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Invoice In Advance Or Arrears?

Scenarios:

  • You want to use Enrolmy to manage your Before and After School Care Programme or your Holiday Programme

  • You want to choose which invoicing rhythm is the most suitable - In Advance or In Arrears

This document assumes the following:

Guide Overview:

Assess and consider the processes involved with running an activity that invoices in advance or arrears:

  • Invoice In Arrears Process

    • Features & Considerations

  • Invoice In Advance Process

    • Features & Considerations

  • Adjustments Explanation & Resources

Invoice In Arrears Process

1. See how to set up an invoice in arrears rhythm here.

2. Review the reconciliation flow involved with invoicing in arrears below.

Features & Considerations Table

Area

Features

Considerations

Invoicing

  • Without prepayment request: Invoices are generated after a set period of time during the programme, and attendance has been reconciled. That set period of time can either be a week/fortnight or month.

  • With prepayment request: Ask customers to pay for their booking before they attend by email.

  • Without prepayment request: Booking changes can occur. One invoice is generated over a set time period to capture all the bookings changes that need charges. This can be easier for parents to understand. 

  • With prepayment request: If you utilise the prepayments feature alongside invoicing in arrears, parents can find the prepayments email request AND an invoice immoderate. Therefore it is recommended that you email a prepayment request in advance for the whole term and invoice in arrears weekly.

Payments

  • Without prepayment request: Customers will pay for the week/fortnight that their child/ren attended - after the week/fortnight has passed.

  • With prepayment request: Customers can pay for a full term, or half term, in advance with credit/debit card via a prepayment request.

  • With prepayment request: Prepayments are automatically applied to invoices at invoice generation time (if paid by credit/debit card only).

  • Without prepayment request: This option is best if your parents are used to paying for programmes after the week/fortnight has actually occurred. 

  • Without prepayment request: If you allow parents to modify their bookings then this is the best option for you to use.

  • With prepayment request: This option is best to use if you have parents that are used to paying for their programme upfront.

  • With prepayment request: This option is best if your parents do not make many booking changes throughout the term

WINZ Payments

  • Without prepayment request: Invoicing in arrears aligns with WINZ payouts.

  • With prepayment request: Request WINZ customers to pay a certain percentage of their booking upfront by email. 

  • Without prepayment request: Invoicing in arrears allows you to generate the invoice, and have the WINZ payments applied to the invoice before a customers payment is applied to the invoice.

  • With prepayment request: Once invoices are generated, WINZ payments will be automatically applied to invoices.

Attendance on invoices

  • All invoices display what was actually attended during the set time period (weekly/fortnightly/monthly)

 

Booking changes

  • Booking modifications that you allow impact attendance. I.e. if a parent cancels their booking then the child will be removed from the attendance. Or if a parent adds a day/session to their booking then the child will be added to the attendance.

  • Booking changes can be made without the need to re-invoice or create credit notes through the adjustments process

  • The reconciliation process to invoice every week/fortnight/month becomes a rinse and repeat process.

Refunds or credit

  • Without prepayment request: No refunds or credits need to be processed as parents are charged what their child/ren attended.

  • Any prepayment/overpayment that a parent makes that is not applied to an invoice can be applied to future invoices/refunded to the parent.

 

Invoice In Advance Process

1. See how to set up an invoice in advance rhythm here.

2. Review the reconciliation flow involved with invoicing in advance below.

Features & Considerations Table

Area

Features

Considerations

Invoicing

  • Before & afterschool care activities must be created term by term (not one programme that runs for a whole year) to utilise the invoice in advance rhythm. 

  • One invoice is created at the time of booking for the entire initial booking that the parent makes.

  • If you do not allow booking modifications to occur then potentially only once invoice for a child's entire booking may be created. This makes invoicing with parents simple.

Payments

  • Customers can pay for their initial booking in advance by credit/debit card or internet banking.

  • It is possible to request that the initial booking is paid by credit/debit card upfront and within two hours, else the booking will be voided.

  • Credit/Debit Card Only: You must have completed the credit card setup section and opted in to absorb the full transaction fee. Review how to set up credit/debit card only payments here.

Booking changes

  • Booking changes that happen throughout the term are managed through adjustments.

  • You need to convert the adjustment items into credit notes or invoices. 

  • Invoices that are created through a parent adding to their booking throughout the term will be automatically emailed to the parent

  • Invoices that are created through you changing the attendance, are emailed to the parent by you. 

  • Credit notes that are created by a parent cancelling one of their paid sessions/days need to be reconciled by you. 

  • Credit notes that are created through you marking a child as absent with no charge through the attendance, need to be reconciled by you and applied to future invoices by you.

  • We recommend that you convert adjustments once a week or fortnight, rather then converting adjustments every single day to avoid many invoices/credit notes being sent to the parent.

Refunds / Cancellations / Credits

  • If you allow parents to cancel their booking with you then upon a parent removing a day/session that they have already paid for, a credit note will be generated to reflect the refund or credit that needs to be given to this parent. 

  • This credit note that its generated will not automatically apply against an outstanding invoice related to this billpayer. You will need to apply the credit note to an outstanding invoice this customer has with you. 

  • The credit note could be refunded instead of applied to an outstanding invoice. Refunds will not occur automatically, you will need to work through a refund process.

Adjustments Explanation & Resources

Adjustment items track all un-invoiced changes for a booking. If there are any differences between what a parent has already paid and what the parent now owes (or is owed), then an adjustment item will be created.
 Adjustment items can be converted to an invoice or credit note at any time. As bookings can change often, Enrolmy recommends limiting how frequently adjustment items are converted to reduce the overall number of invoices or credit notes created by the system.

If you wish to enquire with Enrolmy about which invoicing rhythm would suit your business best, then please contact our support team for further advice!

Awesome! Now you know about the two invoicing rhythms.

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