Anticipated Days are part of the Terms Tab on a customer record. They are the number of days that you anticipate will pass after posting an invoice before payments is made.
For each invoice transaction, the system saves the date that is was fully allocated, so that the number of days from invoice date, or the due date, to the allocation date can be calculated.
You can set the anticipated days method is set in the customer Terms Tab and there are two options you can select.
Method | Description |
From Invoice Date |
|
From Due Date |
|
Example of the calculations:
When the Calculate days from transactions option is selected within the Update Customer dates options found on the Chase Debtors Enquiry, and you have entered a range of dates for the transactions:
For each fully allocated invoice within the given date range, the system calculates the number of days between the invoice date or the due date of the transaction and the allocation date of the transaction.
The system then calculates the average of these values.
The calculated average days is then written back to the Anticipated Days field for the account.
Create a customer, we'll call the record customer 1 where their terms are:
Due Days = Day 15 of the following month
Anticipated Days = 30 days from Invoice Date
Create another customer, we'll call the record customer 2 where their terms are:
Due Days = Day 15 of the following month
Anticipated Days = 5 days from Due Date
Now enter the following transactions for the above created customers:
Invoice | Invoice Date | Due Date | Allocated date |
1 | 01-January | 15-February | 27-February |
2 | 12-January | 15-February | 24-February |
3 | 15-January | 15-February | 24-February |
4 | 30-January | 15-February | 16-March |
5 | 30-January | 15-February | 16-March |
Select a transaction for January from the above list and select the Calculate days from transaction option on the Update Customer Dates, Anticipated Receipts Days field drop-down.
Customer one's average is calculated as 46.
The system calculates the number of days between the invoice date and the allocated date of each invoice, then it calculates an average for you which is 46.
Customer two's average is calculated as 18.
The system calculates the number of days between the due date and allocated dates of each invoice, then it calculates an average for you which is 18.