Applies to: RollMaster (RM) Core
Use this article as a reference for the Progress Billing Invoicing module, including features for partial commercial billing, automated cost-of-goods-sold and work-in-process general ledger mappings, and estimated margin or salesperson commission calculations.
Menu Path: Sales Processing > Reports 1 > Progress Billing Invoicing
For other Sales Processing programs, refer to the Sales Processing module documentation.
This is a different type of invoicing used primarily for large commercial jobs. The idea behind this option is that large commercial jobs can take many months to complete and there are times when you wish to bill the client for partial payment prior to the completion of the job. Once you begin Progress Billing a job, you have to bill the entire job through Progress Billing. In a recent update new functionality has been added and some set up needs to be completed prior to beginning any Progress Billing. In the Branch Control level of the System Control Maintenance module, you need to enable and set up the following controls: Progress Billing – Use Est. Cost. …COGS – Progress Billing …Work In Process. (Please see the System Administration Manual for complete setup instructions). With these controls in place, the system will keep track of your COG (Cost of Goods) and Work In Process entries on your financials as you perform your Progress Billings rather than someone in accounting having to make a manual entry at the end of the month. If you do only Progress Billing within a Branch, you can use the existing COG Expense Account in the first field option after typing a “Y” for yes at the control prompt. If you generate Progress Billings in the Branch but also do regular Invoicing, you should create a new G/L account for COG-Progress Billing. This will only work for one account so you will not be able to break out Progress Billing COG data by Product Type. You will also need to add a new Asset G/L account for Work In Process or Progress if you don’t already have one and add that account in the second field under this new control. With these accounts entered, as you generate Progress Billings, your estimated costs will be sent to this new cost (expense) account and the revenue will go to the Work In Process Asset account. This will continue until you perform your final 0.00 Invoice from the job. At that time the system will reverse any non-material costs such as Labor, out of your new COG - Progress Billing account and make entries to clear the Work In Process Asset account along with the regular entries the system normally makes. You will also now be able to view estimated cost and margin data based on each Progress Billing Invoice via the Sales Analysis – Est. Progress Billing module located in the Sales Analysis menu.
RollMaster recommends that you set up a separate branch for Progress Billing unless all you do is progress billing. The reason for this is that the Product Codes should be set up differently so that you can expense material as you purchase rather than as you sell since that won’t happen until the very last Progress Billing Invoice. In the Progress Billing Branch, make the following changes: Initialize System Sequence Numbers so Invoice numbers, Job numbers, etc. are different in this branch; in Product Code Maintenance, use a Revenue account and then duplicate the cost account in the last two G/L fields so that no cost hits the G/L when the final Invoice is created-then be sure to expense material for Progress Billed jobs in Accounts Payable Open Item Maintenance; use Work in Process – Costs From JC report for this branch to manipulate financial statements on a monthly basis. Please call Textile Management Systems at 800-777-4107 if you need more information on the special set up for Progress Billing.
Before you can begin Progress Billing, you need to open a job through Order Entry. Progress Billing has no relation to the Status of the lines in order entry; you can bill anything at any time. When you are ready to begin Progress Billing, make a note of the job number and enter into this module. When you pull up the first screen it will look exactly like the invoicing screen. At the Job Number field type in the number for the job and hit enter. The system will automatically fill in the Ship To and Sold To information from the job and a prompt at the bottom of the screen will ask: This Job .. (Y,N) Y. Hit enter to accept Yes. The system will then prompt you for an Invoice Date; hit enter to accept the current date or type in the date you prefer to appear on the Invoice. When you have finished, the following box will pop up:
At the Amount To Bill Now field enter the total amount you would like to bill on this Progress Billing Invoice. The system will then prompt the following: Add Sales Tax? (Y,N) Y. If you are billing the customer sales tax on the total sale price of the job, enter to accept Yes. If this is a “Contract” sale and tax is being figured as a cost on the job, type “N” for No. If you entered yes in the Sales Tax field, the system will automatically figure the tax amount for you. (Please Note: the system will not allow you to charge more tax than is showing on the job.) When you have entered through the Total field, the system will prompt the following: Is This Correct? (Y,N). Enter a “Y” to proceed. The system will then prompt the following:
When this box displays, the cursor will be positioned at the Estimated Margin % field and an Estimated Margin will display based on the margins on the job lines at this moment. You can override this margin and if so, then override estimated cost on each Progress Billed Invoice. When the new Progress Billed Invoice is complete, the system will generate commission information based on the estimated profit (see Salesperson Payables section above for additional changes for Progress Billed Invoices.) When you generate the Final 0.00 Invoice from the job, the system will now Credit your Inventory Asset G/L Account and Debit your Work In Process G/L Account. If the amount of actual costs are different from the estimated costs, the system will DR/CR COG-Progress Billing and Work In Process and a commission entry will be created for the difference from previous estimated records. When you have finished with the above box, the system will prompt you for a Current Posting Period. If the Posting Period reflected in the box is correct, hit enter to proceed. The next box is extremely important and will appear as follows:
During the Progress Billing process, you are only sending information to Revenue or Sales accounts in the General Ledger. During regular invoicing, because everything is setup ahead of time, the system knows to which General Ledger accounts to send the information. At the Account Number field in the box above, you need to enter the General Ledger Revenue account number you wish to report this sale to; check with your accounting department for verification. You can split the amount and send to different General Ledger accounts if applicable. The system will “are you sure” message when entering a G/L Account Number. After you enter a valid number in the Account Number field, the system will prompt the following:
This allows for a second look at whether the correct Account has been entered before proceeding. If the Account is correct, click the Yes button. If another Account Number needs to be entered, click the No button and the system will return the cursor to the Account Number field. Once you complete the Journal Posting box, the system will prompt a Customer Terms box. Enter the terms, if any, you wish to reflect on this Progress Bill Invoice. The next screen will appear as follows:
Just like with regular invoicing, this screen will allow you to customize each Progress Bill. Because you are billing an amount that may not be tied to specific order lines, most users will hide all the lines with the F4 or F6 function keys and then use the F5 key to add comment lines. When you are ready to print, hit F3 to continue. Follow the prompts at the bottom right of the screen, just like with regular invoicing, to complete the Progress Billing process. The printout will look just like a regular invoice.
Once you begin the Progress Billing process for a job, you must continue to Progress Bill until the total job as been invoiced. Use the “Work In Process (Progress Billing)” report module to keep track of the amount that has been processed through Progress Billing for a particular job. After the last Progress Bill has been processed for a job, there is one final step to complete. You need to pull the job up in Order Entry or through the “Invoice / Credit Memo” report module and process a regular invoice. (Make sure all material lines on the job have been assigned before you process a regular invoice.) The invoice amount will be zero, but this important step will update all the other accounting and sales analysis functions in the system.
The following are additional changes made to this feature: The Salesperson Profitability report was modified to use the estimated cost entered at Progress Billing time to show the profit on Progress Billed Invoices in the salesperson payables file--on the final bill, it will use the profit on the job minus profits that were estimated and will have a 0.00 sell; the Salesperson Payables system will now allow entry of a commission percentage if the record was created by a Progress Billing estimate (Note: If final Invoicing has been completed, you will not be allowed to change commission percentage or the amount to pay on these records, nor will the system allow any change of records related to that job—if a change needs to be made, you will need to enter manual adjustments with the job number); it is also important to note that prior to the final Invoice, cost changes can be made via A/P Open Item Maintenance and Job Labor Maintenance, but once that final 0.00 Invoice is created the system will no longer allow cost changes. (Please Note: there is a separate Sales Analysis module for viewing Progress Billed Invoices. See that section of the documentation for more information.)
Some additional changes to the system for Progress Billing Invoices are as follows: the Order Entry screen was modified to display a “P” next to the Prev. Inv. Field in the Job Totals box on Progress Billed jobs; the Job History feature was modified to display Progress Billed Invoices and will prompt “Progress Bill” below the Invoice number; and finally, Deposits can be applied to Progress Billed Invoices, but you cannot create a Final Invoice for Progress Billed jobs with a Deposit record.