AIMS FAQ

AIMS FAQ

This page contains answers to common questions handled by our support staff, along with some tips and tricks that we have found useful and presented here as questions.

How can I tell if my system is in balance?
How can I "Binder Bill" a policy not yet received?
What is the advantage/purpose of setting my companies to process on an open item basis?
How do I remove expired policies from the system?
How do I remove client records from the system?
What is the Apply Credits Function?
How can I produce a P&L Statement Mid Month?
What are the "Projected Accounts" used for?
AIMS end of year processing checklist (printer friendly)

How can I tell if my system is in balance?

Immediately after each EOM processing you should match certain report balances to your general ledger.

Check the Trial Balance report to verify it is "In Balance."
Print an Aged Accounts Receivable report. Total Accounts Receivable should match the number in your Accounts Receivable account on the general ledger.
Look at the Account Current Status of Accounts report that printed during EOM. Total balance all companies should match your Accounts Payable account on the general ledger.
Look at the Account Current Status of Accounts report that printed during EOM. Total balance all producers should match your Commissions Payable account on the general ledger.
Print an Account Current Prebill report for all items to verify amounts showing in the four "Projected" accounts on your general ledger.

If any of these report balances do not match your general ledger, your system is not in balance. You make correcting entries immediately to bring balances back in line. This checking should be done immediately after each end of month with all reports as of the same date.

How can I "Binder Bill" a policy not yet received?

Enter a new or renewal invoice typing the word BINDER in the policy number field. The word BINDER may be followed by any additional characters needed for clarification such as previous policy number. This will cause an invoice to print that can be used to collect the premium from the client. The invoice will not process to a company account current as long as the word BINDER is in the policy number field. When the actual policy is received, go to policy maintenance and update the policy number. The invoice will process at the next end of month as normal.

What is the advantage/purpose of setting my companies to process on an open item basis?

Open item processing for agency bill companies gives the agency control of when invoice items process as payables. Prior to each end of month you must "mark" the individual items you want processed. You are in control of the items which will appear on your EOM account current report.

Open item processing for direct bill companies gives the agency a reconciliation system for matching what you have invoiced with the actual commissions the company is paying. Open item direct bill processing also allows you to partially mark an item when the company only pays a portion of the total commission due to payment options the insured has taken. This option allows agencies to work closer to a cash basis since you will be marking the items the month the commissions are actually received from the company.

How do I remove expired policies from the system?

From the Marketing/Reports Menu select Expired/Cancelled Policies report and print the list. This report will indicate which policies can be deleted. This report will also have a reason why some policies cannot be deleted to assist you in clearing the record.
Policies may be individually purged from the Accounts Receivable or Client Actions Menu. Or, you may run an automatic purge by selecting the Expired/Cancelled Policies report again and select "Do Not Print Report." The following window gives the option to run an automatic purge.
Policies records are not actually cleared from the system until after the next EOM processing. (You will not be able to delete clients until after the next EOM.)

How do I remove client records from the system?

From the File Maintenance Menu select Client file.
Clients may be individually deleted using option #1-Delete Clients.
An automatic purge of inactive clients can be done using option #3-Delete Range of Clients. We suggest you print the report showing all clients eligible for deletion first then run the process a second time to actually purge the records.
Clients cannot be deleted until they have a zero balance, no activity during the current month, and no policies on file.

What is the Apply Credits Function?

AIMS is an open item Accounts Receivable system. This means that all credits must be applied to the corresponding debit before the items can clear. The Payments on Account entry applies the credits as they are entered. Periodically you must manually apply credits from prepayments, credit invoices, and credit memos.

From the Accounts Receivable Reports Menu, print a Receivables Analysis report. This report lists all client accounts with open credits. Use the report to identify credits which now have corresponding charges and accounts that can be cleared.
From the Accounts Receivable Menu, select Apply Credits to clear the open items.
Open credits must be applied at least once a month and should be done on a weekly basis.

How can I produce a P&L Statement Mid Month?

The AIMS system automatically computes your total income for the month and prints a P&L Statement during each end of month processing. Since commission income is only posted at EOM, this is the only system generated P&L statement available.

You can determine a mid-month P&L status by looking at the following reports:

From the Account Current Menu, print the Company Summary report for all Agency and Direct Bill companies. This report shows you the income for the month in the totals section.
From the Account Current Menu, print the Producer Summary report for all producers. This report shows you the amount you owe producers – your commission expense amount.
Print a P&L Statement from the General Ledger menu. Plug the figures for commission income and commission expense into the report and compute the revised totals.
NOTE: If you are running any companies or producers on an open item basis you may have discrepancies between this mid month computation and what actually processes at end of month.

What are the "Projected Accounts" used for?

AIMS uses these projected accounts for processing all invoice entries. These accounts make it possible to pre-bill items in AIMS while not generating payables and income until the month the policies are effective. At EOM processing AIMS automatically rolls figures from the projected accounts to actual Account Payable, Commission Payable, Commission Income, and Commission Expense based on the items processed to company account current and producer commission reports. Immediately following end of month processing, amounts remaining in the projected accounts are for future month’s payables, income, and expense.

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