Commercial Payment Terms in Compass

Within Compass, when working with a Commercial customer there are some key differences from a Residential customer. One of the most important differences is invoice terms (i.e. net 15, net 30, net 60) which are set for billing Commercial accounts.

Within Compass, there are three different levels that can be set when dealing with the terms.

First, there is a system wide setting that is set for your location that acts as the default payment terms to apply to all commercial invoices unless overridden at the customer or invoice level..

To set or make any modifications to the global default commercial payment terms, go to the General Settings, under the Company Administration section of the Settings menu.

At the top center of the page, there is drop down list under QuickBooks Commercial Terms.

Select the option to match the terms you had previously set within QuickBooks as the default Commercial Terms. If the terms you want to set are not present, or this drop down list is blank, make sure you have setup the Payment Terms within QuickBooks.

Once that is selected, don’t forget to save your settings at the bottom of the page.

You can also set the terms at a customer level either when creating the customer, or later by editing the customer record.

Down at the bottom of the customer information screen, there is a drop down labeled Payment Terms. It will be registered as the default that was entered under the General Settings. However, if you wish to give specific terms to this customer, you can change it to something different. Note that this option only appears if you have set the customer type to Commercial.

Once selected, click on Save.

Lastly, it is possible to change the terms for a specific estimate.

When creating an estimate for a Commercial customer, under the product or service entry a drop-down box labeled Payment Terms is present, allowing you to adjust the payment terms for this project only, overriding the terms set at a default and/or the customer level.

If there is any confusion as to what terms are set on a Commercial Project, or Estimate, they are displayed on Invoices and Estimates for any Commercial Customer on the right-hand side.