Using payment terms to calculate dates

Calculating the Dates

A set of payment terms can determine some, or all, of these dates and related information for a transaction. Each payment terms detail line defines the rules for a selected date.

You can calculate the value of one date based on the value of another. For example, you could specify that Discount Date 1 is fifteen days after Transaction Date, Discount Date 2 is twenty days after Discount Date 1, Due Date is one month after Transaction Date, Late Payment Date is one day after the Due Date, and that Interest Start Date is on the same date as Late Payment Date.

Rounding Dates/Days

Within the month, you can select any date as your rounding date, say 20th of the month, to round the calculated date you are specifying. For example, the due date might be 12th March, you can round it to the 20th of the month, so that you can group accounts for the 20th to make payment.

You can also indicate which days of the week are valid payment days and round the calculated date accordingly. For example, you may want to group all accounts for payment on a Monday. This is achieved through rounding days.

Types of Dates

The five types of payment date are:

Due Date

The due date is the date on which a transaction becomes due for settlement. It can be:

• the same as any of the other dates.
• calculated based on other dates and rounded accordingly.

The payment terms can specify how the due date is calculated. If not, the transaction date is taken as the due date for the transactions, except where the due date is entered manually.

The due date is used to determine whether a transaction is due for payment in Payment Run (PYR) and Payment Collection Run (PYC). The due date is also used to age transactions on the aged analysis listings.

Document Dates 1-4

Each transaction contains four optional document dates and they can be used to record the dates when a document should be printed for the transaction. The payment terms can be used to determine any of these dates and they are calculated when the transaction is posted.

You can define a different set of document dates for each set of payment terms. You then assign the appropriate payment terms to the group of customer or suppliers that require these documents. This also allows you to select the customer or supplier transactions for inclusion on a particular document or report.

The calculation of Document Dates may be based on Due Date, or vice versa.

Discount Dates 1, 2

Some organizations offer a settlement discount if a transaction is settled promptly, usually within a predefined number of days after the transaction date. Payment terms can be used to calculate the last date the discount is available (the Discount Date) and record the percentage discount allowed if payment is made (or received) by this date.

Two discount dates and percentages can be recorded. If you create discounts for Discount Date 1 and Discount Date 2, you can create a tiered discount scheme. When the discount is calculated, if a transaction is not eligible for the first discount, the second discount is used, if it applies.

The discount dates can be calculated based on either the Transaction Date or Document Date.

On creditor/payables accounts, debtor/receivables accounts, and client accounts, the discount details are used to determine whether or not the supplier or customer transactions qualify for discount and if so to calculate the discount allowed. The discount is calculated in this way by various SunSystems forms including Payment Run, Payment Collection Run, Account Allocation, Online Allocation and Transaction Matching.

Interest Start Date

Some organizations want to charge interest on a debt from a selected date until the debt is settled. You can use Payment Terms to determine the Interest Start Date and the interest rate to apply. The Interest Start Date can be calculated based on any other date, i.e. Document Date, Due Date.

Late Payment Date

You may want to start charging interest on the late payment of a debt. You can use Payment Terms to determine the Late Payment Date which is the date from which interest will be charged, and to maintain the interest rate.

The Late Payment Date can be calculated based on any other dates, i.e. Transaction Date, Due Date, Discount Date.