roll Balances Report. You do not have to specify a value in all percentage fields. For example, you may only want to service charge balances in Periods 2 and 3. In this case, leave Periods 4 and 5 at zero. Note that service charges based on periods are not applied to Period 1 balances, future invoices, and previous service charges.

If you selected By Balance, specify a percentage rate and balance amount. The percentage rate should be the equivalent rate for the time frame you perform the Customer Entry Roll Balances Report. For example, if you charge an annual percentage rate of 18% and roll balances on a monthly basis, the equivalent rate would be 1.5% or 18/12. The balance amount is the maximum level against which you want each percentage rate applied. Each level can be charged a different rate. For example, to encourage customers to pay their accounts to maintain a lower balance, higher balance amounts can be charged higher rates.

Specify the three balance maximum amounts to be used. These amounts represent a step in the service charging structure. Each amount is a maximum that must be reached before the corresponding percentage rate is applied. You must specify maximum amounts for levels 2, 3, and 4.

Percentage rates are applied against the customer's net balance: Total Balance - Service Charges - Future Invoices - Miscellaneous Credits. The step method is sued to determine the percentage rate to apply. For example:

Level 1 up to   $1,000  at .75%
Level 2 up to $2,000 at 1.00%
Level 3 up to $4,000 at 1.25%
Level 4 over  $4,000 at 1.50%

In the example above, the interest rates are stair-stepped to encourage customers to keep low outstanding balances. If the customer’s net balance is $4300, this is how service charges are calculated:

Level 1 up to   $1,000  at .75% = $7.50
Level 2 up to $1,000 at 1.00% = $10.00
Level 3 up to $2,000 at 1.25% = $25.00
Level 4 over  $300 at 1.50% = $4.50
          $47.00

The customer net balance falls into levels 1, 2, 3 and 4. The service charge amount is $47.00 and is added to the service charge amount on the customer record.

Defaults

Ship To Service Charge

This option determines if the Service Charge is selected when a new ship to record is added or copied, in Customer Ship To Setup or by an SX.api call. If you select Yes, the Service Charge option on the Customer Ship To Setup record is selected. If you select No, the Service Charge option is not selected. If you select From Customer, the service charge setting is derived from the Customer Setup record.