Accounting Processes

Clients with Outstanding Balances

If a client has outstanding invoices, the Accounting department will contact the publisher after 30 days, then again after 90 days, reminding them to collect payment.

If you need advice on collecting outstanding client balances, please contact your coach.

Should your client reach 90 days with no payment made and you have made an effort to collect, we recommend that their agreement be canceled and their outstanding balance be written off and assigned to you.

*All advertising agreements are between the Advertiser and Lifestyle Publications, so assigning their debt to the publisher allows them to legally pursue that balance and retain any funds you can collect. Example: To cancel starting in October, submit the request 20 days before October’s ad deadline.

Client Invoice Payments

Payment Policy

As outlined in the Independent Franchise Agreement, all advertiser payments must be made directly to City Lifestyle by the client.

Franchisee Publishers are not authorized and strictly prohibited from:

• Accepting checks, cash, or any form of direct payment from clients.
• Using their own credit card, debit card, or personal/company funds to pay on behalf of a client.

Violations of this policy undermine financial integrity and may result in a compliance review.

Credit Memos & Write-Offs

Credit Memo Policy

This policy establishes guidelines for the issuance of credit memos related to advertiser accounts to ensure consistency and compliance with the City Lifestyle Independent Franchise Agreement.

As outlined in the Independent Franchise Agreement, advertisers are required to submit payments directly to City Lifestyle. Franchisees (Publishers) are not authorized to accept direct payments from advertisers.

Appropriate Use of Credit Memos

Credit memos serve as exceptions to the standard billing process. They should primarily be used for specific, approved circumstances such as:

• "Make Good" adjustments for service or placement issues.
• Pre-approved, short-term "one-month" trade arrangements.

Bad Debt

If an invoice is deemed "bad debt" on an active agreement, that contract should be canceled. This may require approval. If a contract has already ended or been canceled, you can write off any invoices that you don’t believe will be paid or that you are pursuing locally.

Processing a Write-Off Request: 

1. Navigate to the client’s account in ARC 
2. Go to the Invoices tab and locate the invoice you are writing off a balance for.
3. Click “Pay.”
4. Using the drop-down, apply a Credit Memo 
5. For this reason, note "Per publisher’s request." This clears the remaining balance and adjusts the financial records accordingly.

Additional ways publishers often refer to write-offs:

• “Clear my aging/aging report.”
• “Zero out the balance.”
• “Deduct the payment from this account.”

Late Fees

The advertising contract terms allow for a 1.5% late fee on unpaid balances. These late fees are only applicable once the debt has been officially written off, the client’s contract has been canceled, and the debt has been assigned to you for collection. Publishers are not permitted to charge or collect late fees while the account is still active or while the balance remains on City Lifestyle’s books. Once the debt is assigned, any late fees collected as part of your local recovery process are at your discretion and responsibility.

Taxes for Write-Offs:

If a publisher requests a receipt for write-offs, they can go to their Invoices tab in ARC and download PDFs of all invoices paid via Credit Memo. They can provide these to their accountants for tax purposes as needed.

Ad-Hoc Invoice

Ad-hoc invoices are created for non-standard billing needs.

Creating an Ad-Hoc Invoice (Internal Action)

1. Navigate to the client’s account in ARC 
2. Go to the Invoices tab
3. Click “Ad-Hoc Invoice”
4. Leave the Reason and Contract drop-down selections as is
5. Check with Mallory on which month to select if you are unsure
6. Add a description and amount
   1. ONLY check the box for Process Payments / Send Invoices if you would like to process payment instantly!
7. Click Create

Trade Agreements

If a longer-term or recurring trade arrangement with an advertiser is desired, the correct procedure is to formally adjust the advertiser's contract to reflect the agreed-upon trade value. This should be done in coordination with City Lifestyle corporate teams rather than through the issuance of repeated credit memos. If you are consistently writing off invoices for trade, we encourage you to change the agreement to $0 moving forward.