Finance Settings: General

These configuration options help you define high-level accounting settings. For access to this navigation item, system administrators must have a Finance: 8 module authorization level.

To locate these settings, go to Settings > Finance > General.

Default entities

If you have more than one financial entity (Settings > Finance > Financial entities), iMIS can separate and processes transactions for the multiple financial entities, and the following fields designate the default entities for their modules:

AR - entity code for iMIS AR/Cash
Dues - entity code for iMIS Billing
Meetings - entity code for iMIS Events
Orders - entity code for iMIS Orders
Fundraising - entity code for iMIS Fundraising

General

The following settings are available under the General section:

Default currency code - From the drop-down list, select the default currency code that will be used to pass the correct currency values to the gateway. If the currency code you require is not listed in the drop-down, choose Other and enter the three-letter ISO currency code for your country in the available text field.

The following gateways support specific currency codes:

First month of fiscal year - Select the first month of your organization's fiscal year. Some GL interface choices will export the fiscal period along with the calendar transaction date of the transactions.

Note: This month serves as the default Effective date for annual dues but can be adjusted within each billing cycle using the First month of term setting. For more information, see Managing different start months for annual memberships.

Allow staff users to enter prepayments and overpayments - When enabled, Staff users will be able to enter prepayment information On behalf of users. The prepayments are recorded and are then available to users as Open Credits. An option to Enter prepayment is displayed in the shopping cart if there are no items in the shopping cart. If there are items in the cart, Staff users can still enter a payment amount that is greater than the sum of the items in the shopping cart.
Allow non-staff users to enter partial payments - When enabled, public users can make partial payments when checking out through the cart. Public users must enter an amount greater than 0 and an amount equal to or less than the cart total.
Refund method for credit invoices – Determines which GL account is used when refunding a credit card, bank draft, or PayPal Express payment through the Credit invoices window (Finance > Closing procedures > Credit invoices).

Note: Cash and check refund payments will always use the default financial entity’s refund clearing account.

The following options are available:

Original payment method – The payment method, financial entity, and GL account of the credit card, bank draft, or PayPal Express refund payment is the same as the original payment. Refunds are recorded to the original payment method.
Issue checks – The refund payment is issued using the original payment’s financial entity and financial entity’s refund clearing GL account, with no payment method. Refunds are processed by issuing checks to the customers.

Allow GL account edit for sales transactions - When enabled, allows editing of the GL Account field for each product selected during sales, credit memo, and debit memo transactions.
Default max invoice amount - Sets the maximum default amount to be written off. During the write-off process, all debit or credit balances less than or equal to this amount are written off. This value can be overridden during the actual write-off process.

Note: Negative values, letters or special characters are invalid.

Batch control

You can place all transactions in a single batch or create separate batches for staff and public transactions. Placing staff transactions in their own batch allows for easier auditing of the transactions by a system administrator.

Batch mode for staff web transactions - Specify how staff web transactions are placed in batches. By default, all staff transactions are placed in the same batch as public transactions. You can also choose to create separate batches for staff and public transactions or to create an individual batch for each staff user per day.

Options include:

Staff transactions in same batch as public transactions - The default option places staff and public users’ transactions in the same batch. One batch of transactions is created for each day.
Separate batches for staff and public transactions - This option places staff and public users’ transactions into two separate batches per day. If a batch does not exist for either category of users for the day, it is created.
Individual batch for each staff user per day - This option places each staff user’s transactions into a separate batch per day. All transactions by public users are placed into one batch for the day. If a batch does not exist for a specific staff user or for public users, it is created.
Manual batches - - Staff users with a Finance: 3 module authorization level or higher can create new batches. Staff users can control into which batches a staff user's transactions are placed.

See Managing batches for more information.

(Manual batches only) Default batch selection – This option controls the batch selected when a staff user selects the default batch. Options include:
- Staff transactions in the same batch as public transactions
- Separate batches for staff and public transactions
- Individual batch for each staff user per day
Batch numbering – Select a value to determine how batches are numbered. Options include:
- Based on batch date – (Default) Batch numbers are generated based on batch date. The batch date is derived from the Time zone setting (Settings > RiSE > Quick setup).
- Sequential batch numbers – Batch numbers are generated sequentially.

General ledger interface

Before you export general ledger transactions, you must set a summarization option and define the file format. The summarization options allow you to specify how the exported general ledger transactions will be organized, and the file format in which the transactions will be exported into.

To choose a summarization option, go to Settings > Finance > General. From the General ledger interface section, define the following configuration options:

Summarize exported journal entries by - Choose the summarization option for general ledger transaction exports:
- Month - One summarized journal entry per month will be exported, sorted, and summarized by GL Account, Financial entity, and where applicable, Product Code. Each summary journal entry will be dated the first day of the month and year the transactions were dated. Each journal entry line item represents a summarized amount. A separate summary journal entry will be created for each month and year the transactions are exported within the specified date range.
- Day - One summarized journal entry per transaction date will be exported, sorted, and summarized by GL Account, Financial entity, and where applicable, Product Code. Each journal entry line item represents a summarized amount. A separate summary journal entry will be created for each day the transactions are exported within the specified date range.
- Batch - Within the requested date range, this posts a journal entry for each batch that contains the batch number and a summary on a per GL account/pseudo-account basis.
- Detail - Each journal entry (debit and credit) line will be exported and organized by date, Financial entity, and then by overall journal entry in the order the transactions were processed in iMIS. The greatest amount of information is returned using this option.
Default export file format - Exported general ledger transactions will be downloaded to your computer in the selected file format:
- CSV - Useful for various accounting softwares. Each line of the file is a data record, and each record consists of one or more fields, separated by commas. This file format might need to be converted to a format your accounting software recognizes before being imported. Depending on the selected GL summarization option, the information returned in the CSV export file will vary.
- IIF - Select this option if you use QuickBooks Desktop. The file can be directly imported into the QuickBooks Desktop software. The information returned for the IIF format is organized into columns that hold direct meaning for QuickBooks.
Create separate files for each financial entity - Allows the general ledger export file to be split up by financial entity. When this option is enabled and the export is processed, several files will be downloaded to the web browser in a single zip folder. Each file contains an individual financial entity's general ledger transactions. When this option is disabled, the general ledger export will be a single file with all financial entities.

VAT setup

The VAT setup options appear if the Default organization has VAT selected as the Taxation method:

Tax based on — Lets you change the method for evaluating taxation:
- Bill to data — Applies VAT based on the Bill to contact’s location.
- Ship to / Recipient data (default) — Applies VAT based on the Ship to location. This supports point-of-sale requirements for which contacts have different Ship to addresses, or make purchases intended for others, such as a manager registering an employee at a different site.
Note: See Taxation based on Bill To versus Ship To for more information.
Display prices as — This setting lets you specify whether to display a price as VAT-inclusive or VAT-exclusive:
- VAT inclusive (default) — Users can see any VAT they are charged as part of product and event prices. Users will see the actual price they are charged at checkout.
- VAT exclusive — Users will not see any VAT they are charged as part of displayed product and event prices. The price will be labeled ex. VAT to make this clear.
Define prices as VAT inclusive (non-reversible) — When enabled, all system-defined prices for taxable products, events, shipping, and handling are considered VAT inclusive. This means that you can define products and registration fees with the gross (tax-included) amounts that you will advertise to your members and the public. Once you enable VAT-inclusive pricing, the option appears grayed out, because the setting is permanent.
Tax code values to substitute and explain 0% VAT rates (optional) — If you populate them, these optional fields help you document the reason for VAT exemptions. You can select from the existing zero-rated VAT tax codes to specify ones to globally substitute as reason codes for each of three situations:
- Contact is VAT exempt (system-wide)
- Contact is VAT registered elsewhere in EU (Order entry)
- Contact is outside of EU (Order only)
In the same way, Event VAT Rules also let you select a Substitute Tax Code for any rule that prevents taxation (see Defining VAT Rules for Events). These codes allow you to report and document tax exemptions as required.