Accrual Options and Procedures

There are currently two options for handling accruals in EnergyCAP.

1. The BL33 - Estimated Accruals by Commodity report is available with all EnergyCAP installations at no extra charge.
   WATCH VIDEO on Accruals (Basic Session)

2. An optional Accrual module is available at an added cost for the license and annual EnergyCAP Maintenance Agreement (ECMA).
   WATCH VIDEO on Accruals (Advanced Session)

The differences between these two alternatives are:

• Bill transactions: The Accrual module creates bill transactions in EnergyCAP. These can be viewed, reported, edited, audited, exported to accounting, reversed, voided, deleted, etc., the same as any other bill transaction. The BL33 report does not create any bill transactions – it is simply a report created "on the fly" (using current data).

• Usage/demand: The Accrual module estimates accrued usage and demand and well as cost. The BL33 report is cost only.

• License fee: The Accrual module is an optional module and is available for an additional license fee. The BL33 report is available to all users at no additional charge.

• Management overhead: The Accrual module is a rather sophisticated system (as described in this document) that requires a skilled operator and multiple management steps/actions. The BL33 report can be run quickly, then printed or exported to Excel for further manipulation outside of EnergyCAP.

• Accrual methods: The Accrual module breaks each bill down to a daily basis and offers a number of options to create estimated accruals for missing and future days. The BL33 report simply calculates the most recent average cost per day for each meter from the latest bill and projects that forward for the number of ‘missing’ days until the end of the calendar month.

Using the Accrual module

The Accrual module is accessible from the Accounting tab on the Navigation Bar in EnergyCAP:

The accrual process includes four steps:

1. Populate Meter History -- Split past bills into daily pieces and put these into a day-by-day tracking table called MDAY. (Per meter, per day) Bills are split and stored on a daily basis for better tracking, management and visibility.
2. Fill Gaps (generates accrued daily data) -- The definition of accrued data is daily use, demand and cost values that are ‘estimated/contrived’ for accounting purposes but have not yet appeared on a bill.
3. Accrue Bills (generates accrued bills from the accrued daily data) -- Accrued bills can be reported, exported, audited, etc the same as normal bills. They are identified as creation method = ‘Accrual’ in bill lists.
4. Reverse Bills (reverses the accrual -- When necessary, the accrual can be reversed; either when the actual bill arrives or at another time.

This process is reflected in the design of the Accrual Manager title bar, which includes a Display Daily Data button and four clickable button icons (Meter History, Fill Gaps, Accrue Bills and Reverse Bills) providing links to configuration windows that help you define and complete the accrual process. A fifth button icon (Clear Display) removes displayed accrual data from the Accrual display pane. See below for details on using the Accrual Manager to accomplish the accrual process.

Step 1 – Populate Meter History

The first step is to split historical bills into daily pieces and store the results in the MDAY table. This can be a time-consuming process and for large numbers of accounts may best be performed overnight. The resulting daily meter history will serve as the basis for generating the accrual.

1. Select Accrual- Populate Meter History. The Meter History Processor window will open.
   
   

2. Select the beginning and end dates. For example, selecting 6/1/2007 to 7/1/2008 means that the day-by-day MDAY table will be populated with actual bill data for this range of days.

   
   NOTE: It’s important to select an appropriate range of dates. The first time the Meter History Processor is run, make sure to select a date range beginning last year because some accrual methods create current year accruals based on last year's actual data. Until daily Meter History has been created using the last year’s data, that data will be unavailable for creating accrual 'bills'. Selecting a broad range of dates is preferred. 
   
   NOTE: Any actual bills from the selected date range that have previously been processed will be skipped. Any bills that have been previously processed but subsequently edited, as well as new bills, will be processed.

3. After selecting dates, use the radio button options to select All or a subset of Selected Accounts.
   
   
   
   NOTE: If the Selected Accounts radio button option is selected (see graphic above), use the appropriate Vendor/Commodity/Cost Center/Place filters to restrict the generation of accrual data as appropriate for your organization protocols. It is also possible to add or remove individual accounts: Use the Account drop-down arrow to select individual accounts to add. To remove a single account, click/highlight it from the list and click the Remove Selection arrow. To 'clear' the Selected Accounts list of the entire subset of accounts, click the All Accounts radio button option, and then click the Selected Accounts radio button again.

1. When done, click the Start button to run the Meter History Processor. The processor will run, and a progress bar will indicate progress made.
   
   

Step 2: Fill Gaps (Generate Estimated Accrual Data)

The next step is to fill in the gaps in daily data for the accrual period. This is accomplished by the Estimated Accrual Data Processor.

1. Click Accrual>Generate Estimated Accrual Data. Or click the Fill Gaps button from the Accrual Manager title bar. The Estimated Accrual Data Processor window will open.
   
   
2. Select the date range for accrued data. Using the example shown below, any “yellow” empty days will be filled in with accrued data from 6/1/2005 through 7/1/2005.
3. Select the accrual method. At present, there are three choices: Previous Year, Most Recent and Companion Meter.

• Previous Year: The actual data (“green day”) from the same date last year will be pulled forward to this year and tagged as accrued data. Example: To populate June 15, 2005 with accrued use and cost, the actual data from June 15, 2004 will be copied. In order for this to function, two conditions must be met: (1) There is a historical bill in EnergyCAP that covers the June 15, 2004 data and (2) Step 1 above (Populate Meter History) has been run so that June 15, 2004 appears in the chart as a green day.
• Most Recent Bill: The most recent bill will be used to establish an average daily use and average daily cost. These values will be carried forward to the accrual period. You can set the number of days to be used to create the averages to fill in any ‘holes’ in the data (missing days).
• Companion Meter: The Companion Meter method creates accrued data for Meter B based on actual data of Meter A. Example: Sewer bills (Meter B) are produced by the Sewer Authority based on the metered consumption from the water bills (Meter A). We establish water/sewer bills as ‘companion meters’ and store the companion meter pairs in the MDayMeterCompanion table. (Important! You must populate this table using your own external process.) Step 2 then copies the actual water usage data to the accrued sewer usage data for the same day – June 15, 2005 water goes to June 15, 2005 sewer.

The Cost options allow you two choices:

• Accrued cost adjusted by "X" percent: Increase or decrease the cost by a % factor (example: add a 5% inflation factor when using previous year’s bills as the accrual method),
• Accrued usage x current unit cost: Create the cost by multiplying the accrued usage times the calculated average unit cost from the most recent bill.

1. Next, select the desired accounts and remaining option checkboxes. Then click Start to run the Accrual Data Processor (see previous section for information on using the account selection filters).

Step 3 – Display Daily Data (Chart, View and Manually Add Accrued Data)

You can now view the chart to verify that accrued data (represented by the RED graph lines) is present for the date specified for the desired accounts and ranges. Note in the example below that accrued data (red) is now present (see sample below).

Some days in the desired range may be missing data (i.e. are still yellow instead of red) because there was insufficient actual historical data upon which to base the accrued data. In such as case, it is possible to manually add accrual data. Determine the accrual value using an accepted procedure. Then double-click on the month cell in the grid to display the editor for that month. Input data for the missing 'yellow' days.

Step 4 – Generate Accrued Bills

After accrual data has been created, the next step is to create the associated accrued bills.

1. In the Accrual Manager Tree View, click on the desired cost center or account.
2. Select Accrual>Generate Accrued Bills. Or click the Accrue Bills button from the Accrual Manager title bar. The Accrue Bills ... window will open.

NOTE: If a subset of accounts is selected/highlighted from the Accrual Manager Cost Center tree (see above), the Accrue Bills... window title bar will include the name of the account or cost center to which the accrual will be applied.

There are several options available for generating accrual bills:

• Accrual Period: Select the date range for which you desire accrued bills. The date range selector has different meaning based upon which Data Types you select. If you select Accrual Data, the resulting accrued bill will start on whichever date is later – the Begin Date you enter or the first red day following the last green day. (EnergyCAP will not create an accrued bill that covers dates for which actual data exists.) The bill end date will be the End Date selected. (Important note: To cover the period that ends on June 30, use July 1 as the End Date. July 1 will end the June period and begin the July period.)
• Companion Meter: If Companion Meters are defined, the Begin and End Dates are used as date ‘bookends’ to widely bracket the resulting accrued bill. The actual accrued bill will start on the first red day and end on the last red day that fall within the date bookends.
• Billing Period: EnergyCAP automatically assigns a billing period equal to the month in which the ‘middle day’ of the bill falls. You can also override this using the Billing Period radio button options (see graphic below) and force all bills to have a specific billing period.
• Replace Existing: Click the checkbox to replace existing accrual data with newly-generated data.

The accrued bills will then be created. If Batch Mode is in effect, bills will be members of the open batch. Bills will appear in appropriate bill lists, and will be shown as Creation=Accrual.

Accrued bill transactions can be exported from EnergyCAP in a process similar to actual bills.

Step 5 – Reverse the Accrued Bills

Accrued bills can be reversed by right clicking on the bill and then selecting Reverse. Also, when you manually key an actual bill, you will be prompted to reverse the accrual if an unreversed accrual exists for the account.

Exporting BL33 Report Data and Reimporting as Accrual Bills

Some organizations find that it is advantageous to export the BL33 Accrual report data and then massage it and reimport as accrual bills, rather than use the Accrual module.

The disadvantage with this approach is that the data must be sorted and analyzed carefully prior to performing the import. A second disadvantage is that the accrual bills must be voided when the actual bills are entered in the system.

To export BL33 data:

1. Create the BL33 report, setting the desired end date for the accrual.
2. After the report has been generated and displayed, verify that the data is what is desired.
3. From the Report Manager, click File>Export. The Export window will open.
4. Select the desired format for the export, using the drop-down list.
5. Select the destination (usually "Disk file").
6. Click OK. The Number and Date Format Dialog will appear.
7. Check both checkboxes for number and date formats. You can change the formats later if desired. Then click OK. The Choose Export File window will appear.
8. Select the location, file name and file type for the accrual data, using the fields provided. Then click the Save button. The accrual data will be saved to the file specified.

To massage exported data (suggested protocol):

1. Open the accrual data file in your preferred application (usually Excel or a database program).
2. Add a header row with labels corresponding to the BL33 report (Meter Code, Account Code, etc.).
3. Perform a preliminary sort by account code.
4. Delete unneeded rows and columns.
5. Perform a second sort by accrual DAYS. Remove any data rows for which the accrual days are outside acceptable parameters.
6. Reorganize and sort the data, including date formats, according to the required non-EDI bill import format. See the Overview topic on Non-EDI BIll Import for more information.
7. Save the file and close it.

To import the accrual file as bill data:

1. Open the Account Manager in EnergyCAP Enterprise.
2. Click File>Import. the Import File window will open.
3. Select the previously-created accrual bill file and click Open. The file will be imported and an import log detailing the import details will be created in the same directory as the import file.