Add a Finance Company

1. Access the Accounts area.

   To access Accounts from the Home screen, do one of the following:

   • Click Accounts on the navigation panel.
   • Click Areas > Accounts on the menubar.
   • Click the down arrow next to Home on the options bar and select Accounts.
   • Click the Locate button on the options bar.

   To access Accounts from another area of the program, do one of the following:

   • Click Home > Accounts on the menubar.
   • Click the down arrow next to Home on the options bar and select Accounts.
   • Click Locate on the options bar.
2. Select Finance Company in the Locate Account dropdown menu of the Account Locate screen.
3. Do one of the following:
   • Click the Add button next to the list.
   • Click New on the options bar and select Finance Company.
   • Click File > New > Finance Company from the menubar.
   • With focus on the list, press [Insert] on your keyboard.
   • Press [Ctrl]+N.
4. The Add Finance Company Account screen displays. Enter a Prefix, business Name, and Suffix. For information on capitalization settings that may be applied to proper names automatically, click here.
5. Click the Create Account Name/Code button to generate an account name and code automatically.
6. Click in the large field in the Address/Phone Number section. Enter the Street, City, State, and County in the highlighted fields that display.

7. The Country defaults to United States of America.
8. Optionally enter a Description for the address, or select a new Description from the dropdown menu.
   
   Note: Entering a description might not be an option, depending on how your agency has set up address descriptions. See Contact Description Configuration for more information.
9. In the Phone Numbers/Website section, tab to or click in the Number field and enter the number.
   
   For international phone numbers, tab to or click in the Number field. Click on Country and select the correct country from the dropdown menu.

Enter the remainder of the phone number in the field.

Note: See Telephone Country Codes Configuration for instructions on adding, editing, or removing a country code.

11. If applicable, click in or tab to the Ext field and enter the extension.
12. Optionally enter a Description of the phone number (e.g., Office or Cell)
13. Repeat steps 10 - 12 to enter a Fax number.
14. Enter the address of the finance company's Website if applicable.
    
    Note: To view the finance company's website from this screen, click the Internet button to the right of the Website field. The web page displays in your browser.
15. Enter details for the Primary Contact. This creates an Individual contact. If you do not enter these details, the system creates a Business contact using the Account information above.
16. You can assign Structure information to the account. Click the Selected radio button and choose the Agency, Branch, Department, and Profit center to which this account belongs. Only users with access to that structure can see the account.
17. Optionally add Comments.
18. You can click Finish or press [Enter] to end the workflow at this point. However, it is advisable to click Detail and add the rest of the finance company information at this time.
    
    Click Cancel or press [Esc] to exit the workflow without saving the information. You are prompted, "Do you wish to discard changes?" Click Yes.
    
    Click Detail to add more information. Continue to step 19.
    
    If you click Finish or Detail, the system checks to ensure that a similar account does not already exist in the system. If this check finds a similar or duplicate account, it warns you. See Duplicate Accounts Search for more information.

19. The Finance Company Detail screen displays. The Account section displays the Account name and Lookup code.
    
    The Do not purge checkbox indicates whether attachments for this account are exempt from the Attachment Purge utility. When this checkbox is selected, the account’s attachments are excluded from the purge even if they meet the purge criteria.
    
    The screen contains these tabs:

    • Account

      The Account tab contains the following sections:

      • Address
        1. Click in the large field in the Address/Phone Number section. Enter the Street, City, State/Province, and County (if applicable) in the highlighted fields that display.
        2. Enter the ZIP/Postal code, or click the lookup button to look up the code.
           1. Make a selection from the Search where dropdown to indicate your preferred search method.

              • If you selected ZIP Code/Postal Code or City:

              • 1. Select Begins with or Contains from the second dropdown.
                2. Enter at least one character of the desired zip code or city and click Locate or press [Enter]. If more than 500 results are found, you must enter more than one character.
              • If you selected State Code or Province Code, the second dropdown defaults to Equals and cannot be changed. Enter the two-character abbreviation for the state/province and click Find or press [Enter].
           2. Click to highlight the appropriate zip code in the list and click OK or press [Enter].
        3. Optionally enter a Description for the address, or select a new Description from the dropdown menu.
           
           Note: Entering a description imight not be an option, depending on how your agency has set up address descriptions. See Contact Description Configuration for more information.
        4. Enter a Site ID if applicable.
           
           Note: Site IDs allow you to enter specific address location numbers. This user-defined number is available throughout the system for servicing, billing, and reporting purposes.
      • Phone Numbers/Website
        1. In the Phone Numbers/Website section, tab to or click in the Number field and enter the number.
           
           For international phone numbers, tab to or click in the Number field. Click on Country and select the correct country from the dropdown menu.

        

        

        Enter the remainder of the phone number in the field.
        
        Note: See Telephone Country Codes Configuration for instructions on adding, editing, or removing a country code.

        2. If applicable, click in or tab to the Ext field and enter the extension.
        3. Optionally enter a Description of the phone number (e.g., Office or Cell).
        4. Repeat steps a - c to enter a Fax number.
        5. Enter the finance company's Website address if applicable.
           
           Note: To view the finance company's website from this screen, click the Internet button to the right of the Website field. The web page displays in your browser.
      • Structure

        You can optionally associate this account to specific structure combinations. Only employees with access to those structures can view the account. You can associate the account to multiple structures:
        

        1. In the Structure section, click the Selected radio button.
        2. Click the Add button.
        3. Select the Agency, Branch, Department, and Profit center and click Locate. The structure displays in the list. If you leave any selections set at All, the list displays all possible combinations.
        4. Select the checkbox beside each structure combination you want to associate to the account. Click Select All to choose all combinations.
        5. Click Add to associate the selected structures with the account and select more combinations to associate.
           
           Click Finish to associate the selected structures and return to the account's detail screen.
           
           Click Cancel to discard changes and return to the detail screen.
      • Comments

        Add comments in this section.

    • Billing

      This tab allows you to select a statement format and invoice setup for this account. It also enables you to specify whether service charges should be applied to overdue balances for this account.

      1. Optionally make a selection in the Invoice page break dropdown to indicate where you would like the page breaks to occur when the finance company's invoices print:
         
         • Client: This creates one invoice for the account.
         • Item: This creates a separate invoice for each item.
         • Policy: This creates a separate invoice for each policy.
      2. To set a specific invoice layout as the default layout for this account, choose an Invoice layout from the dropdown menu. For instructions on adding an invoice layout, see Invoice Layout.
      3. Select the Apply late charges on overdue balances checkbox if the account should be subject to fees for late payments.
      4. Indicate where you would like the Statement page break to occur:
         
         • Account
         • Contact
      5. To set a specific statement layout as the default layout for this account, choose a Statement layout from the dropdown menu. For instructions on adding a statement layout, see Statement Layouts.
    • Identification Numbers

      Add, edit, or delete identification numbers and related information for the finance company.

      Note: To include inactive Identification Numbers in the list, click the Include Inactive link label in the header.

      • Add an Identification Number
        1. Click the Add button to the left of the list, or press [Insert] with focus on the list.
        2. The Add Identification Number pop-up window displays. Choose the identification number Type.
        3. The Description populates automatically, but you may edit it if necessary.
        4. Enter the Identification Number.
        5. Enter the Rating if applicable.
        6. Enter an Expiration Date or select a date from the dropdown calendar if applicable.
        7. Select a State/Province and Country if applicable
        8. Use the Status radio buttons to indicate whether the number is Active or Inactive.
        9. Click Add to add another identification number. When you have added all numbers, click Finish.
      • Edit an Identification Number
        1. Click to highlight the identification number.
        2. Do one of the following:
        • Click the Edit button to the left of the list.
        • Press [Enter].
        • Double click the identification number.
        3. Make the necessary changes in the Edit Identification Number pop-up window and click Finish.
      • Delete an Identification Number
        1.  Click to highlight the identification number.
        2. Click the Delete button to the left of the list or press [Delete].
        3. You are prompted, “Do you wish to delete this record?” Click Yes.
    • Categories/History

      There are three sections on the Categories/History tab:

      • Agency Defined Categories

        Use this section to apply agency-defined categories to an account. For instructions on adding new agency-defined categories to the system, see Agency Defined Categories Setup.

        1. To apply a new category to this account, do one of the following in the Agency Defined Categories section:
           • Click the Add button .
           • With focus on the Agency Defined Categories list, press [Insert] on your keyboard.

        2. The Agency Defined Category window displays.
        3. Filter the list of categories if necessary.

           Use the search bar above the list to specify the categories that you want to see.

            

           

            

           These are the choices in the first dropdown menu:

           1. • Category
              • Option

           There is one choice available in the second dropdown menu.

           1. • Contains: Enter at least one character of the search criterion in the field to the right. Click Find.

           To see the filter that is currently applied to the list, hover over the Search where text.

        4. Select the checkbox beside each category you wish to apply to this account. To check all of the items listed, click the Select all checkbox.
        5. Click Finish to add the category and close the Agency Defined Category window.
           
           To remove a category from the list, highlight it and click the Delete button or press [Delete] on your keyboard. You are prompted, "Do you wish to delete this record?" Click Yes.
      • History
        1. Account Retention shows the date the account was added. This date cannot be revised.
        2. The Data Conversion area pertains to accounts that have been transferred from another system. If this account falls into that category, enter the Date converted or click the down arrow to select a date from the dropdown calendar.
        3. Enter the Prior account ID.
      • Relationships

        The relationship feature allows you to keep track of accounts that are related to one another, such as a main account and subaccount. For information on making changes to the available relationships in the system, see Define Relationships.

        1. To add a relationship to the account, do one of the following:

           • Click the Add button .
           • With focus on the list, press [Insert] on your keyboard.

        2. On the Add Relationship screen, first identify the account to which the selected account is related. Make a selection in the first dropdown menu of the search bar:
            

           • Account Name
           • Lookup Code

        3. Make a selection in the second dropdown menu:
            

           • Equals: If you select Equals, enter the entire lookup code, account name, or account type in the field provided.
           • Contains: If you select Contains, enter at least one letter of the lookup code, account name, or account type in the field provided.

        4. Click Find or press [Enter] to display a list of matching accounts.

        5. Click on the account in the list, and then click the down arrow button to move the account to the Selected list. To select all of the accounts in the list, click the double down arrow button.

        Note: Press the [Ctrl] or [Shift] key as you click on accounts in the list to choose more than one. To remove an account from the Selected list, click on the account and then click the Delete button to the left of the Selected list.

        6. Select the relationship Type.

        7. Select the Role of the account that you are editing.

        8. Click Finish to add the new relationship.
           
           Click Add to add the new relationship and begin adding another.
           
           Click Cancel to close the window without saving any changes.

20. When you have made the desired changes, do one of the following:

    • Click Save on the options bar.
    • Click File > Save on the menubar.