- The Accounting DBR is designed for use by accounting personnel. This program allows the user to post rental transactions to the A/R files.
- This report can be used to report those transactions that are either subject or not subject to airport concession fees.
- The Accounting DBR can be used to report in detail all rentals using certain RA Type Codes.
- The report can be run for a particular section, such as edits to posted RAs only.
- The DBR Account Summary, which is a separate report following the DBR, lists all the debits and credits to the General Ledger accounts resulting from the DBR. (If the accounting records post to a different Posting Company, the report number on the DBRA Account Summary will be from the sequence numbering used in the posting company; the DBR itself will be have a number from the rental operations company.)
User tip: The DBR revenue can be exported in a csv file (and imported into a spreadsheet program) using the DBR Revenue Export program.
User tip: If a transaction is not on the expected DBR Report check the following:
- For Deposits and Payments, check the date and time they were entered and the Location (a contract opened at Location X may have had a deposit added at location Y). Use the DEPAY File search for this purpose.
- For RAs, check the close Location and close DBR date on the RA. Use the G subwindows on RA Open and RA Close for this.
- For individual charges, check the DBR date on the charge itself (charges may have been added to the RA after it was posted). Use Print RA Charge Records for this.
B. DIFFERENCES
BETWEEN THE ACCOUNTING AND OPERATIONS DBRs
The Accounting DBR differs from the Operational DBR in
the following areas:
- The Operations DBR can be run by DBR date or by the actual Open or Close date. The Accounting DBR is always run by DBR date.
- The Accounting DBR will only report the RAs Closed, Edits to Posted RAs, Deposits, and Voided RA sections. The other sections, RAs Opened and Vehicle Exchanges do not have data that relate to the accounting and posting process so they are not listed.
- Any amount that will be billed to a wholesaling company will appear in a column labeled WHSL and on the payment breakdown line for each closed RA. The revenue columns include both the voucher and out of voucher revenue. For example the Time column reports both the net voucher revenue (whether the wholesaler is set up as simple or complex) plus any retail time charges that the renter is responsible for (extra hours or additional days). As a result, only the Accounting DBR reports all revenue on tour RAs. (As a rule, the amount in the WHSL column should equal the sum of the vouchers displayed in the 3rd payment line - unless there are more vouchers than can print on the single line.)
- The Accounting DBR reports the revenue splits involved with foreign vehicles and locations.
- Payments taken at check-in on one-way rentals between owned locations appear as Inter-office receivables on the opening location's DBR. The same payments are also shown in the Deposits/Payments on One-Ways section of the closing location's Accounting DBR.
- Edits to posted RAs are reported in the section of the Accounting DBR titled “RAs Closed--Edits to posted RA’s”. This section follows the RAs Closed section. These entries are posted as they occur. They are shown on the Accounting DBR on the day they are made and are posted to Accounts Receivable via the Accounting DBR. The report may be run for these edits only.
- Void Close: When a RA is opened and closed at exactly the same minute, the RA is considered a "void close". The RA will be listed on the Operations DBR under the RA's Opened section and again under the RAs Closed section. However, it will not be listed on the Accounting DBR and, therefore, will not post. NOTE: This is a rare occurrence and normally is a result of an error. The correct way to void a open RA is to use the Void RA program. Or, if the opening date/time was incorrect, use Edit Opening Fields to change the opening date on the RA. If the RA was closed in error, use the Reopen RA program to reopen it.
- The Form of Payment Summary on the Accounting DBR includes tour vouchers (both V and S subwindow entries); the Operations DBR does not include these in the FOP Summary.
- When Option Detail is requested, the Accounting DBR will have a separate row for Discounts that details any of the following on the RA: discounts, promos, customer service adjustments, and any "N" type option. These items are also shown on the Totals page. (The Operations DBR does not include this detail.)
- The Accounting DBR does not include the section on unrefunded deposits and voided RAs unless requested. This section is included in the Operations DBR.
- For RV type operations, in the Closed RAs section the Reservation number is shown in place of the rate code.
User tip: The statistical section that formerly appeared following the Closed RAs Summary section can now be found on the Revenue Analysis Report. On that report, place a "Y" in field 20, "Rev. Items Only" in order to match the statistics that were on this report.
C. READING THE ACCOUNTING DBR
1. REVENUE SPLIT RAs. Revenue splits are only reported on the Accounting DBR. In the RAs Closed section, a line of information will print if the RA involved a foreign vehicle or if the vehicle belonged to a different fleet pool within your own organization. The possible messages that may print are:
a.**** Foreign VEH rented to locally.
b.**** Foreign VEH rented to foreign loc.
c.**** Foreign VEH to owning loc.
d.**** Foreign VEH rented away from owner.
e.**** Auth Pool VEH rented to locally.
f.**** Unauthorized Pool VEH rented locally.
g.**** Pool VEH rented to owning pool.
h.**** Pool VEH rented away from owning pool.
Next to this message, on the same line, you will see:
nn% of T&M __________________ owed to loc. xxxxxx amt is nnnn.nn
where;
"nn" is a percent figure taken from one of the following:
- the customer record of the foreign location
- the revenue split fields in Edit Misc. Control Fields
- for Hertz licensees in North America with multiple locations, a setting in Edit Group Codes.
- the Brand Revenue Control File (for operations doing dual-branding)
The blank line will have an indication as to the split of CDW and the Drop Charge if any. This is controlled mainly by the flags in the Foreign Vehicle Defaults screen on the Control Files Menu.
This line represents two separate fields. The first field covers CDW and the second Drop Charges. The possible displays in each field are:
blank = none of that charge is owed to the vehicle's owner.
+ = all of that charge is owed to the vehicle's owner.
+ %of = using the same percentage split as T&M, a portion of this charge is owed to the vehicle's owner.
EXAMPLES:
a. 75% of T&M +CDW owed to loc. xxxxxx
In this case, all of the CDW is owed the owning location but none of the Drop Charge.
b. 75% of T&M +CDW+ %of DROP owed to loc. xxxxxx
Here, all of the CDW plus 75% of the Drop Charge is owed to the owning location.
c. 75% of T&M owed to loc. xxxxxx
Lastly, none of the CDW or Drop is owed to the owning location.
"xxxxxx" is the vehicle's owning location code,
"nnnn.nn" is the dollar amount computed as shown.
The dollar amount owed as shown at the end of this line will post as an open credit to the owning location in the A/R Open Item File when this DBR is posted.
A second revenue split line will also print if fuel revenue is owed to the closing location of the rental. This can occur when the vehicle returns with less fuel than when rented and, if so configured, when pre-paid fuel is sold. The field "Owned Fuel Splits" in the Foreign Vehicle Defaults program controls the circumstances under which fuel revenue will be owed to the closing location. When fuel is owed to the closing location, a line similar to the one below will print:
FUEL of nnnn.nn owed to loc. xxxxxx
If the revenue split percents are wrong on the report, they can be corrected by using Foreign RA Entry for foreign RAs and Edit Opening Fields for local use of a foreign owned vehicle. Corrections in the revenue splits MUST be done before a closed RA is posted. Once they are posted, no further corrections can be made.
For more information on how rent-back rentals entered through the Foreign RA Entry program post, see the chapter of the manual titled Foreign RA Entry.
For more information on how revenue split on owned vehicles, see the chapter of the manual titled Appendix - Fleet Pools.
2. RECEIPTS TAKEN AT A FOREIGN LOCATION. When one of your vehicles is dropped at a foreign location and that office receives monies in payment of that RA, the following procedure should be followed:
Batch close the RA on your system by using the closing location's code as the payment FOP code and the amount they received in payment. This will cause the following line of data to appear on the Accounting DBR:
*** Money received at foreign location xxxxxx yyyyyyyyyy amount is nnnn.nn
where;
"xxxxxx" is the foreign location code,
"yyyyyyyyyy" is the payment voucher number (usually the same as the location name),
"nnnn.nn" is the payment amount,
A receivable record will be written to the A/R Open Item File for this location since the funds are owed to your operation.
3. WHOLESALE VOUCHERS.
If wholesale vouchers are invoiced to the tour operator after the close of the RA, they will appear in the Closed Section of the DBR. The voucher amount will appear on the payment line (as space permits) and under the "WHSL" column. The net Time revenue will be included with any out-of-voucher revenue in the Time column.
If wholesale vouchers are invoiced at the time the RA is opened, the voucher will appear in the Deposits Section of the report.
If wholesale vouchers are invoiced before the RA is opened from data that is on a reservation, the voucher will appear in the Reservation Wholesale Section of the report. Note, reservation vouchers that are to be posted but first be invoiced first via the Res Invoicing program.
4. INCLUSIVE RATES. On the Accounting DBR, inclusive rates are unbundled and revenue is allocated to the various items included in the rate. Also, the Account Summary Report shows the revenue allocated to the G/L accounts for the included items.
Note that when non-taxable items are included in the rate, the tax is calculated only on the taxable portion. As an example, assume an inclusive rate of $60 per day includes Time, LDW, PAI, and an airport concession fee. All items except the PAI (allocated $5) are taxable. Therefore, the tax would be calculated on $55; not the total rate of $60.
When the report is requested with Option Detail, the "Tax" row will show the included taxes with a lower case "i" in front of them such as "iTAX". The "TAX" without the lowercase "i" is the tax on items not included in the rate.
When mileage/km is included in the rate, there are 2 items on the Tax row with a lowercase "i". One is for the inclusive tax on the Time charge and the other is for the inclusive tax on the Mileage/KM charge.
Revenue Extraction Rules
- Step One: Non taxable options are extracted first using the retail rate that would have been charged if the items were not included
- Step Two: Included tax is calculated and extracted from the balance
- Step Three: Then the taxable items are extracted using the retail rate
- Step Four: The balance if not zero or negative is allocated to TIME.
- If after the above extractions the balance for TIME is either zero or negative (that is the bundled Time rate is less than the total rates of the included items)the following alternate extraction takes place:
- Step One: Nontaxable options are extracted at $0.01 per day.
- Step Two: Included tax is calculated and extracted from the balance.
- Step Three: Taxable options are extracted at $0.01 per day
- Step Four: The balance is allocated to TIME.
For a more in-depth discussion of how items are extracted, refer to the chapter Overview - Inclusive Rates.
5. OUT OF RANGE PAYMENTS. When the "Out of Range Payments" message prints at the end of the DBR, it is advising that one or more RAs listed have payments with a date that is outside the date range or location requested on the DBR. The payment will not be listed on the report, so the message is there to advise that there is a payment on the RA that isn't being listed.
Example:
May 2: Closed the RA.
May 3: Edited the closed RA by adding a fuel charge of $10 and recorded a payment with a date of May 3.
May 4: Run the DBRA for May 2 only. The $10 fuel charge is included (it is assigned the same date as the closing date). But the payment has a different date, so it is not listed. Instead, $10 is shown in the A/R (Accounts Receivable) column meaning that the customer owes that balance.
May 5: Run the DBRA for May 3 only. The RA is listed showing a $10 credit in the AR column and the $10 payment being applied to the RA.
User tip: The "out of range" situation can be avoided by using the following procedure:
Remember, generally, the Operations DBR is intended to show the entire picture of an RA as it stands at the time the report is run. It reports all RAs with a closing DBR date within the date range selected. If an RA has transactions outside of the date range selected, such as a payment, it will still be included although it will be noted with an asterisk as an "out of range payment".When a closed RA is edited and a new payment record is added or an existing one is changed, do not enter anything in the "date" field for the payment. When the date field is left blank, the system uses the closing date of the RA for the payment record and, thus, the payment will always be "in range" when running the DBRA.
The Accounting DBR, on the other hand, reports only those items on the RA that occurred during the date range selected.
In another example, assume the closing DBR date of a RA is March 5 and it has a payment attached to it that has a date of March 7. Note the following for reports run on March 8:
Normally, payments on a RA are not posted until the RA itself is posted. (When the payment is entered directly in the Payment subwindow of RA Close, the payment is posted when the RA is posted.)
- If the Operations DBR is run for March 5, it will show the RA and the payment.
- If the Accounting DBR is run for March 5, the payment will not be shown since its date is not March 5. The RA revenue will be listed and it will show that it has a balance due.
- If the Accounting DBR is run for March 7, the payment for the RA will show, but not the revenue on the RA.
But when a payment is taken at a location different from any location associated on the RA and/or the payment is processed through the Batch Receive RA Payments program using a later date than the closing date, the payment is posted independently of the RA.
6. ASTERISKS & SYMBOLS ON THE REPORT Asterisks and symbols on the DBR are used to indicate situations which may be of interest to management. They appear under the following conditions:
a. RAs that were either Batch Opened or Batch Closed. Because batch programs can be misused by counter agents to alter the check-out or check-in date and time, RAs that have been handled by either of these programs will have an asterisk printed after the RA number.
b. Contracts that have been closed using the Multiple Invoiced Rental program are noted on the DBR by the exclamation point "!" after the RA number.
c. RAs whose rental rate was manually edited are indicated by an asterisk after the Rate Product Code.
d. Lower case "a" in front of Rate Product Code means an airport surcharge has been added to this RA.
e. When a Reimbursement is added to a RA from the Open screen some time prior to closing the RA, the RA Charge Record for the Reimbursement will have a different date/time assigned to it than the closing DBR Date. If a DBR is run for a date/time range that doesn't include the date/time that was assigned to the Reimbursement record, an asterisk will appear on the payment line between the amount and the code REIMB.
f. An asterisk after the Tax amount indicates that the tax rate on the RA has either been edited or the customer (either the renter or the bill-to party) has a Tax Code. The net result is that the tax on the RA is different than the rate in the Edit Option Rate record for that effective date.
g. A pound sign " # " after the vehicle number indicates that there is a Model Option recorded in the Model Code record.
h. Lower case "i"by the amount signifies that the item was included in the rate.
I. Lower case "p" next to the Fuel charge indicates that a full tank of Prepaid Fuel was accepted.
j. Lower case "h" next to the Fuel charge indicates a half-tank of Prepaid Fuel was accepted.
k. Lower case "v" next to a charge indicates the charge is associated with a voucher (insurance, wholesale, or ghost).
D. POSTING RENTAL
TRANSACTIONS
Rental transactions such as Opening and Closing RAs, edits to posted RAs, taking additional deposits, doing a vehicle exchange, and voiding a RA logically need to generate accounting and other management information in various files. The process of updating all files is not done at the time the transaction occurs because this tends to slow down counter operations and makes subsequent editing of transactions difficult. Therefore, posting counter transactions at a later time allows the manager the opportunity to audit counter activity and make changes prior to passing data into the accounting files and the CARS+ files. A "SUMMARY ONLY" DBR SHOULD NEVER BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR A FULL DBR WHEN POSTING RAs.
Automatic Posting: The posting of transactions can be setup on your system to be done automatically according to a system timer or manually by this program. If your location is set to post DBRs automatically, you may be blocked from any manual posting.
Automatic posting does not block a user from running the DBR as many times as needed -- it just prevents users from running it with posting requested.
User tip: The user's record in the User Access File can be configured to bypass the block on manual posting.
Steps in the Posting Process
The following steps take place in the posting process:
- Before the report is printed, the DBR program places a lock on all closed RAs which will be posted. This lock is not removed until the posting process is completed. Locking records guarantees that no user will be able to edit a RA between the time it appears on the printed report and when it is actually posted.
- Update
the A/R Distribution File. This
includes allocating all revenue items to the appropriate G/L account numbers,
debit the appropriate cash account for all C and CC FOPs received, and apply
deposits received towards the payment of closed RAs.
CARS+ provides the ability to post each "CC" type FOP to a separate G/L account. And, if profit centers are turned on, the CC type FOP's can post to separate profit centers. A field in the Location file defines whether or not profit centers are used for "CC" type FOPs.)
When profit centers are used, the general rules when posting transactions are:
- Revenue and expense accounts transactions post with profit centers
- Most Balance Sheet accounts post without a specific profit center (they post to profit center '000'). The exceptions are: - Cash can have a profit center (assigned in the Drawer record)
- Inter-office A/R accounts always have a profit center unless the operation is defined as "RV" mode.
- The Customer Deposit Liability account does not have a profit center appended unless the operation is defined as "RV" mode.
- In Edit Misc Control Fields, the field "Use Profit Center" provides the ability to post all GL accounts with a profit center.
- RAs are posted to the A/R Distribution File in detail. That is, all charges on each RA will appear as separate records in the file. Summary posting, on the other hand, will create a single record for each G/L account containing a total from all RAs on the DBR. Obviously, detailed posting provides you with a more complete audit trail. But it also caused the Distribution Report to be too large to be generally useful. Luckily the Distribution Report has a Detail/summary option. As an example, when run in summary mode, the total fuel charges from all RAs will appear as a single subtotal. Therefore, it is suggested that detailed reporting only be used for a short time (and when auditing for a specific problem). After you prove the accuracy of posting programs, switch to Summary reporting.
- Field 33 on the Maintain A/R Control Data program in Accounts Receivable does NOT control DBR posting. RAs are always posted in detail. This field only controls how transactions entered directly into the RealWorld A/R fileds will post.
- Update
the A/R Open Item File. This
involves writing entries to the proper customer's account for all closed RAs
with either a debit or credit balance due. RAs that are paid in full at the counter will not post to
the Open Item File. This step also
does the following:
b. Creates
records for:
i. Revenue splits due to the owners of vehicles you have rented.ii. Revenue splits due you from foreign locations which have rented your vehicles.iii. Payments collected at foreign locations for your rentals. - Update information recorded about vehicles including the number of rental days and revenue earned. In cases of exchanges, the days and revenue are prorated for each vehicle involved.
- Update the Vehicle History File by updating the history record for the amount of revenue earned for each vehicle involved in a closed RA. For exchanges, records are created with T&M prorated to each vehicle but only the last vehicle will show the gross revenue amount for the entire life of the RA.
- Update the Customer File with the number of times rented, balance due, last payment, PTD and YTD sales.
- Update
the RA and Deposit/Payment Files to indicate transactions that have been
posted. In the case of tour vouchers that are invoiced from the reservation, the voucher will be flagged as having been posted.
Note: When the Accounting DBR is run for a specific “type” of RA (Field #7) and posting is requested, only closed RAs of that type are posted. However, all petty cash transactions and all deposits are posted—regardless of RA type. - After all records have been written or updated, the posting process removes the temporary locks that had been placed on RAs at the start of the process.
POSTING INTER-OFFICE RECEIVABLES. An inter-office receivable is created when a closing location receives payments for a RA that opened at another owned location. An Inter-office Receivable will also be created when if a payment is taken on a closed RA using Location/Cash Drawer different from the opening location. In order to accurately track inter-office receivables, each location should have their own unique account number.
As an example, if a RA opened at Location A and closes at Location B with a cash payment, the payment would post as follows:
1. When the DBR for Location A is posted:
a. Various revenue accounts are CREDITED.
b. An account made up of the Inter-office account from Location A and the profit center # from Location B is DEBITED. This indicates that Location A is owed money from Location B.
2. When the DBR for Location B is posted:
a. The cash account for the cash drawer at Location B is DEBITED.
b. The same account that was debited by the posting of Location A is CREDITED.
The net result, when both locations have been posted is:
a. CREDIT to revenue for Location A
b. DEBIT to cash for Location B.
EDITS TO POSTED RAs. When posted RAs are edited (using the Edit Posted RA program), the date the changes are made becomes the DBR date for those changes. These edits are listed in a separate section of the DBR, and are posted with other transactions from that day's DBR.
DBR ACCOUNT SUMMARY. If this is requested (see Field # 18), a second report will
follow the DBR. The DBR Account
Summary lists each G/L Account affected by the transactions shown on the
DBR. The debit and credit figures
for each account are shown. For
operations that use multiple posting companies, a separate Account Summary
Report prints for each posting company having transactions. When an alternative (expanded) GL account number is used (refer to the 'Posting Ref #' field in Edit Valid GL Accounts), the expanded account number is shown instead of the 4-digit number.
User tip: When performing a cross-check between the Account Summary or A/R
Distribution Report and the Accounting DBR, be sure to total all amounts listed in first three sections of the DBRA. Specifically, this is the sections for RAs Closed, RAs Closed (Edits to posted RAs) and Depostis, Petty Cash, Payments on One-Ways.
Note that for simple wholesalers the gross time appears under the G/L Time account and their simple discount appears in the G/L Discount account. The Accounting DBR, on the other hand, shows only the net time under the Time column.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE:
In some rare cases, the DBR and the Account Summary may not net out to zero. When this happens, posting is prevented and an error message prints on both reports warning that they are out of balance. This message will pop up on the screen:
***Report out of balance...Posting Termintated.***
When the DBR and Account Summary are out of balance, it is likely that one or more RAs are out of balance. The 'RA out of balance' condition is noted at the end of the report and the individual RAs causing the problem are listed.
To correct an out of balance RA, bring it up on the Edit Closed RA screen and press "F8" to recalculate the charges. If this does not correct the problem, call or e-mail Thermeon's Customer Support Dept. for assistance.WARNINGS. Do not confuse DBR Posting with the programs that post transactions in the A/R module, Processing Cash Payments and Processing Debit and Credit Memos. These two A/R posting programs are used only for transactions entered through the A/R programs such as payments received on account and credit memos. The DBR posting program posts rental transactions directly to the A/R files.
THE POSTING PROCESS. When executing the DBR program with the posting field set to "Y" (yes), the system will print a DBR report first as a pre-posting edit list. After printing the report the following message will then display:
DO YOU WANT TO POST THIS DBR (Y/N) ?
If a " N" (No) is entered, the posting process will be cancelled and the screen returns to a menu. If a "Y" (Yes) is entered, the following question will display:
ARE YOU SURE (Y/N) ?
Again, if a " N" (No) is entered, the posting process will be terminated and the screen returns to a menu. If a "Y" (Yes) is entered, all rental transactions for the DBR date range, location and drawer, as reported on the DBR will post.
POSTING ERROR AND WARNING MESSAGES
The following error and warning messages may appear when posting a DBR:
1. RA RECORD LOCKED FOR THIS DATE/LOC
As mentioned earlier, the first thing the posting program attempts to do is lock all RAs that will be posted. If a user is currently editing one of the RAs that would appear in this DBR run the lock cannot be set. This error prevents the program from continuing. The only solution is to try posting again at a later time.
2. POSTING ALREADY IN PROGRESS FOR THIS DATE/LOC
This message indicates that another user has ready started posting the same DBR as you have requested and it is currently in progress.
3. OVERFLOW CONDITION ON DEP ARRAY - PRESS RETURN TO CONTINUE
This indicates that the RA being posted has more than 50 deposit and payment records referenced in the Deposit/Payment File. The posting program is only able to post the first 50 Deposit/Payment records for any one RA. The above message will occur for each Deposit/Payment record the program encounters after the first fifty. Use the following steps to handle this situation:
a. Continue pressing RET until the message no longer appears.
b. Compare the resulting A/R distributions against the DBR's FOP Summary.
c. If necessary, make general journal entries to complete the FOP posting.
4. UNPOSTED DEPOSITS ON RAs BEING POSTED - PRESS RETURN TO CONTINUE
While posting a closed RA the system has discovered unposted deposits from a time period earlier than specified for this posting session. Use the following steps to handle this situation:
a. Press RET to continue the posting process.
b. After posting is completed, search the Deposit/Payment file for unposted records by using the F2 key. Request a start date at least 30 days in the past. Record these deposit transaction dates.
c. Run the Accounting DBR, including posting, to include the dates of all unposted deposits discovered.
5. VEH# NNNNNN LOCKED AT ANOTHER STATION or CUST # DDDDDD LOCKED AT ANOTHER STATION
These messages display when the program attempts to update a vehicle record or customer record which is currently being used at another station. For example, if a counter terminal is in the process of renting a car at the exact moment that the posting program is attempting to update the same vehicle, the posting program will be locked out with the above error message.
Actually, this same error can occur on any of the files that are updated by the posting program which were listed earlier in this chapter.
The following are the suggested steps for handling this error:
a. Usually a locked record will clear in a few minutes once the user referencing it finishes their current transaction. If after several minutes the posting program does not continue due to the locked record, attempt to discover who has the problem record locked. Perhaps someone has walked away from a terminal with a record up on the screen. If the problem terminal can be located, have the user clear the screen or complete the transaction.
b. If it is not known which user has the record locked, use the program Who is Locking a File (on the System Management Menu) to discover which user is locking a record.
c. Only after failing the above steps should you consider killing the posting process. CARS+ Internet users will need to call Customer Support Dept. to discuss if this is feasible.
d. If the posting process is killed, the following additional clean up steps will be required:
i. Make a note of the record number on which the program is hung and find it on the printed DBR report.
ii. Using the sequence of files that are updated in the posting process, which is listed earlier in this chapter, determine which files had been updated prior to the program getting stuck.
iii. Make sure that all users have exited CARS+ so that no terminals are locking records.
iv. Re-post the DBR. For the RA(s) marked as unposted, both the A/R Distribution File and the A/R Open Item File will be updated a second time.
v. Make the following manual corrections to the files which were double posted.The following table indicates the corrections to be made:
If stopped by Make this correction A/R Distribution No correction is necessary. A/R Open Item File Make General Journal entries to reverse all Debits and Credits associated with the hung RA.
If the RA wrote a record to the Open Item File, enter a Credit Memo to reverse this out and at the same time,
reverse out all distributions made to the Distribution File. If no open item record was written, make the
General Journal entries mentioned above.Vehicle History File Ask Thermeon's Cust. Support Dept. to delete the Service Code 00 record for this RA. Customer File Manually subtract the total of the RA from the YTD and PTD sales fields on customer record which was
involved in the hung RA. Correct the "number of times" rented field and the "last activity:" field.
USER TIPS.
- ALWAYS print or e-mail a detailed DBR for the transactions to be posted to the A/R files. The DBR is the ONLY detailed audit trail of rental transactions. Save the reports using the same rules for tax records.
- For optimum efficiency, posting is designed to be run one day at a time. Under NO circumstances should an attempt be made to post more than one month's data in a single run.
- As a standard part of the month end procedure, check to see that all records have been posted. After posting the last day of the month, run an Accounting DBR for unposted records only, using "01-01-0000" as the Start Date (which will print as "EARLIEST") and the last day of the month being closed as the End Date. In the "RA Post Value" field, enter the letter "N" for unposted RAs only. Also, do not ask for posting (field 10 = "N"). Instead, display the report (field 15 = D). If the displayed report skips immediately to the RAs Voided section, then everything is posted. If RAs are reported, run the report again and this time ask for posting (field 10 ="Y"). Remember, in certain cases it is possible to back date a transaction (usually a deposit or payment). It is possible that a month end DBRA is "clean" (no transactions to post). Later on, if someone applies a back dated payment, it will be necessary to go back and run a DBRA for that date to get that transaction to post. By following the procedure mentioned in the above paragraph at the end of every month, these situations will be caught.
- Edits to Posted RAs and the Date Range requested Some operations run a weekly DBR for each week of the month and a DBR for the entire month at month end. The question sometimes arises why the revenue for the individual weeks do not equal the revenue on the monthly report. When the report is run for a date range that includes the Close of a RA and an edit to the posted RA, the edit is combined with the Close in order to give a complete picture of the RA for the entire date range. To illustrate this point, assume that a RA closed January 9. After it was posted, it was edited January 28. Therefore, when running the weekly DBRs, the original close was in one week, and the edit fell into another week. In order to get a true picture of revenue for the last week of January, the “Edits to the Posted RAs” section has to be included with the RAs Closed section. When the report is run for the month, the edit done January 28 will be included in the RAs Closed section with the other records for the RA. There will be no revenue figures in the Edits to Posted RAs section.
E. ACCESSING
AND RUNNING THE ACCOUNTING DBR
This report may be configured to run automatically from the CARS+ Report Driver. Users interested in this feature should contact Thermeon's Customer Support Dept. for further information.
To access the
Accounting DBR, type DBRA (RET) at any menu "OPTION:" field or the appropriate line number on the Rental Accounting menu. The screen will then display:
| OPTION: __ ACCOUNTING DBR AND POSTING 1 Start Date 08-19-09 19 Airport Commission B 2 Start Time 0000 (C=comm, N=non-comm, B=Both) 3 End Date 08-19-09 20 Print Dist. Summary Y 4 End Time 2359 21 Lease RA's Only B 5 Location ALL (L=Lease, N=Non-Lease, B=Both) 6 RA Type(s) ALL 7 Detail/Summary D 22 Truncate Decimals N 8 Option Detail N 23 Incl Unrefunded Deposits N 9 RA Post Value N (Y=posted, N=Unposted, B=both) 10 Do Posting N 24 Fleet Type ALL 11 Drawer ALL 12 RAs B (O=owned, F=foreign, B=both) 13 Vehicles B (O=owned, F=foreign, B=both) 14 Prt Grp Summary N 15 Print/Display P Printer: prtspool 16 Res Types ALL 17 Sections ALL 18 Veh Class ALL 1BEGIN 2 3ERASE 4 5BACKUP 6 7HELP 8 |
Enter data as follows:
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1. START DATE |
Using your selected date format, enter the Starting DBR Date. Press RET to default to today's date. EXAMPLE: Type 081809 (RET) |
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2. START TIME |
Using your selected time format, enter the Starting DBR Time. Press RET to default to midnight. EXAMPLE: Press (RET) |
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3. END DATE |
Using your selected date format, enter the Ending DBR Date. Press RET to default to today's date. Note: The size of the date range you can enter may be restricted by your system access level (see the Chapter on the program, Edit User Access). If you enter a date range that is larger than what is allowed for your account, the following message will appear at the bottom of the screen when you attempt to press F1 to start the report:
EXAMPLE: Type 081809 (RET) |
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4. END TIME |
Using your selected time format, enter the Ending DBR Time. Press RET to default to 11:59PM. EXAMPLE: Type 2P (RET) Records will be selected as follows:
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5. LOCATION |
Enter:
If you plan to post transactions (Field 10 = "Y") in this run, you WILL be blocked if you have entered either a Location Group or ALL in this field and:
Note: Your user access may be limited as to the locations for which you can run this report. If your access is restricted and you attempt to enter a location or location group which is outside your allowed parameters, the following message will be displayed at the bottom of the screen and your selection will be ignored:
EXAMPLE: Type TUS (RET) User tip: When a Location Group is entered in this field, the order in which the locations are processed are: individual locations (in alphabetical order) are listed first, then the groups are processed in alphabetical order, and then the locations within each group in alphabetical order. |
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6. RA TYPE (s) |
This field can be used to do either of the following:
EXAMPLE: Type C (RET)
EXAMPLE: Type C,IN,R,NT (RET)
EXAMPLE: Type -C (RET) Note: When the Accounting DBR is run for a specific “type” of RA (Field #6) and posting is requested, only closed RAs of that type are posted. However, all petty cash transactions and all deposits are posted—regardless of RA type. |
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7. DETAIL/ |
Enter 1 alpha character to select the report format.
EXAMPLE: Type D (RET) |
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8. OPTION DETAIL |
Some columns on the report may contain multiple items: Other Coverages, Misc, Other, Tax and Disc (Discounts). In order to report the detail for items listed in these columns, the report can be printed with “Option Detail”. Enter:
EXAMPLE: Type Y (RET) |
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9. RA POST VALUE |
Enter 1 alpha character to select the records to be printed.
EXAMPLE: Type Y (RET) |
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10. DO POSTING |
Enter 1 alpha character to indicate whether or not rental transactions should be posted.
NOTE: Access to this field is blocked if the location entered into Field 5 is set-up for automatic posting. Cars+ will prompt a message:
EXAMPLE: Type Y (RET) User tip on"Junk Posting": When there are old RAs on the system that have never been posted, it is possible to mark the RAs as posted (so that they can be purged), but not send any information to the accounting files. This is referred to as doing a "junk post". A junk post simply marks the RAs as being posted, but no other files are updated from the RAs. Thermeon customers doing Electronic Draft Capture through CARS+ should be aware that no credit cards are settled for records included in the junk post. Consult with Thermeon's Customer Support Dept. if you have old records that should be marked as posted in this manner. |
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11. DRAWER(S) |
Enter up to 3 numeric characters to select the Cash Drawer(s) to appear on the Accounting DBR. Press RET to default to ALL Drawers. EXAMPLE: Type 1 (RET). Type 3 (RET) |
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FIELDS 12 & 13 |
Rental operations which are part of a national franchising organization are faced with several types of rental situations. These situations are summarized in the chart below:
Fields 12 and 13 allow you to select which of the four types of rentals listed above will be reported in the Closed RAs section of the DBR. As a result, this also determines which RAs are included in the revenue averages and other statistics. |
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12. RAs |
Enter:
EXAMPLE: Type B (RET) |
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13. VEHICLES |
Enter:
EXAMPLE: Type B (RET) Obviously, the combination of responses to Fields 14 and 15 will produce several different kinds of reports.For example:
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14. PRINT GROUP SUMMARY |
Enter:
EXAMPLE: Type N (RET) |
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15. PRINT/DISPLAY |
Enter:
EXAMPLE: Type P (RET) |
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16. RES TYPES |
This field applies only to a particular CARS+ user and has no relevance to other users. |
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| 17. SECTIONS |
This field can be used to limit the report to one of the following sections. Enter:1 = Only closed RAsPress (RET) to include all sections. EXAMPLE: Press (RET) User Note: The section for wholesaler vouchers that are invoiced prior to the opening of an RA cannot be accessed individually. The only way to report that section and to post it is to request all sections. |
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| 18. VEH CLASS |
Enter up to 4 alphanumeric characters to indicate the vehicle Class Code. Press (RET) to include all sections. |
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19. AIRPORT |
Enter one of the following:
EXAMPLE: Type C (RET) NOTE: When running the Accounting DBR to report either concessionable or non-concessionable revenue; 1. Do not request any other selection option which may restrict the scope of the report. For example, when running a concessionable revenue report, do not request a single RA Type in Field 7 and then expect that the report will contain all concessionable revenue.
2. If you pay your concession fees from data in your General Ledger rather than from this report, use this report to summarize the non-commissionable revenue (by entering an "N" in this field) and then request the Distribution Summary in the next field. |
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20. PRINT DIST SUMMARY |
This field allows you to choose to print the Account Summary section the DBR Report. It lists each G/L account affected by the DBR's transactions as well as the debit and credit amounts for each account. Enter:
EXAMPLE: Type Y (RET) |
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21. LEASE RA'S ONLY |
Enter:
EXAMPLE: Type N (RET) |
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22. TRUNCATE DECIMALS |
This field is used to indicate whether or not you want the digits beyond the decimal points to print on the total line.
EXAMPLE: Type Y (RET) |
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| 23. INCL UNREFUNDED DEPOSITS |
This field controls whether or not the report will include an additional section that lists:
Enter: EXAMPLE: Type N (RET User Tip #1: RAs with Deposits: The field "Allow Void W/Dep" in the Edit Miscellaneous Control Fields program controls how RAs with unrefunded deposits are treated.
User tip #3: Accounting Staff: Unrefunded deposits on reservations and RAs need to be recorded as income. The accounting staff must do a journal entry to transfer the funds from the deposit liability GL account to a GL income account. |
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| 24. FLEET TYPE |
Enter up to 8 alphanumeric characters using shorthand descriptions for vehicle type (CPE, 4DR, HTP, VAN, 2DR H/B, etc). Press (RET) to include all sections. |
The screen will then display:
| OPTION: __ ACCOUNTING DBR AND POSTING 1 Start Date 08-18-09 19 Airport Commission C 2 Start Time 1200M (C=comm, N=non-comm, B=Both) 3 End Date 08-18-09 20 Print Dist. Summary Y 4 End Time 0200P 21 Lease RA's Only N 5 Location ALL (L=Lease, N=Non-Lease, B=Both) 6 RA Type(s) ALL 7 Detail/Summary D 22 Truncate Decimals Y 8 Option Detail Y 23 Incl Unrefunded Deposits N 9 RA Post Value Y (Y=posted, N=Unposted, B=both) 10 Do Posting Y 24 Fleet Type ALL 11 Drawer 1,3 12 RAs B (O=owned, F=foreign, B=both) 13 Vehicles B (O=owned, F=foreign, B=both) 14 Prt Grp Summary N 15 Print/Display P Printer: prtspool 16 Res Types ALL 17 Sections ALL 18 Veh Class ALL 1BEGIN 2 3ERASE 4 5BACKUP 6 7HELP 8 |
PRESS "F1" AT "OPTION:" TO BEGIN PRINTING.
F. SUMMARY PAGE
Closed RA Summary - This is a summary of the number of closed RAs listed, the chargeable days, and the miles/kms driven.
Sales/Receipts Cross Check - This is a cross check which begins with the Gross column total. What follows is how the contracts have been paid or how they will be paid. This section will total to zero.
RA/Vehicle Sub Groups - This is an analysis of how many contracts are represented from each group (foreign RAs and foreign vehicles).
Rate Usage Breakdown - This represents the time revenue on regular (non-inclusive) rates, upsell revenue, and the published bundled rates for inclusive rates with Option Sets. The total of this figure is broken down into various categories to see what portion came from daily, weekly,weekend, monthly, and hourly charges.
G. PROCESSING
CREDIT BALANCE RAs
PURPOSE. This section explains how to convert a credit balance RA into either an A/R open credit for the customer or an A/P check payable to the customer.
EXPLANATION. A credit balance RA is one whose payments exceed the charges. This often occurs when a large deposit is made on the RA and the excess amount is not refunded at the counter. A credit balance RA will appear on the DBR with a minus sign (-) next to the figure in the A/R Bal column.
The credit balance on a RA is not converted automatically to an open credit or to a payable; a special manual adjustment is required to do this. The manager should review the DBR regularly to identify these RAs and should make sure the manual adjustments are made. Using the DBR as a worksheet, we suggest the manager make a note on the DBR next to the credit balance amount to indicate whether the amount should be converted to an open credit or to a payable. The bookkeeper's initials should be placed next to the manager's note as the manual adjustments are made.
TIPS AND WARNINGS. The following instructions assume you are familiar with accounting procedures for both the A/R and A/P modules.
CONVERTING A CREDIT BALANCE RA TO AN OPEN CREDIT
- Using the RealWorld A/R module, issue a Debit Memo to the customer. Use the RA Number as both the "Document" and "Apply-to" Number, and distribute this against your General Ledger account labeled "RA Error" (usually #9999). The reason for using this account is that if you are interrupted in the middle of this process and forget to complete it, this account will show a non-zero balance on the A/R Distribution to G/L. This will clue you to finish the remaining steps.
- Now enter a Credit Memo to the same customer leaving the "Apply-to" field blank. The system will then show this as an open credit.Distribute the Credit Memo against the same G/L account used in Step #1 above.
The above steps are necessary because the original credit carries an Apply-to" Number of the original RA which generated it. This type of Open Item will never purge because any future invoices (RAs) to this customer will have different Document Numbers, thereby requiring different "Apply-to" Numbers. The above procedure solves this by balancing out the RA transactions with the Debit Memo and creating an Open Credit with the Credit Memo.
CONVERTING A CREDIT BALANCE RA INTO A PAYABLE
- Using the RealWorld A/R module, issue a Debit Memo to the customer. Use the RA Number as both the "Document" and "Apply-to" Number, and distribute this against your General Ledger account labeled "RA Error" (usually #9999). The reason for using this account is that if you are interrupted in the middle of this process and forget to complete it, this account will show a non-zero balance on the A/R Distribution to G/L. This will clue you to finish the remaining steps.
- If you have the RealWorld Accounts Payable Module: In the A/P module, enter an A/P Transaction using the customer as a miscellaneous vendor (precede the Vendor Number with an asterisk [*]). Distribute this transaction against the same G/L account used in Step #1 above.
- If you do not have the RealWorld Accounts Payable Module:Issue a check to the customer. When recording this check in your ledger, debit the same G/L account used in Step #1 above and credit your cash account.
NOTE: When the "customer" being paid is a foreign location involved in numerous revenue split transactions, you may wish to set up that customer as a "Balance Forward" customer as opposed to an "Open Item" customer. This is done in the Customer File Update, Page 2, "Balance Method". Set this field to "B". This will allow you to perform the above operation just once per month for the net difference of all the various credits and debits to that customer for the entire month. If left as an "Open Item" customer, the above procedure will have to be performed for each credit balance RA that month.
This illustration assumes the reader is familiar with the chapter and illustration of the Operations DBR. Therefore, this illustration covers only those features unique to the Accounting DBR.
08-19-XX 09:46:01 ANNE /dev/tty01 11 CARS+ RENT-A-CAR sysprint Report #0721 Page 0001 ➊ |
NOTES – ACCOUNTING DBR, PAGE 1
➊ This report was requested 08-19 at 9:46 a.m. by Anne. THe Accounting DBR is used to report all rental revenue for the location requested (regardless of where the contract closed). It is also used to post transactions to the Accounting files.
➋ Selections of this report are similar to those for the illustrated Operations DBR. Some exceptions are:
Open/Close: The Accounting DBR defaults to report closed contracts by the location where they opened while the Operations DBR defaults to report RAs under the location where they closed.
Options: Detail was requested on the Option charges. There are 4 columns that can include multiple items: OthCvgs, Misc, Other, Tax. If there is one or more charge in any of those columns, a separate line is provided with a breakdown of the charges. Therefore, up to 4 additional lines may print.
➌ Contract # S370262 for Lewis. This is our rental of a foreign vehicle being rented back to the owning location, Springfield. The TUS location processed the customer’s payment on Mastercard for $271.87. The “revenue split line” shows that TUS owes 60 percent of any Time, Mileage, CDW, and Drop charges to Springfield which calculates to $125.31.
➍ Contract # S370264 for Barton. The advisory note "CLOSED AT SAN" advises that this is a one-way rental from TUS to SAN, another owned location. Notice that this is a direct bill to IBM Corp. Because this report was run asking for Option Detail, there is an additional line of information which shows the breakdown of the $32.00 in the “Other” column (additional driver fee of $12.00 and a GPS charge of $20.00).
➎ Contract #S370265 for Lussier. When
Option Detail is requested, the report also indicates when a customer accepted
the Prepaid Fuel option. The note
“p” next to the Fuel amount to indicate a full take of Prepaid Fuel was accepted. (Half tank is shown by using "h".) For ease in reading, note that discounts are shown with a minus sign.
08-19-XX 09:46:01 ANNE /dev/tty01 11 CARS+ RENT-A-CAR sysprint Report #0721 Page 0002 |
NOTES – ACCOUNTING DBR, PAGE 2
➊ Contract # S370269 for Greyloc. This is an insurance rental where Allstate agreed to pay $120.00. On the Accounting DBR the revenue billed to an insurance company appears in the various revenue columns ("Time", "Tax", etc.) columns along with any out of voucher charges that the renter will pay. The column labeled “Whlsale” shows the value of the voucher that "pays" for a portion of the rental charges (in this case the renter paid the tax). Wholesale vouchers (tour vouchers) appear in the same manner. As a rule, the amount in the "Whlsale" column should equal the sum of vouchers displayed on the payment line (unless there are more vouchers than can print on the single line.)
➋ Contract # S370270 for Mills. This is a one-way rental from TUS to SAN, another owned location. The customer paid in full at SAN; therefore, the amount collected ($211.05) is shown in the “IO A/R” column—Interoffice Accounts Receivable. Interoffice receivables are created when an RA is opened at one location, closes at another location, AND the customer pays at the closing location. The Accounting DBR for the opening location reflects the revenue earned and that is offset by an entry to the Interoffice account. The Accounting DBR for the closing location reflects the payment received and also create an entry using the Interoffice account as an offset. (Refer to the Appendix in the CARS+ Manual on this subject for
more details.)
➌ Contract # S370271 for Sebestyen. This was a local rental of a foreign vehicle. The revenue split line appears here. (Revenue split lines do not print on the Operations DBR.) Of the $42 earned in Time revenue, $37.80 (90%) is owed to the owning location.
➍ Contract # W0001356 for Winchester (a foreign location). This is a foreign rental of a TUS vehicle that was entered through the Foreign RA Entry program. This reflects the split that the Winchester location owes to TUS.
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NOTES – ACCOUNTING DBR, PAGE 3
➊ Because this report was printed with option detail, the totals are shown for the number of contracts with each item shown in the Option detail rows.
➋ Closed RA Summary - This shows the total number of RAs closed, the DBR (chargeable) Days, and total miles/kms driven.
➌ Sales/Receipts Cross Check - This is a cross check which begins with the Gross column total. What follows is how the contracts have been paid or will be paid.
➍ Rate Usage Breakdown - This represents the time revenue on regular (non-inclusive) rates, upsell revenue, and the published bundled rates for inclusive rates with Option Sets. The total of this figure is broken down into various categories to see what portion came from daily, weekly,weekend, monthly, and hourly charges. The "Month" category is used for revenue earned from owned vehicles rented by a foreign location.
➎ RA/Vehicle Sub Groups - This is an analysis of how many contracts are represented from each group (foreign RAs and foreign vehicles).
08-19-XX 09:46:01 ANNE /dev/tty01 11 CARS+ RENT-A-CAR sysprint Report #0721 Page 0004 |
NOTES – ACCOUNTING DBR, PAGE 4
➊ Contract #S37266 for Sweeney. This is an adjustment resulting from the edit of a posted RA. Only the effect of the change is shown and will
post to the accounting records. In this case, the posted RA's Time charge was decreased by $10 which made the tax decrease. A refund was
processed on the customer's Visa card.
08-19-XX 09:46:01 ANNE /dev/tty01 11 CARS+ RENT-A-CAR sysprint Report #0721 Page 0005 |
NOTES – ACCOUNTING DBR, PAGE 5
➊ This contract, K1001300, was a one-way rental from our SAN location and checked in at TUS. Because the customer paid at TUS, the payment on the one-way is shown here and will post to the accounting records as part of an Interoffice transaction.
08-19-XX 09:46:01 ANNE /dev/tty01 11 CARS+ RENT-A-CAR sysprint Report #0721 Page 0006 |
NOTES – ACCOUNTING DBR, PAGE 6
Field 22 on the selections page, "Include Unrefunded Deposits" controls whether or not this section is included in the report.➊ When reservations with deposits are cancelled or become no-shows, they are listed in this section. It serves as a reminder to the accounting staff to do either of the following:
- Refund the deposit
- Do a journal entry to transfer the funds from the deposit liability account to an income account.
08-19-XX 09:46:01 ANNE /dev/tty01 11 CARS+ RENT-A-CAR sysprint Report #0721 Page 0007 |
NOTES – ACCOUNTING DBR, PAGE 7
➊ Net change to AR account.
This report contains a calculation of rental length called "DBR Days" (or just "Days"). One of two possible formulas are used in CARS+ to calculate this figure. To chose the formula to be used in this as well as over fifty other CARS+ reports, go to Page 5, Field 3 of Edit Miscellaneous Control Fields.This is calculated as follows:
Total of the A/R Column 1, 247.63
Plus A/R Forms of Payment (see above) 120.00
Less: “A/R Due Open amounts” (RA # M459813) 200.00 -
Less: Revenue splits owed to foreign locations (RA # S370262) 125.31 -
(RA # S370271) 37.80 -
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Net change to A/R 1,004.52