How To Post A Transaction

This document steps through the process of posting a Transaction in Collect!.

Requirements

- Setup Transaction Types
- Setup Client, Debtor, Company Details, Operators, Contact Plans
- Setup Commission Rate, Tax Rate, Reports and Letters
- Review help on Payment, Interest, Fee, Adjustment, Principal
- Review tutorials for an overview of Collect!

Overview

A Transaction is any financial interaction that you need to enter in your accounts regarding payments and charges related to a Debtor. The amounts entered are used for many calculations including, Debtor Balance Owing, Month End totals for Invoices and Operator Commissions.

There are many types of transactions that you handle in the course of your business operations, including many types of payments, legal fees, interest charges, adjustments. Each of these must be entered into the system as information attached to a particular Debtor.

Positive Or Negative Amount?

When posting a Transaction, a POSITIVE amount DECREASES the Debtor's Owing while a NEGATIVE amount INCREASES the Debtor's Owing.

After posting a Transaction, check the figures displaying in the Debtor form. Are they the opposite of what you expected? Try changing the sign of the amount you entered!

Post A Transaction

To enter the details of these different types of financial transactions we use the Transaction form.

If you have not setup your transaction types, please do that before you begin to post transactions.

1. Pull down the Browse menu and choose All Debtors. The list of all debtors will display.

2. Start typing the Debtor's name and the list will scroll to the closest match. Click on the Debtor of your choice and the Debtor form will open displaying this Debtor's record.

3. Select the Transactions tab in the Debtor form. A list of this Debtor's transactions will be displayed.

4. Press F3 for a new Transaction form or click the New button. A new Transaction form will be displayed for the Debtor. Notice that the Debtor's name is entered automatically.

5. Press F2 to choose a Transaction Type. Certain fields on the Transaction form will be visible or invisible depending on settings for the Transaction Type you choose.

Financial transaction accounts need to be set according to your specifications. Settings on the Transaction form designate how information is reported and calculated. This set up is very important and is directly related to how you use fee structures, how you want to report information and deal with your client monthly statements. You can assign the Transaction to a specific operator and schedule follow up every time you post a particular transaction.

6. Fill in additional fields as needed. Press F1 for Help on the fields in the Transaction form.

7. Press Enter when your cursor is flashing on the OK button to save the charges to the account. The Debtor and Client totals will be automatically recalculated.

Posting Debits And Fees

Debits or fees charged to the Debtor are posted as a negative amount. Negative amounts are shown in parentheses. i.e. ($7.52) means (- $7.52)

Fees to clients are posted by leaving the To Us and Direct blank and posting the fee in the Commission field.

Summary

We have examined posting transactions in Collect!.

Before you begin to post transactions in your Masterdb database, your accounts and transactions must be set according to your specifications. Proper setup at the beginning will give you satisfying results in your reports and calculations.

This is a personal process. It depends on how you use fee structures, how you want to report information, how you deal with your client monthly statements and your agreements with your clients.

Set up transaction types, reports and contact plans before you begin to enter transactions. That way, you will know what you have available to you to automate your routines and print reports.