Summary

The Refunds process is used to refund the credit balance and/or deposit amounts on UB customer accounts. Accounts that are in open (uncommitted) UB process batches (for example a New Billing batch) or Final account status cannot be processed in a Refunds batch. After customers have been processed in a UB Refunds batch the physical checks can be generated in your Accounts Payable department using the Proof List (UB> Refunds> Proof List) generated by the process.

The Generate step (UB> Refunds> Generate) is used to select the customer accounts and the balances to refund in the batch and set the transaction date of the refund transactions in the batch (UB> Refunds> Generate> Refund Date field). If you are processing multiple customer accounts in a Refunds batch, you can filter the customer accounts included in the batch by account status, deposit date, minimum credit amount, billing batch (New or Final Billing) and/or a specific fee code the account has been charged (for example, customer accounts that have been assessed Past Dues penalties). You can also filter the customer accounts by final date if you include Delete status accounts in the batch.

The Exceptions step is an optional step that displays the UB customer accounts that have been selected during the Generate step (UB> Refunds> Generate) but have not been included in the Refunds batch due to an error. A typical error that displays on the step is a customer account with a debit balance or a customer account being processed in an open batch. If the UB customer account is being processed in an open batch the batch number and process (for example, CR Cash Receipt batch number 00001-01-2019) will display on the Exceptions step.

The Select/Update step is used to select the customer accounts that will be included in the Refunds batch based on the accounts selected during the Generate step. This allows you to remove specific customer accounts from the Refunds batch. After the customer accounts have been selected and the Select/Update step has been saved, the uncommitted refund transactions will display on the customer accounts included in the Refunds batch.

The Proof List Report is generated after the customer accounts have been selected and is the report you will hand to the AP department so they can generate the refund checks.

The GL Distribution Report step is used to set the journal entry date of the journal entry generated by the Refunds batch and generate the GL Distribution Report.

Once the process is complete, the Commit step is used to commit the refund transactions on the UB customer accounts. The day the Commit step of the Refunds batch is completed is the post date of the transactions in the batch.

Step by Step

1     Create a Refunds batch (UB> Refunds).

• Open the Refunds Batches window (UB> Refunds). The Batches window will display all the open Refunds batches.
• Click the Create New Batch button to create a new batch. This will open the Create Batch window.
  • If there are open batches in the Refunds process, you can create a new batch without affecting the open batches.
• The Batch Month and Batch Year fields default to the current date and are used for reference only. The batch month and batch year do not affect the transaction or journal entry date of the transactions in the batch.
  • The transaction date of the billing is set up in the Generate step and the fiscal period the transactions are posted to is determined by the Journal Entry Date entered when creating the GL Distribution Report in UB> Refunds> GL Distribution.
• Click Create to create the new Refunds batch.

2     Open the Batch Overview page.

• The Batch Overview page provides a general overview of the selected batch.
• The left navigation menu displays all the steps in the Refunds process.
• In the main section you'll see information about batch steps that are currently processing, next available batch steps, and the last completed batch step.
  • Batch steps that are currently processing will display a blue indicator bar to alert you that the step has not yet completed.
  • Once the preceding batch step is complete, the next available batch steps will be enabled and you can select the next step you would like to run.
    • While some batch steps are optional, any batch step that includes the Required tag   must be completed before the batch is allowed to proceed through to the Commit step.
• The Batch Outputs section on the right will display any reports or exports that have already been generated in the Refunds process.

3     Generate the refunds.

• The Generate step is used to select the customer accounts you would like to include in the batch and the balances that will be refunded.
• Open the Generate/Refunds window (UB> Refunds> Generate).
• Select how you would like to select customers in the Setup drop-down menu.
  • Select List Multiple Accounts if you want to process refund checks on more than one account at a time.
  • Select Accounts if you want to include only selected customer accounts in the batch. Select the customers to include in the Refunds batch in the Account Number field.
  • Select List By Billing Batch in order to select customer accounts by a committed New or Final billing batch using the Batch Number field. This option is used to select customer accounts that have been finaled.
• Select which transactions you would like to refund in the Refund Type drop-down menu.
  • Select Deposits to refund customer deposits.
    • If a customer account in the Refunds batch has a positive balance (owes money on their UB account), the deposit amount will be applied to their account balance first. For example, if a UB customer account has a balance of $15 and a deposit of $50, $15 of the deposit will be applied to the customer account balance and the Refunds process will generate a refund check for $35 ($50 deposit - $15 account balance).
  • Select Credit to refund customer accounts with credit balances. This option will ignore the deposit amount on the customer accounts.
  • Select Deposits & Credits to refund both customer deposits and credit balances.
• The Refund Date field is used to enter the transaction date of the refund transactions processed in the batch.
  • The Refund Date field will default to the current date.
• Enter an amount in the Minimum Credit Amount field to exclude all refunds from the batch that are equal to or less than a specific amount. Some Springbrook customers enter $1.00 in this field so they do not create refund checks less than $1.
• Select the deposit amount to be refunded in the Apply drop-down menu.
  • Select Full Deposit if the entire deposit amount should be refunded.
  • Select Before Good Standing Date if you would like to use the Good Standing section to select the deposit amounts on the customer accounts to include in the batch.
• The Account Number field is used to include selected UB customer accounts in the Refunds batch. This field is only enabled if you select Select Accounts in the Setup drop-down menu.
  • Click the Account Number field label to select the UB customer accounts from a list.
• Click on the Batch Number field label to select the customer accounts to be included in the batch by committed billing batch. This will open a window listing the committed New and Final billing batches.
  • This field will only be enabled if List By Billing Batch is selected in the Setup drop-down menu.
• Select the statuses of the accounts you would like to include in the batch in the Account Status field.
  • This field will only be enabled if List Multiple Accounts is selected in the Setup drop-down menu.
  • If you include Delete status accounts in the batch, the Final Date From and Final Date To filter fields will be enabled.
  • A final status toggle is not included in the Account Status field because final status accounts cannot be included in a refunds batch. If the final status account is part of a final billing batch, commit the final billing batch or remove the account from the batch and then process the refund.
• The Deposit Date From and Deposit Date To fields are used to filter the accounts included in the Refunds batch by the date a deposit was applied to a customer account.
  • These fields will not be enabled if Credits is selected in the Refund Type drop-down menu.
  • You can view the transaction date of a deposit on the Account Master Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Account> History tab> Select Deposit History from the drop-down menu> Expand the deposit fee code> Transaction Date column).
• The Final Date From and Final Date To fields are used to filter the accounts included in the Refunds batch by the date the account was finaled.
  • You can view the final date of a customer in UB> Maintenance> Account> Account tab> Account sub-tab> General section> Final Date field.
• Check the Factor Interest toggle to accrue interest on customer deposits. This toggle will only be enabled when you include deposits in the Refunds batch (Deposits or Deposits & Credits is selected in the Refund Type drop-down menu).
  • Some organizations refund the interest that has accumulated on deposit amounts. The factor interest toggle allows you to calculate the interest on a deposit amount and refund that amount. The interest will be calculated using the interest rate attached to the deposit fee code used to generate the deposit, and will use the GL accounts attached to the INT fee code to generate the interest rate journal entry. Interest will be calculated starting at the deposit date on the deposit to the refund date (Refund Date field on the Generate window).
  • The deposit will calculate the interest based on the interest rate attached to the deposit fee code. The interest rate is attached to a deposit fee code using the Fee code Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Fee Code> Percent Amount field).
  • The GL account numbers used when factoring interest will be pulled from the INT fee code (UB> Maintenance> Fee Code). The process will use the revenue and cash account attached to the INT fee code to record the increase in interest (debit revenue, credit cash). The interest will increase the deposit amount.
  • When factoring interest the process uses the transaction date of the deposit. You can view the transaction date of the deposit in the History tab of the Account Master Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Account> History tab> Select Deposit History in the drop-down at the top of the tab). The deposit date is entered when payment on the deposit. If the deposit is a cash deposit, the deposit date is the receipt date on the receipt that created the cash deposit.
• Check the Suppress refund check toggle to suppress the refund checks generated in the batch. This option is generally used when refunding deposits and using the refunded deposit amount to reduce the account balance rather than create a refund check. When the Refunds Proof List is generated no check amount will display on the report.
• Check the Default payee information toggle if you would like the customer name and address to populate on the Proof List (UB> Refunds> Proof List) and Select/Update window (UB> Refunds> Select/Update> Payee Information section). If you are handing the Refunds Proof List Report to the Accounts Payable department to process the AP checks, you may want to check this toggle to include the customer name and address on the proof list so the AP department knows who to make the checks out to and where to send them. The customer name and address will be pulled from the address on the customer account (UB> Maintenance> Account> People tab> Customer tab> Contact Information section).
  • If you do not check this toggle the Select/Update window will not populate with the customer account information and the Proof List Report will only display the payee information if payee information is manually entered on the Select/Update window (UB> Refunds> Select/Update> Select a customer account> Payee Information section).
• The Good Standing section allows you to remove accounts from the batch that have been charged a specific fee code during a period of time.
  • The Good Standing section will not be enabled if Select Accounts is selected in the Setup drop-down menu.
  • Enter a date in the Since field. This is the date the filter will begin searching for a transaction that is attached to the selected fee codes. For example, if you would like to remove all UB customer accounts that have been charged a late fee in the last three months and it is 12/31/21, enter 09/30/21 in the Since field. All customer accounts that have been charged the fee code selected in the Fee Codes field since 09/30/21 will not be included in the batch. If the customer was charged the late fee prior to 09/30/21, they will be included in the Refunds batch.
  • Select the fee codes to filter the customer accounts that are included in the Refunds batch. This field is used in conjunction with the Since field. For example, if you would like to exclude UB customer accounts that have been charged the Past Due late fee code LATE, select the LATE fee code.
    • Click the toggle next to the field title to select or deselect all the displayed fee codes.
• Click the Submit button to generate the refunds batch.
• If you have not set a refunds adjustment type, you will receive an error message when you try to save the Select step.
  • Refund adjustment types are set up in the Setup window (UB> Utilities> Setup> General tab> Check Refund Adjustment Type field).

4     View the exceptions and errors generated on the Refunds batch. This is an optional step.

• The Exceptions step of the Refunds process displays why UB customer accounts selected during the Generate step have not been included in the Refunds batch.
• Open the Exceptions/Refunds window (UB> Refunds> Exceptions).
• Here is a list of common exceptions and their solutions.
  • “Found uncommitted history in system”
    • The most common reason a customer account is not included in a Refunds batch is that the customer is part of an uncommitted batch. To process the customer in the Refunds batch, you can either commit the batch or remove the customer from it. The process and batch number of the open batch will display on the Exception step.
  • “There are no Credit/Deposit amounts to apply”
    • This exception will display if there is no balance forward or deposits on the account.
    • This exception message will display the same even if deposits or credit balances were not included in the Refunds batch.
• If you fix some of the errors that display on the Exceptions step, you will have to regenerate the Refunds batch in UB> Refunds to include the modified UB customer accounts in the batch.

5     Select the generated customer accounts to include in the Refunds batch and modify the payee information. This is a required step.

• Open the Select Update/Refunds window (UB> Refunds> Select/Update).
• Check the Selected toggle of each customer account you would like to include the refunds batch.
• The Payee Information section is used to enter the information that should display on the refund check. Information entered into these fields will display on the Refunds Proof List (UB> Refunds> Proof List). If you checked the Default Payee Information toggle on the Generate window (UB> Refunds> Generate) the contact information of the customer account will display in the Payee Information section and this information will be included on the Refunds Proof List.
  • Select a customer account in the left section of the window and enter the information you would like to display on the check in the Payee Information section.
• Click the Submit button when complete.
  • Any UB customer accounts that were not selected will be removed from the batch. If you return to the Select step, the Select Update window will only display UB customer accounts that were selected.
• The uncommitted refund transactions will display on the customer accounts after the Select/Update step has been completed. Before this step is complete the uncommitted transactions will not display on the customer account (UB> Maintenance> Account> History tab).

6     Print a proof list.

• Open the Proof List/Refunds window (UB> Refunds> Proof List).
• Check the Print Mailing Address toggle to include the customer mailing address data in the report.
• Once the required report settings have been specified, click the Print button   to print your report.
• Click the options arrow on the right side of the Print button to see other print options.
  • Select Send PDF to Job Viewer to print the report in the default Springbrook format.
  • Select Send Excel to Job Viewer to export the report data to an Excel spreadsheet as unformatted data.
  • Select Send Excel (Formatted) to Job Viewer to export the report data to an Excel spreadsheet that includes much of the Springbrook formatting found on the printed version of the report.
• Click the Schedule icon next to the Print button in order to schedule the report to generate at a later date and time.
  • Enter a Date and Time to generate the report and click SUBMIT.
• The Refunds Proof List report will display the customer name, customer number, service address, customer mailing address, beginning balance, deposit, interest, apply, refund, transfer and check.
  • The Proof List will display the payee name and address if you checked the Default Payee Information toggle on the Generate step (UB> Refunds> Generate) or manually entered payee information into the Payee Information section on the Select/Update step (UB> Refunds> Select/Update). This allows you to include the check information on the Proof List if the Accounts Payable department generates the refund checks based on the Proof List.
  • The Check column will display the amount of the refund checks. If you checked the Suppress Refund Check toggle during the Generate step (UB> Refunds> Generate), no amount will display in the Check column.
• Review the proof list for accuracy. Once the transactions have been committed, they cannot be rolled back.

7     Print a GL Distribution list.

• The GL Distribution Report will display the journal entry generated by the Refunds process.
• Select GL Distribution from the Refunds menu. This will open the GL Distribution Report window.
• Enter the journal entry date in the Journal Entry field. The journal entry date will determine which fiscal period and fiscal year the journal entry created by the Refunds process is posted to.
  • The Fiscal Period and Fiscal Year fields will populate based on the journal entry date. The fiscal period and fiscal year is calculated based on the Fiscal Year and Fiscal Period Starts fields on the System Setup window (SS> Utilities> System Setup> Organization tab).
• Select a report detail and sort option in the Report Type drop-down menu.
  • The summary report will only display the net effect on the general ledger accounts. If transaction line items create a wash on a general ledger account (a GL account is debited and credited for the same amount), that general ledger account will not display on the report. The summary report will display the general ledger account number, general ledger account description, debit amount, and credit amount.
  • The detail report will display every line item of the journal entry, not just the net effect. The detail report will display the account number, customer number, utility billing service number, special charge code, general ledger account description, debit amount and credit amount.
  • Group the report by transaction type if you would like the journal entry line items to be grouped by adjustment payment, interest (if you have factored interest on the deposit amounts), and refund amounts. This option is helpful if you are factoring interest on deposit amounts because it groups the journal entries so they are easier to understand.
  • The summary report debit and credit report total amounts may not balance between the summary by GL account report and the summary by transaction type report because the summary report only displays the net effect on the general ledger account in a grouping. Since the two summary reports group the general ledger accounts differently, certain transactions may not wash in both reports. The detail report credit and debit report total amounts will always balance between the two reports.
  • Once a Report Type is selected for a GL Distribution report, that report type will be automatically set as the default for all UB GL Distribution reports.
• Once the required report settings have been specified, click the Print button   to print your report.
• Click the options arrow on the right side of the Print button to see other print options.
  • Select Send PDF to Job Viewer to print the report in the default Springbrook format.
  • Select Send Excel to Job Viewer to export the report data to an Excel spreadsheet as unformatted data.
  • Select Send Excel (Formatted) to Job Viewer to export the report data to an Excel spreadsheet that includes much of the Springbrook formatting found on the printed version of the report.
• Click the Schedule icon   next to the Print button in order to schedule the report to generate at a later date and time.
  • Enter a Date and Time to generate the report and click SUBMIT.
• Review the journal entry and GL accounts used in the transaction for accuracy.
• The journal entry created to refund the credit balance of a customer account is the following:

• The GL Type attached to the Refunds adjustment type will affect the journal entry generated by the process. The Refunds adjustment type is defined in the Setup window (UB> Utilities> Setup> General tab> Check Refund Adjustment Type field). If the refund adjustment type is set up as a bill type, the revenue account will be credited. If the refund adjustment type is set up as a cash type, the cash account will be credited.
• If you did not run the Redistribute Credits process (UB> Adjustment and Fees> Redistribute Credits), there may be service rates on the customer accounts with a positive balance. Those service rates and fee codes will be reversed by debiting the cash or revenue account on the service rate or fee code, and crediting the AR account.

• The journal entry created to refund the deposit on a customer account is the following:

• The deposit amount is refunded by reversing the deposit amount, crediting a service rate on the customer account for the deposit amount, and then refunding the deposit amount using the service rate on the customer account.
  • If you view the GL Distribution Report in summary format, you will only see the journal entry line item to reverse the deposit amount since the other two transactions result in a wash (the service rate is credited and debited for the same amount).
• Refunding a deposit will create three separate line items on the History tab of the Account Master Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Account> History tab). The refund process will create a refund transaction to refund the deposit amount, an adjustment transaction to apply the deposit amount to a service rate on the account, and an adjustment transaction for the refund check amount.

• The following journal entry will be created by the refunds process if you are factoring interest on deposit amounts:

• The journal entry created by the refunds process will record the interest amount, reverse the deposit amount (which included the factored interest), move the deposit amount to a service rate on the customer account and then refund the deposit and interest amount.
• Factoring interest and then refunding the deposit will create four separate line items on the History tab of the Account Master Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Account> History tab). The process will create an interest transaction to record the interest, a refund transaction to refund the deposit amount, an adjustment transaction to apply the deposit amount to a service rate on the account, and an adjustment transaction for the refund check amount.

• If you would like to recreate the GL Distribution Report after the batch has been committed, you can create a Transaction by Date Report (UB> Reports> Transaction by Date) for the committed Refunds batch. Select the committed batch (UB> Reports> Transaction by Date> Batch Number field), include all cycles, and make sure the date filter includes all of the transactions in the batch.

8     Commit the refunds.

• Select Commit from the Refunds menu. This will open the Commit Refunds window.
• If you use the Accounts Payable module, the Batch Number field will display the AP Invoice batch created by the Refunds process.
  • The AP Invoices batch entered in the Batch Number field will be created and committed by the Refunds process. Use the AP module Computer Checks process (AP> Computer Checks) to create the refund checks after committing the Refunds batch.
  • The AP History record created when the Refunds batch is committed will include a Description field that includes the customer number, customer sequence, and service address in the following format: "Refund Check cust_no-cust_seq, service address"
• Click the Commit button to commit the Refunds batch. You can view the progress of the Proof List on the Job Viewer window.
• This will post the adjustment transactions to each customer account in the Refunds batch.