Overview
If you want to carry forward agent balances and make statements available to your Agent Statement Users, you will need to lock Agent Statement Dates. This article will show you how.
You can also unlock a date if you need to make edits. Keep in mind that unlocking a date and editing its linked commission entries, or applied agent payments or adjustments may impact policy commission histories and agent balances.
To lock or unlock Agent Statement Dates, you must belong to a Security Group with the following permissions:
- Commission > Edit (Full Commission Editing)
- Commission > Lock/Unlock Commission Entries
IN THIS ARTICLE
Locking dates
After uploading a carrier statement, you can lock Agent Statement Dates. Once locked, the date is finalized. No further edits can be made to the commission entries.
If you lock a date by finalizing agent payments, AMS+ will calculate and carry forward commission balances for agents that received commissions for that date.
Tip: If you’ve been tracking agent balances in a system outside of AMS+ and you want to incorporate last year's balance against the commission earned, you can add that amount to the agent’s Agent record as a one-time adjustment. Learn how to add adjustments.
Also, you’ll want to lock dates to ensure accuracy in the following:
- Policy commission histories
- Commission reports and statements
- Agent payments
If you have Agent Statement Users, you need to lock dates to give them access to their statements.
How to lock an Agent Statement Date
The process for locking Agent Statement Dates changed with this update.
- If a date is before 1/1/2022, you can only lock it from the Commission > Date Utilities page.
- If a date is on or after 1/1/2022, you must finalize agent payments to lock it. Dates will be locked in sequential order so AMS+ can properly calculate and carry forward agent balances.
Unlocking dates
When you unlock an Agent Statement Date, you will also unlock commission entries, agent payments, and agent adjustments that are linked to that date. If you then make edits to the entries, payments, or adjustments, you will change commission history in AMS+.
If you unlock a date and make edits, please be aware of the following risks:
- If you recently made changes to the agent pay structure and you re-link the commission entries of a previously locked date, you will lose commission history for the old pay structure.
- Agent balances may not match the amounts that were deposited into agent bank accounts for a previously locked date.
- Agent balances may not match the amounts in statements that were sent to agents for a previously locked date.
Think of it this way, a carrier won't go back to a previous statement they sent you and change it there. They would make an adjustment on the current statement.
Similarly, if you paid something wrong on an old agent statement, you can fix it without unlocking dates.
Here’s how:
- On the current statement, create a manual entry (for the Policy you want to correct) with a "One time Adjustment" and make the amount received $0.
- In the Policy Payees, add a negative dollar amount to the agent for the amount overpaid.
- Add a positive amount of the same amount to the agent that should have received it.
- The negative and positive cancel each other out so the commission total is $0, but when reports are run you will see the entries.
How to unlock an Agent Statement Date
You can unlock Agent Statement Dates from the Commission > Date Utilities page.
For dates that are before 1/1/2022
Only the selected date will be unlocked.
For dates that are on or after 1/1/2022
The selected date and all dates after it will be unlocked. This allows AMS+ to re-calculate agent balances if you make edits to commission entries or agent payments.
See the table below for an example. If you unlock 1/1/2022, all dates after it will also be unlocked. Dates before 1/1/2022 will stay locked.
1/1/2021 - Locked |
12/1/2021 - Locked |
1/1/2022 - Unlocked |
2/1/2022 - Unlocked |
3/1/2022 - Unlocked |
You will then need to re-lock each date in sequential order by finalizing agent payments again.
Note: Re-linking commission entries, or editing agent payments or adjustments will impact the commission history, agent payments, and agent balances of previously locked dates.