ShulCloud Monthly Open Balance Statements

The Monthly Open Balance Statement Process

Each month, Kesef will create your open balance (billing) statements that can be sent out via email or traditional mail.

Prerequisites

Information that Kesef needs before we can create your statements:

• The date you would like to run balances through. The most common options are through the current month's end or through fiscal year-end.
• The outgoing email address. Who's email address and name are the emailed statements coming from?
• Do you want to show previous partial payments made to open balance or only the remaining open balance?
• Are there certain Account Types, Account Billing Types, or special charges that should be omitted from the open balance statements? 

Process Details

1. Monthly Reconciliation. Deposits are reconciled to the bank statement to ensure completeness and accuracy and to make sure all deposits have been accounted for and posted to accounts in ShulCloud.
   • Timing of this is typically 5 business days after the bank statement becomes available. The timing may be affected by the nature and number of the reconciling items.
2. Kesef Creates Statements. Once the bank reconciliation is complete, Kesef will create an initial full set of paper open balance statements which will be sent to the synagogue in PDF form to review.
3. Submit Account Adjustments. The synagogue would then submit any account adjustments using our Billing and Adjustments Template. 
4. Kesef Creates Open Balance Statements. Kesef will send a test email to the synagogue for approval before the emails/statements are sent out. It is the synagogue's responsibility to proofread the cover letter, and statement, and to check any links. The custom login link and pay now link on the bottom of the statement should land on the payment page for the test recipient's account. The test e-mail recipient is randomly selected by the system. IT is important to sign out as test recipient after testing. 
   
   Kesef will then create an email/paper mail open balance statement file, which would include an email message that the synagogue supplies to us. Please do not add to the standard cover letter any verbiage regarding specific dates, seasonal greetings, or upcoming events. Indicate on the standard cover letter the physical check remittance address of the shul or the Kesef PO Box address, if sent here. The message can be changed two times a year, at the beginning of the fiscal year and before the High Holidays. If contact information changes during the year, those updates are made, as needed.
   
   Kesef will create a custom login link, which will bring the person directly to the payment page showing what they owe. They will be able to make a one-time payment or schedule recurring payments via credit card or check.
   
   A NOTE ABOUT HOLDS: If the synagogue has accounts that need to be omitted from the email file, both the first & last names on accounts must be provided to Kesef. IF there is more than a handful of names on accounts (over a total of 10 individual names), please create a tag and provide Kesef with the name of that tag. Kesef will exclude the tag from the statement file. The tag should include both the primary and secondary individuals on the account, as both may load & have some different last names. Any names that have been granted permission, including children will load as recipients. Please be sure that all names in the account with billing permission in the tag to omit. Tag data is maintained monthly by the synagogue.
5. Synagogue sends written approval to Kesef. The synagogue will send written approval to Kesef to issue the emails. Once approval is received, the statements will be emailed.
6. Kesef Sends Statements. After the statements have been emailed, Kesef will send to the synagogue the email confirmations along with any paper statements that need to be sent out via regular mail. The system will create a paper statement for any account that has an invalid email address or a paper mail billing preference indicated in ShulCloud. It's the temple's responsibility to print and mail the paper statements.
   
   NOTE: The monthly billing cycle follows the calendar month, beginning on the 1st and ended on the last business day, respectfully, unless otherwise scheduled to be sent on the last Sunday of the calendar month.

TIP: Be sure to update the Statement Template with any necessary logos or messages by navigating to Admin > My Lists > Statement Templates.

Example Statements

Displaying Partial Payments

Displaying Remaining Open Balances