Interstore Transfers

This help topic is applicable to the following TireMaster application:

TireMaster Point of Sale

TireMaster Plus

TireMaster Corporate

   

In TireMaster Corporate, stores can sell inventory to each other by performing interstore transfers. When an interstore transfer occurs, the selling store adds the items to an interstore transfer invoice and a transfer purchase order is automatically created for the store buying the items.

Note: This type of transfer deals specifically with processing transfers between stores that are all part of a TireMaster Corporate system. For information about transferring inventory in a non-corporate environment, see Transfers.

Depending on your settings, interstore transfer purchase orders can require manual processing or they can be processed automatically from start to finish. If interstore transfers are to be processed manually, you can define whether the manual processing can be done at the stores or at the corporate site.

Before you can perform interstore transfers, a variety of settings need to be completed. To prepare for interstore transfers, do the following:

1. At the corporate site, add general ledger accounts for tracking interstore transfer activity. For more information, see Interstore Transfer GL Accounts.
2. At the corporate site, add a customer type for classifying interstore transfer customers. For more information, see Interstore Transfer Customer Type.
3. At the corporate site, set the system controls that affect the handling of various interstore transfer activities. For more information, see Interstore Transfer Controls
4. At each site, add a customer record for purchasing items via interstore transfers. For more information, see Interstore Transfer Customers.

To track interstore transfer activity in the general ledger, make sure the following accounts are included in your chart of accounts:

An accounts payable account for interstore transfers

When an interstore transfer occurs, one store functions as the vendor and another functions as the customer. Setting up the AP interstore transfer account ensures that you have a place for posting the accounts payable entry that results when one store sells items to another. The interstore transfer accounts payable account is a liability account, such as 2000–200 Accounts Payable Interstore Transfers.

An interstore offset account

This account allows you to perform transactions between stores while maintaining balanced general ledgers for each site. Without an interstore offset account, the general ledger for the company as a whole would be in balance, but the general ledgers for the individual sites would be out of balance. The interstore offset account is typically a liability account, such as 2700–0 Interstore Offset, or an expense account.

Note: To ensure posting is handled correctly for interstore transfers, the minor account number for the interstore offset account must be 0.

An interstore transfer clearing account

This account is for posting the offsetting entries needed to clear interstore transfer activity from the customer and vendor subledgers. The interstore offset account is typically an expense account, such as 8888–8888 Interstore Transfers Clearing.

Along with the required interstore transfer accounts, adding the following to your GL will help you to further separate interstore transfers from regular transfers:

An interstore transfer accounts receivable account. This is an asset account, such as 1100–400 AR Interstore Transfer.

A discount account for accounts receivable interstore activity. This is an income account, such as 4600–100 AR Interstore Discounts.

Before your sites can transfer inventory to each other, you need to set up an interstore transfer customer type. This customer type is different from a regular transfer customer and is used solely in a multi-store environment.

Note: For information on transferring inventory in a non-corporate environment, see Transfers.

To create an interstore transfer customer type

1. At the corporate site, select Customers > Types. The Customer/Vendor Type List opens.
2. Click Add. The Customer/Vendor Type Edit screen opens.
3. For the type, type the letter U or another code that will distinguish this type from your other customer types.
4. Make sure the letters AR appear in the AR or AP field.
5. For the description, type Interstore Transfer or some other name that will distinguish this customer type from regular transfer customers.
6. Assign GL accounts to the customer type. To assign an account, click the account field, press , and select an account from the list that appears.

For AR Acct, assign the account for accounts receivable transfers. This is account 1150–0 in the TireMaster startup database or an account such as 1100–400 Accounts Receivable Interstore Transfers.

For AP Acct, assign the accounts payable account that you created for interstore transfers, such as account 2010–0 Accounts Payable Interstore Transfers.

For AR Dis Acct, assign the account for sales discounts. This is account 4600–0 in the TireMaster startup database or an account such as 4600–100, if you created a separate one for interstore transfers.

For AR Dis Acct, assign the account for vendor discounts. This is account 5600–0 in the TireMaster startup database.

For Exp. Acct, assign a miscellaneous expense account, such as account 9999–9999 in the TireMaster startup database.

7. Make sure all of the check boxes are clear in the Options area.
8. To save the interstore transfer customer type, click OK.

To perform interstore transfers, you need to make sure the following system controls are set:

Interstore Offset - Major Account defines which account offsetting entries should post to when transactions affect multiple sites. Using an interstore offset account ensures that the general ledger for each site remains in balance. This setting is a corporate control.

Note: The interstore offset account is typically a liability or expense account. Many dealers use the account 2600–0 Interstore Transfers. For more information, see Create and Define the Interstore Offset Account.

Interstore Transfers - Clearing Account defines which account adjusting entries post to when interstore transfers are cleared (usually during the month-end closing). This setting is a corporate control.

Note: The interstore transfer clearing account is typically an expense account. Many dealers use the account 8888–8888.

Interstore Transfers - Customer Type defines the customer type for interstore transfer customers. This setting is a corporate control. For more information, see Interstore Transfers - Customer Type.

Interstore Transfer POs - Stop with PO (Ordered) defines whether sites are allowed to automatically receive and price interstore transfer items. This setting is a store control.

Interstore Transfers - Edit Prices defines whether sites are allowed to change the cost of items received in an interstore transfer. This setting is a store control.

Show AP AR check box in Name/Lookup Entry dialog lets you look up both the AP and AR activity for customers. For more information, see Show AR AP check box in Name Lookup/Entry dialog.

Note: To allow for interstore transfers, customer records are created for sites. These interstore customers can have both AR and AP activity.

The interstore transfer controls are on the Enterprise tab and AP AR check box control is on the Other tab. For more information, see Enterprise Controls (TireMaster Corporate) and Other Controls.

Each site needs to create a customer record for itself to use for interstore transfers. This customer record needs to be assigned the interstore transfer customer type and an exempt sales tax level.

Note: Sites should not add other sites as interstore transfer customers.

To set up an interstore transfer customer

1. Log in to a store site, and add a new customer. This customer should be named after the store at which you’re logged in. For example, if you’re logged in at the Meridian store, you would create a customer record called Meridian Store. For more information, see Add an AR Customer.
2. Clear the Taxable, Cash Only, Statement, and Finance Charge check boxes.
3. Click the Tax Level - Parts field, and press . Then select an exempt tax level, and click OK.
4. Click the Tax Level - Labor field, and press . Then select an exempt tax level, and click OK.
5. Click the Type field, and press . Then select the interstore transfer customer type from the Customer/Vendor Type List, and click OK.
6. For the credit limit, type 0.00.
Note: Typing 0.00 gives you unlimited credit when buying items from the other stores.
7. When you’re finished adding information for the store, click OK.

Creating an interstore transfer invoice is similar to creating an invoice for a regular customer. However, once you’ve created the invoice for an interstore transfer, TireMaster creates a purchase order for the items on the invoice and, depending on how the system controls are set, a vendor invoice document.

To create an interstore transfer invoice

1. Begin a work order as you would for a regular sale, selecting the customer record associated with the store that you want to transfer inventory to. For more information, see Create a Regular Work Order.
2. Add items to the invoice.
Note: For interstore transfer invoices, items are added at cost. Add-on items are not included.
3. When you’re finished adding items, click Complete. The Invoice Completion screen opens, and the Charge field is selected.
4. To insert the amount of the invoice, press .
Note: Charge is the only available payment type for interstore transfer invoices.
5. Click OK. TireMaster prompts you to complete the invoice.
6. Click Yes.

After the completed invoice is sent to the corporate site, an interstore transfer purchase order is automatically created. What happens to the purchase order after the completed invoice is sent to the corporate site depends on the system control settings for the purchasing store.

Depending on a site’s settings in System Controls, you may or may not be able to receive interstore transfers automatically. This function is controlled by the store setting Interstore Transfer POs - Stop with PO (Ordered). If this control is set to Yes, interstore transfers automatically create a purchase order at the receiving site, but no receiving document is generated.

Note: If the receiving cost of an interstore transfer item is higher than a store wants to pay, that store needs to transfer the item back to the store that sold it.

Typically, the interstore transfer proceeds as follows:

1. When Store A sends the completed transfer invoice to the corporate site, an interstore transfer purchase order is created automatically.
Note: The reference number of the interstore purchase order is created automatically if it’s not entered manually. The site number is added to the beginning of the number to identify the site where the transfer started.
2. Corporate sends a receiving document to Store B.

The receiving document uses the purchase-order number from the corporate site as its reference number.

The order is automatically received.

The VID is automatically created and uses the purchase order number from the corporate site as its VID reference number.

3. Store B sends the VID to the corporate site, and the purchase order posts to the general ledger.

As part of your month end closing, you should clean up the AR and AP subledgers for each of your sites by clearing out the documents for completed interstore transfer activity. During the interstore clearing process, the following occurs:

TireMaster creates adjusting AR journal entries for the sites that sold items to other stores. Those entries are then applied to interstore transfer invoices in the sites’ AR open item ledgers.

TireMaster creates adjusting vendor charges for the sites that received interstore transfers. Those charges are then applied to open interstore transfer POs in the sites’ AP open item ledgers.

When the adjusting entries are applied to open interstore invoices and POs, those items are removed from their respective open item ledgers and transfer clearing entries are added to the sites’ AR and AP histories.

The interstore transfer clearing process can be performed at the corporate site only. When you clear interstore transfers, you have two options:

You can clear all interstore transfer documents that were created during a user-defined date range.

You can clear only the documents for which the AR subledger entries (TR) have matching AP subledger entries (PO).

The interstore transfer clearing process affects all sites.

To clear interstore transfers

1. At the corporate site, select General Ledger > Clear Interstore. The Clear Interstore Transfers screen opens. It lists the AR balances (transfer invoice totals) and AP balances (PO totals for items received) for each site.
2. Define the date range for the transfers you want to clear. For a single day, enter the same date for both the beginning and end of the range.
3. To review interstore transfer activity for the selected date range, do the following as needed:

If you need to see the transfer invoices and POs for a specific site, click the name of the site on the locations list. The documents for the selected site appear in the lower half of the screen.

For a hard copy that lists all transfer invoices and POs for the selected date range, click Print. The Report Window opens and displays the Interstore Transfer Report, which is organized by site. Print the report, if needed, and then close the Report Window.

4. To clear only the transfers for which the AR entries (TR) have matching AP entries (PO), select the Clear Only Matching AR and AP Entries check box. To clear all transfers, clear the check box.
Note: When an AR entry does not have a matching AP entry, the reference number for that transfer invoice is blank on the AR Detail (TR) list.
5. Click Create and Apply All. A confirmation message appears.
6. Click Yes. TireMaster prompts you to print an Interstore Transfer Report.
7. Do one of the following:

To view the report, click Yes. The Report Window opens and displays the Interstore Transfer Report. For a hard copy, print the report and close the Report Window.

If you want to finish clearing the transfers without viewing a report, click No instead.

When all of the adjusting entries have been applied to documents in the sites’ customer and vendor subledgers, a confirmation message appears.

8. Click OK to close the message, and close the Clear Interstore Transfers screen.

For interstore transfers, sites are set up as customers in TireMaster. However, they can function as both customers and vendors. To view a site’s AR interstore activity, look up the customer record created for the site in the same manner as any other customer. For the site’s AP interstore activity, you need to do a vendor search instead.

Note: The Both AR and AP check box on the Name Lookup/Entry screen allows you to look up a customer’s AP activity. Before you an use this check box, however, you need to set a system control. For more information, see Set the AP and AR Check Box Control.

To view a site’s AR and AP subledgers

1. Log in to TireMasterat the corporate site, if it isn’t already running.
2. If you need to look up a site’s AR subledger activity, do the following.
a. Select Customers > Maintenance. TireMaster prompts you for a name.
b. Type all or part of the name for the site and click OK. The Customer Maintenance screen opens.
c. Click the Ledger/History tab. It lists the site’s transfer invoices and the AR journal entries created to clear interstore activity from the site’s AR open item ledger.
d. When you’re done looking at the AR interstore activity, close the Customer Maintenance screen.
3. If you need to look up a site’s AP subledger activity, do the following:
a. Select Vendors > Maintenance. TireMaster prompts you for a name.
b. Type all or part of the name for the site
c. Select the Both AP and AR check box.
d. Click OK. The Vendor Maintenance screen opens.
e. Click the Ledger/History tab. It lists the site’s transfer POs and the vendor charges created to clear interstore activity from the site’s AP open item ledger.
f. When you’re done looking at the AP interstore activity, close the Vendor Maintenance screen.

For interstore transfers, sites are set up as customers in TireMaster. Because they can function as both customers and vendors, however, you need to be able to retrieve both the AR and AP subledger account information for your sites. To access the accounts payable subledgers associated with the customer records for your sites, set a system control that allows you look up both the AP and AR activity.

To set the AP and AR check box control

1. At the corporate site, select Setup > System Controls.
2. Click the Other tab.
3. Select Store Controls.
4. Select Show AP AR check box in Name/Lookup Entrydialog for the corporate site only, and press Enter.
5. Select Yes, and click OK.
6. Close the System Controls screen.