Product Alert: Error in Calculating Commissions
February 14, 2008
This message is to alert our users of a serious problem that has recently been discovered in Publishers’ Assistant.
It has come to our attention that there is an error in the Epic and Lyric editions of Publishers’ Assistant in calculating some commissions. This error occurs specifically when there are multiple receipts applied against a “Consignment” invoice. The commission transactions generated are based on the entire order subtotal, rather than the amount of each receipt. This problem is limited to consignment invoices that specify a sales representative. The effect is that Commissions are duplicated for each partial payment logged.
If you have this situation, we have corrected the problem in beta-test version 4.2z of Publishers' Assistant. To download an installation kit for this version, click on the appropriate link below:
Epic Edition: http://www.pubassist.com/Downloads/EpicV42zSetup.exe
Lyric Edition: http://www.pubassist.com/Downloads/LyricV42zSetup.exe
1. Save the kit to a location where you can easily find it to run. Your desktop is a good candidate. Once you've downloaded the kit, double-click on the file to install. Since this is a beta-test version, you will probably want to install to a different folder from where your current version of Publishers' Assistant is located. (Typically, this is c:\program files\pubassist\.)
Once your new version is installed, use the "File" and "Locate Database" option on the menu to point to the location of your PubAssist data. (Typically, this is c:\program files\pubassist\data\.) You can verify the location of your data by going to "Help" and "About Publishers' Assistant" on the menu of your previous copy of PubAssist.
Once you have selected your database location, make sure to specify the owner contact in your system-wide options.
Before you make any corrections, it's a good idea to back up your data. You may be regenerating a significant number of financial transactions. If you are not happy with the results, you will want an easy way to get back to where you were.
Also before making corrections, you may want to capture the current accounting and balance for your sales rep's. If you are dealing with one or two sales representatives that are likely to be specified on consignment invoices, simply print out the "Commission Statement" report for those sales rep's.
Finally, to correct the history of commission transactions, choose "Finance", "Payables", "Recalculate Liabilities" on the menu. You'll be given an opportunity to select a specific sales representative, customer, and date range for the recalculation. It is generally a good idea to be very selective about this recalculation. This will give you more control over the changes your financial history. It will also allow you to verify those changes in a controlled fashion. You can certainly regerate all commission transactions, but you should then check out all of your commission accounts to verify the changes.
Once you have recalculated your commission history, run the appropriate "Commission Statment" reports again to compare them to your initial reports.
We regret any difficulty that this error may have caused our customers. We stand committed to addressing this issue as quickly and effectively as possible. We hope that this product alert, along with the update and our support are testament to that commitment. As always, if you have any questions or need help with these instruction, please call us at 800-310-8716.
Thank you for your understanding and for choosing Publishers’ Assistant.