Overview

The balance transfer transaction is used to record balance transfers between fishermen and tenders, such as the transfer of owed money. Because the net result of these transactions increases the amount owed to one vendor and decreases the amount owed to another vendor simultaneously, it has no financial impact on the company and therefore does not integrate with the host system.

Prerequisites

Required Prerequisites

Before entering a balance transfer transaction, users must complete the following:

Vendor Setup

Optional Prerequisites

Attributes Setup for Fisherman - Balance Transfer Transaction

Understanding the data flow

A Balance Transfer records activities between fishermen and tenders where each line item on the transaction represents a single balance transfer. When the transaction status is changed to “Ready to Post,” each line item will create two corresponding settlement transactions in NorthScope: one to record the “Transfer Balance From,” and one to record the “Transfer Balance To” sides of the balance transfer. Because these have no financial impact on the company, the transactions do not integrate with the host system.

To view the data flow of Balance Transfer transactions, click here.

Step 1: Entering the Transaction in NorthScope

Entering a new transaction

From NorthScope, expand the Purchasing Module on the navigation menu and select "Transactions". This will open the Purchasing Transaction List View, which displays all Adjustment, Balance Transfer, and Cash Receipt purchasing transactions with a status of New or Approved.

Click the "New" icon in the header toolbar and select "Balance Transfer" to open a blank record view.

Completing the header fields

Date: Enter the transaction date. The date defaults to the current date but can be edited.
Doc No: Enter a number to identify the transaction. While this field is not required, if entered, it must be unique by transaction type.
Status: This field is to select the status from the following options:
- New - This is the default.
- Approved - Used when there is a two-step process for finalizing transactions. Setting the status to “Approved” disables all editable fields except Status.
- Ready to Post - Used when the user is ready to post the transaction. Setting the status to “Ready to Post” disables all editable fields including status.

Adding line items

Click New from the grid toolbar to add blank rows for data entry. By default clicking New creates 5 blank rows. Complete the data entry by adding one line item for each transfer.

Note: Clicking New from the grid toolbar saves the transaction.

Note: Additional lines can be added by clicking New grid toolbar icon.

Required line item fields

Description: Enter the description for the balance transfer (e.g. Skiff, Supplies, etc.). This field defaults to blank but is required in order to save the line item. Note: New line items on these transactions, without a Description, will not be saved.
Price: Enter the price for the line item. Prices must be greater than 0.
Extended: This field is read-only and displays the product of the price per UOM and the quantity.
Quantity: This field defaults to 1 and must be greater than 0.
Transfer Balance From - Debit: Select the fisherman or tender from which the line item balance owed is being transferred. The lookup contains all active vendors with a Vendor Type of Fisherman, Tender, or Fisherman & Tender.
Transfer Balance To - Credit: Select the fisherman or tender to which the line item balance owed is being transferred. This lookup contains all active vendors with a Vendor Type of Fisherman, Tender, or Fisherman & Tender. The Transfer Balance To vendor cannot be the same as the Transfer Balance From vendor.

Optional line item fields

UOM: This field displays a drop-down menu for the user to select the unit of measure for the line item price and quantity to be based on. The drop-down menu displays all active units of measure in alphabetically order. This field defaults to the Purchasing Preference selection for "Default Fishing UOM", if no default preference is set, or the UOM is inactive, new transaction lines will not default a UOM value. This field can be edited while the transaction is set to a status of 'New'.

Assigning Attributes (Optional)

The Attributes tab on the transaction will include all user-defined Attributes assigned to the Fisherman - Balance Transfer Transaction.

To setup Attributes for the Fisherman - Balance Transfer Transaction, navigate to Company → Attributes → Fisherman → Transactions → Balance Transfer.

Completing the Properties tab fields

Created By: Displays the name of the user who created the record. This field is for informational use only and cannot be edited.
Created Date: Displays the date and time when the record was created. This field is for informational use only and cannot be edited.
Currency ID: Displays the Currency ID, and defaults to the home currency. This field is is editable but is disabled when line items exist for the transaction.
GL Date: Displays the GL date of the transaction. This field is editable, however if the GL date is not manually entered, it defaults to the transaction date when the transaction is saved as Approved or Ready to Post.
Last Updated: Displays the date and time when the transaction was updated the most recently. This field is for informational use only and cannot be edited.
Last User: Displays the name of the user who updated the record the most recently. This field is for informational use only and cannot be edited.
Posted Date: Displays the date and time the transaction was posted. This field is for informational use only and cannot be edited.
Transaction Class: Displays the transaction class, which is 'Default' for Balance Transfer type transactions. This field is for informational use only and cannot be edited.

Step 2: Finalizing the Transaction in NorthScope

Changes can be made to a transaction until it is finalized. To finalize a transaction, the user will need to change the status to “Ready to Post”. In some companies, posting is a two-step process where transaction(s) are “Approved” by one person and posted by another.

Approving the transaction

This step is optional and is used for companies that require a two-step process where there the person who approves the transaction cannot be the same person that posts the transaction.

To approve a transaction open it from the list view, change the status to “Approved”, and click the “Save” icon on the header toolbar. In addition to the validations performed each time the “Save” icon is clicked, an additional validation is performed:

Ensures there is at least one valid line item on the transaction.
Ensures the Date resides within a valid fiscal period as determined by the host system.
Ensures the required Attribute values have been entered.

Once the status has been successfully updated to “Approved”, all the editable fields, with the exception of status, will be disabled.

Finalizing the transaction

When the transaction is ready to be finalized, the user must open it and change the status to “Ready to Post” and save the transaction. Setting the balance transfer to “Ready to Post” does the following:

Validates the same conditions as the approval status and locks down all editable fields including status
Updates the transaction status to Posted and removes it from the list view
Creates the NorthScope Settlement transactions

Note: Because this transaction has no financial impact to the company, no accrual entry is made to the general ledger.

Step 3: Reviewing in NorthScope

Once Step 2 is complete, the following events will happen in NorthScope:

The balance transfer(s) set to “Ready to Post” will automatically update to “Posted” and will no longer be visible in the Purchasing Transaction List view.
Settlement Transactions will be added for each line item on the transaction.

The “Transfer Balance From” Vendor will become the “Due From” Vendor in the settlement transaction.
The “Transfer Balance To” Vendor will become the “Owed to” Vendor in the settlement transaction.