Article #238 How to Print Customer Statements?

Answer: There's no more straightforward way to collect receivables than by printing or emailing prompt and accurate Customer Statements from Solid Route Accounting™. The Customer Statements list information essential to the customer, so they understand which invoices are outstanding and how much is still owed on each. By printing or emailing statements directly from Enterprise Edition, the company can expect more accuracy, fewer conflicts, and faster payments.

The following guide is for companies that use Pay-By-Invoice Accounting. Pay-By-Invoice is the default accounting method used by Enterprise Edition. Although the Enterprise Edition business system is also compatible with Balance Forward Accounting, please contact a Solid Customer Service Representative before switching to that accounting method, as there may be additional considerations, such as data conversion required.

Also, this article is designed to make printing or emailing Customer Statements easy! As such, only the most common or required fields will be highlighted in this article. For information on all other fields and menu options that can be seen while creating Customer Statements but are not covered in this article, please consult the Solid Route Accounting™ - Enterprise Edition User Manual for much more in-depth information. The Enterprise Edition User Manual can be found on the Solid Route Accounting server PC by navigating to [START / All Programs / Solid Route Accounting / Manuals]. From the listed volumes, select 'Volume 2 - Professional Operations', and in this manual, go to pages 4-31 for information on Customer Statements.

To create Customer Statements in Solid Route Accounting™ - Enterprise Edition:

1. Open Solid Business Central™ and navigate to [Datafile / Customer / Report / Statements], where all the menu options for generating Customer Statements will be displayed. In simple terms, running Customer Statements is a three-part process:
   1. [Prepare] assembles all outstanding transactions to prepare them for printing.
   2. [Statement] allows the Customer Statements to be printed on paper or in an electronic document.
   3. [Finish] is used before the next 'Prepare' and sets today as the date to recalculate interest.

2. Begin by choosing [Prepare], which will take you to the 'Statement Configuration' screen.

   Note: If first greeted by a warning informing that 'PREPARE has already been used', then a Statement Prepare has been previously created that has not yet been 'Finished'. Either use <Escape> to review, print or 'Finish' the previous Statement Prepare or use [F10] to ignore this and create a new Statement Prepare.

3. In the 'Statement Configuration' screen, the 'Bill Number Range' will automatically look through the earliest to most recent transactions for invoices eligible to be included on the Customer Statements. The 'Last Statement Run Prepare & Interest Date' is not only by default the date on which the last Statement Prepare was run, but is also the date from which the number of grace days will be calculated for interest and discount calculations. This field only needs to be adjusted if using Interest or Discounts.
4. The 'Back Date Statements to' field can be used to specify a date for which this Statement Prepare will include transactions up to and including that date.
5. For information on any other fields listed here, please consult the User Manual. Use <CTRL+END> to apply these settings and continue with the Statement Prepare. This process may take a while, so DO NOT INTERRUPT IT. The program will return to the [Datafile / Customer / Report / Statements] menu options when completed.

6. To Generate Customer Statements, select [Statement] from the menu options. Immediately, a 'Ready for Print' question will be asked. Use the [Y] key to answer 'Yes'.

   Note: Nothing will print now; it's only asking if the system is prepared for printing.

7. A new 'Statement Configuration' screen will display many configurable options available. For more information on the functions of these options, please consult the User Manual.

   Note: Solid Route Accounting™ - Enterprise Edition can print or email customer statements. The statement output is governed by the 'Statement output' setting under the [Options] menu:
   

   Output Option	Meaning	Action Taken
   P - To Printer	Print all statements	Always print statements (ignore email)
   E - To Email	Email statements (only)	Email statements, skip customers with no email address
   A - Auto: Email or Print	Email if possible, otherwise print	Email statements if the customer has an email address; otherwise, print it
   N - Print Only if No Email	Print only if no email	Prints statements for customers who have no email address

8. The two most commonly used menu options are:
   1. [All] – This option generates all Customer Statements for eligible customers. Once this option is selected, a secondary 'Statement Configuration' menu will show that allows the user to choose which Statement Type to be included in this Customer Statements generation. Typically, use the default settings and use <CTRL+END> to print out the Customer Statements.
      For further information on Statement Types, please read Solid Know How Article #239 What are Customer Statement Types.

   2. [One] – Use this option to specify a single Customer Number for which to generate a Customer Statement. Once the Customer Number is entered, use <CTRL+END> to output that customer's statement.

      Note: [Some] allows a customer number to be specified as the starting point for generating the Customer Statement, and all customer numbers equal to or greater than that number will have their Customer Statements printed or emailed.

9. Lastly, the [Finish] button should be used to conclude the Customer Statement period. This allows interest to be recalculated correctly for the following Customer Statement run. For this reason, the first step in subsequent Customer Statement runs is to use the [Finish] option, then use the [Prepare] option to initiate the following Customer Statement run.