Like the other business management tools in Microsoft Dynamics SL, the Accounts Receivable module is easy to set up and easy to use. In our last entry, we looked at the setup options that provide so much flexibility for your unique way of doing business. Today we’ll look at the setup options provided by some of the maintenance screens, where you set up information that works with the setup options you selected during Accounts Receivable setup.
The Statement Cycle maintenance screen is where you can set up unique cycle IDs, and for each cycle ID, the aging days. You can automate messages to be printed on statements here dependent on the aging days you select. So for example, you can automatically print messages on statements such as “Currently Due” or “30 Days Overdue” depending on the aging categories you have defined.
The Customer Maintenance screen can be accessed under the Maintenance heading for the Accounts Receivable module. Here you fill in data like the customer ID and customer description. You can also set up customer-specific terms and discounts here, or simply accept the default values. In the Credit section of the screen, you can select whether or not to check credit for this particular customer, and you can set limits, average days to pay, and a grace period. To the right of the Credit section is the Balance section, which will display information such as the balance, current and forecasted, as well as the last invoice and the last activity from this customer. Finally, you can access the customer’s detailed history, activity, and shipping addresses with the click of a button, and you can add or edit customer shipping addresses as well.
All of that is found on the initial tab for the Customer Maintenance screen. Other tabs include the following:
- Address
- Defaults (such as tax and currency information)
- Other Options (such as statement printing and finance charge application)
- Order Management (integrating with the Order Management module)
- CM GL Accounts
- Quick Send (automatic invoice sending to the customer)
