This example shows our sample account and activity with the Posting Type of Balance Forward and Billing Level of Account. Given our determined activity (previous page), this results in either 1 or 2 printed pages (if no invoice reprints are being done). All optional pages are enabled in this example.

Page 1 of 2: Summary

The 1st page is a summary of activity listing invoices from the current period (if any). This page is optional and is only included when there has been current activity. Because this is a "balance forward" customer, activity is listed for reference only and does not reflect the payment status of the items. This means that the activity listed may be either paid or open and will not necessarily match the statement balance. Only transactions from the statement's "current" billing period are included. Transactions from prior cycles, even if they are part of past-due balances, are not listed on balance forward summaries. "Open item" accounts provide a greater level of detail and would continue to print "open" items from prior cycles; however, balance forward accounts don't.

Page 2 of 2: Statement

Our 2nd page is the main statement. This shows the beginning balance, new activity as a summary (including recent credits) and the ending balance. The aging of balances for the overall account is printed at the bottom. There is no job by job aging with the "account" billing level. The upper portion of the statement is considered a "tear-off" remittance slip. The customer can include this with their payment. The text note to the left of the aging is a "statement message." Statement messages are assigned to codes which are, in turn, assigned to customer accounts. They can be used for any purpose. It's also possible to automatically select a code based upon the customer's oldest balance.

*Balance forward accounts can carry a negative or "credit" balance. This can occur as the result of a return after a customer has paid their balances, discounts earned but not applied, or over payment. Part of the billing process involves the automated posting (apply) of credits to balances. If the customer's net credits are greater than their net debits (charges, adjustments, and finance charges), the account can wind up with a credit balance. For this reason, "open" (unapplied) credits would not typically appear on a balance forward statement; however, any payments that were not eligible for posting at time of billing might be listed individually rather than be reflected in the balance.

A Note Regarding Sort Order

As you can see, our customer has 5 jobs, including the master job (0). Job activity can be listed in either Job-Date order or Date-Job order. Sorting depends upon the "statement type" setting (Consolidated vs. Job). This setting affects any activity listing where both jobs and dates are involved.