Managing A Booking
The flow works as follows.
1. Create the Booking.
2. Add the products that the customer is billed for.
Products can be added exclusive or inclusive of tax.
Each product has a Name, detailed description (optional but can be useful to highlight what is included in a Package etc.), tax rate (tax rates are imported from the connected Xero account), Account Code (Account Codes are imported from connected Xero account), Tracking Code (Tracking Codes are imported from connected Xero account), Quantity and Unit Price.
3. Add your Payment Plan / Payment Schedules to the Booking.
A Payment Plan is a collection of Payment Schedules (you might have a different Plan for Weddings compared to Corporate Events). You set them up in settings, this is covered in the training videos.
Payment Schedules specify on what date a payment is due and can include an auto notification to remind a customer that a payment is due in the next X days.
Recording Payments for events booked a long time out (1, 2, etc. years in advance):
When the payments are recorded, BriteBiz will record the Payment in Xero as a Prepayment (unreconciled). These prepayments will be assigned to an Account Code (usually a Current Liability Code so that the payment is put on the Balance Sheet) and will have a tax rate, so that tax can be paid when the payment is received. If no tax is due when the payment is received, the tax rate can be 0%. You can set a default for the Account Code and tax rate, so they don't have to be entered on each payment.
Once all payments have been received or the Booking is complete, the invoice is created in BriteBiz and sent to Xero. The products on the booking will be the line items on the Invoice. The prepayments on the booking will be automatically allocated to the invoice which will leave the invoice with a zero balance (if all payments have been received).
When the prepayments are allocated to the invoice, the revenue recorded against the Prepayments Account code will be moved to the Sales Account Codes (the invoice line items), so this moves the money recorded on the Balance Sheet to the P&L.
Corporate or Events that are booked with a short lead in time:
You create the Invoice at the time of booking as corporate customers will require an invoice. When Payments are recorded, they will be created in Xero as a payment on the Invoice (there is no need to use a prepayment in this case).
Bank Reconciliation:
You will do your Bank reconciliation in Xero as normal. All Invoice Payments and Prepayments recorded can be matched against items from your Bank statement. When BriteBiz records a Payment or Prepayment, it is always marked as not reconciled.
Each night, BriteBiz will do a Payments sync (updated payments are imported from Xero) and will mark any payments in BriteBiz as reconciled if they have been reconciled in Xero. Not reconciled payments in BriteBiz are marked with an (!) exclamation mark and Reconciled Payments are marked with a green tick. You can also manually pull payments in. The flow table on the support page I sent gives more details. This flow is also covered in the training videos.
Notes:
To confirm, if the booking doesn't have an invoice, payments will be recorded in Xero as Prepayments. If a booking has an unpaid invoice, Payment will be recorded directly against the invoice.
BriteBiz is built in a very unique way for venue and event companies. Prepayments are used as you can't edit an invoice in Xero once a Payment has been applied.
You can also create multiple Invoices on a BriteBiz Booking, as there will be times when additional items are ordered after an invoice is fully paid.
Full training video here - training videos.
FAQ Section
Balance Sheet Prepayment By Year
Question - I want a different Prepayment Balance visible in the Balance Sheet for each year. How do I set this up?
Answer - The best way to do this is to set up a different payment plan for each year and and apply that payment plan to bookings for that year. You will be able to select different prepayment codes for each year.
Bank/Stripe Fees
Question - When payments come into Xero, they are less than the full amount receivable due to fees. How do I manage this?
Answer - You should talk to your accountant about this. Most businesses use the adjustment feature and write off the difference as bank fees.
Editing Invoice With Payments Attached
Question - I have raised an invoice in BriteBiz, with payments attached. How can I edit the invoice?
Answer - Xero does not allow you to edit an invoice once there are payments allocated to it. To edit the invoice, you must click on each of the payments in Xero and unallocate them in Xero by clicking on the Red X. Once you have this done, click on the sync with Xero button on the invoice in BriteBiz. This will unallocate all payments. You can then edit the invoice and reallocate the payments.
Cutoff Date for Payments
Question - We have payments in Xero from prior to using BriteBiz. What do I do?
Answer - As in the training videos, we recommend that you choose a cut-off date. Let's say 1st February. We recommend that you add a negative line item for all payments received prior to February 1st, and then record payments as normal in BriteBiz from February 1st. This will ensure that you are not double-accounting for payments.
