Creating an Invoice

HawkSoft enables you to create, print, and email invoices for your customer, including invoices for premium, taxes, and other fees. Tracking invoices in HawkSoft, enables your agency to report on customer receivables balances, as well as payables balances for money owed to the carrier.

To create a customer invoice

Follow the steps below to create a customer invoice for agency bill policies. Once an invoice is created, HawkSoft creates a customer receivables balance, as well as a payables balance for money owed to the carrier.

Retrieve the client, and then select the policy you are invoicing.
Click Action, and then select one item in each of the first three lists to describe what prompted this transaction.
Select Trust Accounting > Create Invoice.

You can click the Invoice button from the HawkSoft toolbar rather than use the Action menu. Your actions are recorded on a log note, just as they are when using the Action menu.

The New Invoice window opens.

If you need to stop working on an invoice before it's complete, you can use the Save as Draft button to save your progress without finalizing the invoice, so you can come back to it later. You can enter a log when saving the draft, to remind yourself of where you left off.

You can return to the draft by selecting Accounting > Transaction List in the Action Menu, and double clicking on the invoice, which will have a Status of "Draft".
Verify the Bill To, Date and Due Date of the invoice.

The Date defaults to today's date. The default due date is set in Trust Accounting Settings.
Leave the Invoice # as TBA.

HawkSoft generates an invoice number when you finish creating the invoice.
Use the Search Agents field to verify that the correct agent is associated with this invoice.
Select an invoice line Item from the drop-down.

You can also type in an Invoice Item name. As you type in the field, HawkSoft will filter the drop-down selection, allowing you to select any matching pre-defined Invoice Items.

This type-along filtering is also available when entering line item Descriptions and split-detail Descriptions.

This line item tells HawkSoft how to report and process the invoice, and the Item options are configured by your administrator or bookkeeper. For steps on creating or editing line items, see Trust Accounting Settings.
Verify the Policy matches the policy you are invoicing.

HawkSoft defaults to the currently selected policy.
The Description defaults to the description relevant to the selected Item. You can type or select a different Description from the drop-down to provide details on the invoice.

Predefined descriptions, including the default selection, are configured by your administrator or bookkeeper in Trust Accounting Settings.
Enter the invoice Amount.

OR
Enter a Split Detail Line Item.
The Split Detail feature enables you to break down a single invoice item into related components, such as premium, taxes, and fees for further clarification for your customer. The customer invoice will display the breakdown of the item.
1. Click Split Detail.
  
  The Invoice Split Detail dialog opens.
2. Select the first Description and Amount.
3. Continue entering a new Description and Amount for each split detail on this line item.
4. Click OK.
The Amount will be grayed out. To edit the amount, click on Split Detail again.
Conditional: If you are retaining commissions, type the retained commission amount into in the Retained field.

OR

Click the Calculator button to launch the Retained Commission Calculator dialog.
1. Verify the Commissionable Premium is correct.
  
  Commissionable premium defaults to the Amount.
2. Enter the Commission %.
  
  HawkSoft calculates the Retained amount automatically.
  
  OR
  
  Enter the Retained amount.
  
  HawkSoft calculates the Commission % automatically.
3. Click Save to save the retained amount and return to the invoice.
  
  If the Amount changes after calculating the retained commission, HawkSoft will update the Commission % in the calculator as needed. Retained will not be changed.
  
  You can re-calculate the retained commission by clicking the Calculator button to re-open the Retained Commission Calculator.
Add an additional Item(s) as needed.

A new blank line item is added each time you select an item. You can add any number of line items.

To remove a line item you do not need, click the button at the end of that line.
Verify the invoice Total.
Optional: Add a Printed Comment to appear on the invoice.

Comments appear on the printed invoice and are seen by the customer.

You can click the down arrow in the Printed Comment field and select a pre-defined printed comment created by your agency administrator.
Optional: Add a Memo.

This is for internal use and will not print on the invoice.

Only check the Do not transfer to QuickBooks box when instructed by your Bookkeeper.
Optional: If you want to print the invoice after creating it, check the Print box.

When checked, the invoice opens as a PDF in a new window, with the print dialog already opened. Confirm the correct printer and print settings, then click "Print".
Optional: If you want to email the invoice after creating it, check the Email box.

An "Attachments Queued for Email" pane will then appear on the Action Menu, listing the transaction(s) to send. From there, click Send Now to draft the email immediately, Cancel Email to cancel it, or continue working in the Action Menu — HawkSoft will open the email dialog when you click Finish.
Click Save Invoice.

The Created Invoice dialog opens.
Click Close Window.
Click Finish in the Action Menu.

The Finalize Log dialog opens.
Complete the rest of the log note, and add any task(s) as desired.

See Creating a Log Notefor more information, and see Creating a Task for steps on creating tasks.
Click Save Log.

The invoice is recorded on the Trust Accounting tab. In addition, a pdf version of the invoice is added to the Attachments tab and linked to the Log Note. For information on accessing and working with the newly attached invoice, see Attachments Overview.