Reconciling Commissions

Overview

Three are three main exception scenarios that can cause a Policy or commission entry to not successfully link. We refer to these as red edits. This article will show you how to troubleshoot these scenarios when importing commission statements.

IN THIS ARTICLE

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Video Guide (15:22)

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Updating Carrier Setup

If imported commissions aren’t linking to Policy records automatically, check the matching criteria in Carrier Setup.

You may need to update it in the following scenarios:

• The carrier uses commission numbers instead of Policy Numbers.
• The carrier uses the same Policy Number for multiple lines of coverage.

Visit this article for more details.

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Linking commission entries to Policies

Search by Transaction or Agent Statement Date and Carrier.

The full commission import based on the Agent Statement Date will appear. To help you find red edits, use the “Exceptions” menu to filter them out.

Select the red “Edit” button for a commission entry to open the “Edit Commission” window.

In the Policy search bar, enter the policyholder’s name.

Locate the matching Policy record and click the “Select” button.

The Policies will link up and the payouts will be defined.

Save and close.

The Policies should now match up every import moving forward.

Rinse and repeat for every red edit until all Policies in AMS+ have been accounted for.

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Creating new Policies

There’s also the case where the Policy may simply not exist in AMS+. If all of your Policies are accounted for, and it appears that an imported commission entry belongs to a brand new Policy, create a new Policy and set up the payees for it.

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Adding the Bill From Date

Rate tables that use dates for one-time adjustments look at the Bill From Date to determine when to go into effect. If your Bill From Date is missing, AMS+ won’t know what to do with those rate tables.

To verify:

Go to the Commission Entries table and review the “Bill From Date” column.

 If the Bill From Date is empty and you know when the payment was made, choose that date.

The “Rate Type”, “Rate”, and “Commission” columns in the table should update to reflect the changes.

Save.

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Common questions

What is the Bill From Date?
The Bill From Date is the premium period you are getting paid for. The Bill From Date could be a different month than the Carrier Statement Date (when you’re getting paid) or the Agent Statement Date (when you’re paying out).

My file uploaded fine, but I have several red “Edit” buttons.  What does this mean?
The system couldn’t find the Policy as it came in on the spreadsheet.
-OR-
The system found the Policy but there is an issue with the payee (who gets paid and how much)
(these issues are described in more detail later in this section).

A Policy wasn’t found when I uploaded a statement so I clicked on the red edit button and the Policy record is showing in the list.  Why didn’t it link up?

• The Policy Number must be an exact match. Check for leading zeros, special characters, etc. If there is any variation the Policy will not automatically link up.
• If the Policy Number matches exactly check to make sure there is complete data for Status, Carrier, and Coverage Type.  If any of those are blank the Policy won’t automatically link.
• If the Policy Number matches and all fields are completed and it still won’t link up chances are that particular Carrier is set up to match on Policy Number and Coverage Type.
• If the Coverage Type on the spreadsheet doesn’t match the Coverage Type associated with the Policy record in AMS+ the payment won’t link up.

A Policy wasn’t found when I uploaded a statement so I clicked on the red “Edit” button. I know this Policy is in the system but it’s not finding the Policy Number. How can I find it?
When you click on the red “Edit” button a new window will open and there is a search field.  The system automatically fills in that search field with the Policy Number that came in on the spreadsheet. Delete out this number and search for the policyholder’s last name instead. This should find the record.

My Policy didn’t link up, but I found it when I clicked on the red "Edit" button. I clicked on “Select” to the left of the Policy and a new box opened up. What is this telling me?
This announcement box is telling you that if you click on “OK” the Policy record in AMS+ will be updated to match the information that came in on the spreadsheet.  This way the Policy will match automatically on any future statements that are uploaded.

My entries all linked up with Policies, but there are still several red "Edit" buttons. What does this mean?
This means there is an issue with the payee(s) on the Policy.  This could mean one of the following:

• There is no payee assigned to the Policy
• There is a payee assigned, but something is wrong with a rate table that is assigned to the Policy.

My entries were linking up with Policies just fine the other day, but now I'm getting red "Edit" buttons. What is wrong?

This could mean the carrier started using a different number from the Policy Number in their commission statements.

If so, you will need to add these numbers to the commission number field on your Policy records and change the matching criteria in carrier setup from Policy Number to commission number. See the Carrier Setup & Matching Criteria article for step-by-step instructions.

Note: If the commission number is in a different column than it was before, you may also need to modify or submit a new import map.

We sometimes receive bonuses from our carriers. We need to split up bonuses differently than normal payments that come in for our agents. How do I override the existing split to account for these special scenarios?
Bonus amounts can be split up differently than regular payments. This will be done with a Manual Entry in the Commission tab:

• From the main Commission menu click on View & Edit Entries
• On the far right hand side click on the Add New button
• On the window that opens up search for the Policy that applies to the payment you are bringing in. Click on Select next to the Policy.
• On the next window fill in Statement Date and Bill From Date.
• Here is the important part:  From the Entry Type drop down select One-Time Adjustment
• Continue filling in the payment information - key in Premium (if you have it), Rate Type will be Flat Amount, and Total Commission will be the full dollar amount the carrier paid you.
• Hit Save.
• The Payees box will open at the bottom and it shouldn’t have any payees in it. Click on Create New (or Use Payee Schedule).
• Enter in the payee information how it is to be calculated for this payment. Hit Save.
• You will now be back to the payment detail window. Hit Save and Close and that payment is done.

***Important*** Make sure to use the One-Time Adjustment from the Entry Type drop down. If you don’t, it may change the regular payee information for any payments going forward.