Customer Service Charge Administration field descriptions

Fields are presented in alphabetical order. See Types for the State, Group, Customer, and Ship To/Job descriptions.

Period/Rate

Specify the service charge rate for each period.

If service charges are by Customer:

  1. The Customer Entry Roll Balances Report is run for all transactions including ship to records.
  2. Service charges are calculated. For example, $1,000 x 1.5% service charge rate = $15.00.
  3. A service charge transaction is written to the Customer Transaction Entry file. ($15.00).

If service charges are by Ship To/Job:

  1. The Customer Entry Roll Balances Report is run for Ship To/Job #1.
  2. Service charges are calculated. For example, $400 x 1.5% = $6.00.
  3. Because $6.00 exceeds the SA Administration Options-Customers-Service Charges-Minimum Service Charge Amount, a service charge transaction is written to the Customer Transaction Entry file for $6.00 for ship to #1.
  4. The Customer Entry Roll Balances Report is run for Ship To/Job #2.
  5. Service charges are calculated. Because the service charge is less than the SA Administration Options-Customers-Service Charges-Minimum Service Charge Amount, a service charge transaction is written to the Customer Transaction Entry file for $2.00 for this ship to.
  6. The Customer Entry Roll Balances Report is run for transactions with no ship to/job number.
  7. Service charges are calculated. For example, $500 x 1.5% = $7.50.
  8. Because $7.50 exceeds the SA Administration Options-Customers-Service Charges-Minimum Service Charge Amount, a service charge transaction is written to the Customer Transaction Entry file for $7.50.
  9. Total Service Charge transactions = $15.50.

If the Divisional option in SA Company Setup is selected, you use full divisional accounting. If the By Division option in SA Administration Options-Customers-Service Charges is selected, service charges are also calculated by division.

Rate/Up to Balance Amt

If no service charging is to be done using the Customer Entry Roll Balances Report, leave these fields blank. If service charging is to be done, you can either service charge by period or based on the customer's balance.

If you base service charges on the account balance, specify a percentage rate in the Rate field and then specify an up to balance amount. The percentage rate should be the equivalent rate for the time frame you run the Customer Entry Roll Balances Report. For example, if you charge an annual percentage rate of 18%, and you roll balances on a monthly basis, the equivalent rate would be 1.5%. The amount specified in the Up To Balance Amt field is the maximum level against which 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 that are 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 are applied. Maximum amounts must be entered for levels 2, 3, and 4.

The percentage rates are applied against the customer's net balance (Total Balance less Service Charges, Future Invoices, and Miscellaneous Credits). The percentage rate that is applied is determined on a step method. 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%

The interest rates are stair-stepped to encourage customers to keep low outstanding balances.

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
  $4,300       $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.

Types

Select one of these values to create or search for a record, and then specify value for that type.

  • Customer: Before you create a record, you must select the Service Charge option in Customer Setup-General.
  • Group: Before you create a record, you must specify Yes in the Apply Service Charges field in Customer Master Group Setup-General to apply service charges to all group members. The typical system hierarchy used in the Customer Entry Roll Balances Report to find service charge records adjusts to place the group first.
  • Ship To/Job: Before you create a record, you must select the Service Charge option in Customer ShipTo Setup-General.
  • State: You can meet legal requirements per state statutes, where service charges need to be assessed on customer accounts by either state or individual customer parameters. For example, most states have a maximum service charge for unpaid balances if 18% per annum. The rates per customer or state may vary.

    If there is a service charge exception for any type of service charge (State, Customer, or Ship To/Job) in Customer Administration Service Charge, then an indicator that a service charge was calculated from Customer Administration Service Charge settings is displayed when you run the Customer Entry Roll Balances Report.

    • When you run the Customer Entry Roll Balances Report, customer type service charges are calculated against past due balances from the Customer Setup record depending on the periods and rates also defined on this record, including transactions for any related ship to records.
    • Ship To/Job service charges are calculated on the balances in the Customer Ship To Setup record(s) and the customer record separately. The difference between calculating by ship to/job is that transactions are totaled, aged, and service charged by each ship to/job number separately and a separate service charge transaction is created when the Customer Entry Roll Balances Report is run versus service charges being calculated based on the total of all transactions.