Setting up your financial information is crucial for billing your customers, and for ensuring that your accountant or bookkeeper can determine which charges and payments were made and how they should be reported in the accounting system.
Set Up Your Accounts
Your accountant needs to associate your billing line items with accounts that are reported on your organization’s profit and loss statement and balance sheet.
These accounts (also known as General Ledger of Accounts or GL Accounts) are buckets or categories that you will associate with the line items and taxes that show on a customer invoice, statement, or ledger.
Income and Other Income accounts are used for services you sell and collect as revenue (i.e., room charges, meal charges, activity charges, and fees).
Other Current Liabilities accounts are used for taxes you collect and pay to another organization later (i.e., State hotel tax, County hotel tax, and Sales tax).
Your accountant or bookkeeper should be involved in setting up your accounts. Ask them for the account name, description, GL account number, and type of account (e.g., Income, Other Income, or Other Current Liabilities) for each entry. Other account types in the list are for future use.
Navigate to Setup>Financial>Accounts
Select the 'Add Account' button to create an account, and enter this information.
After entering the details, select the 'Save' button to add the account to your Financials.
Set Up Your Line Items
Line Items will show up on your invoices and customer ledgers. You have the ability to specify items that cater to your offerings, adding clarity to invoices about specific charges.
Example: 'Activity Charges' is a generic place holder setup in your Gazebo system. You may want to alter this to represent specific choices, such as 'Archery' or 'Horseback Riding'.
Additionally, line items can connect with housing, activities and meals (under those sections). When you add any of these to the booking, it will automatically add the line item to the invoice.
Navigate to Setup>Financial>Line Items
Select the purple 'Add Line Items' button on the bottom right side.
Enter the line item name and a description that will show by default on invoices.
Enter a default rate (this may be overridden in some circumstances) and select the rate method - is it a percent or a number?
Tip: You may also leave this as zero and enter an amount manually when you add your line item to an invoice. This allows you to be more flexible with pricing.
Select the account with which this line item should be associated.
Indicate if the line item is taxable, if it’s inactive, if it is a per-day amount, and if it’s a per-person amount. If it’s a per day, per person, or both, the additional information entered at the time of invoicing will appropriately calculate the invoice line item amount.
Select the purple 'Save' button to enter your changes to the Line Item list.
Set Up Your Taxes
The third tab in Financials is where you set up any applicable taxes needed for bookings. These tax line items will automatically calculate based on the line items you specify for application.
Note: If you created any line items in the previous tab as being 'Taxable', you must then connect this line item to the appropriate rate in the 'Taxes' tab.
At the time of invoicing, you can decide if you want to keep or remove any of the tax line items, depending upon your customer’s tax status.
Navigate to Setup>Financial>Taxes
Select the purple 'Add Tax' button on the bottom right. Enter the Tax name and a description for reference.
Enter a rate to be used in tax calculations, as well as the rate method (is it a percent or a number?) and select the account with which this line item should be associated.
Indicate if the tax is inactive.
From the list of line items you’ve administered, select the ones to which this tax applies. You may add multiple line items.
Select the purple 'Save' button to add the tax.
Set up Your Payment Terms
Payment terms allow you to set the period of time that your customer has to pay the amount owed. You have the ability to create and use as many payment term options as needed, and they are available to add to invoices from a dropdown menu.
Navigate to Setup>Financial>Payment Terms
You will notice there are several pre-loaded term options, including 'Due Upon Receipt' and several 'Net' time frame options.
To add a new definition, click the purple 'Add Payment Terms' button and complete the needed fields. In this example, we will be adding a certain day in the month.
When you generate an invoice in a booking, you have the ability to choose from these defined 'Terms' from a dropdown list.
Set up Other Financial Settings
This last tab in Financials is where you setup notifications for payments and add processing fees to bookings.
Note: a 'Processing Fee' Account (set to Income) should be setup in the first tab of financials should you be proceeding with adding these fees to bookings.
Navigate to Setup>Financial>Other Financial Settings
Enter a 'Notification Email' in the field box. The email(s) entered in this field will receive communication when a payment is made on an invoice through the Organizer Portal.
The next two sections allow you to edit 'Bank Account Settings' and 'Credit Card Settings'. Should you choose to add these fees, you will need to note the rate method (Amount or percentage) and the Account for deposit.
Under 'Credit Card Settings' you have the opportunity to select the types of debit/credit cards your organization accepts.
Once all fields are entered, click the purple 'Save' button.