Adjustments are used to either add or subtract from balances in an Agents Summary. The affected balances are Net (money the Agent receives from Commissions), Current 1099 (taxable income), and Agent Balance (Agent’s debit balance from Advances that have not been fully recovered.)
Adjustment Setup templates
Adjustment Setup templates should first be created to fit the company’s requirements. These templates become the descriptions that are selected when creating an Adjustment record. After selecting the description, it brings in the default settings of which balances are affected, if it is quantity based, and if an Issuer has been entered. Comissio will start with a default template with description ‘Miscellaneous’ that just has ‘Apply to Net’ checked.
Selecting an Issuer is not required but can be used if only a cycle that includes that Issuer is desired. It may also be helpful to identify an Issuer for reporting purposes.
Adjustment Setup List page
Quantity Based Adjustments
The Adjustment setup template can be created to be quantity based. An example of where this may be helpful if the Agency can purchase bundles of leads on behalf of the Agent which is then charged back to the Agent using an Adjustment. If each bundle is $50 each, and the Agent agreed to purchase three, the Adjustment can be created by each quantity 3 at $50 each.
Adjustment Setup detail page highlighting setting for Quantity Based
Adjustment record from description from quantity-based Adjustment Setup template
Adjustment record from description from Adjustment Setup template that is not quantity based
Create Adjustment records by selecting Add New Adjustment from the Adjustment List page.
Adjustment List page
Adding an Adjustment
To create an Adjustment:
- Select the Agent or Organizations name or Agent ID.
- Select Commission Processing Date. It will default to today’s date, but can be changed to the preferred cycle date or a later date so it will be picked up for a later cycle.
- Select the Description (of the Adjustment Setup template). Once the description is selected, the respective ‘Apply to’ checkboxes become checked, as well as any Issuer or Notes default in from the template, but these settings can be changed as needed on each adjustment.
- Select Save.
Add Adjustment detail page
The amount of an Adjustment is subtracted from the relative balance. It is critical that the admin confirms the correct checkbox(s) are checked for the ‘Apply to’ selections. When the amount of the Adjustment is negative, subtracting a negative becomes a positive “-(-$xx.xx)”. For a bonus where the Agent is to receive money, the amount of the bonus is entered as a negative number, and ‘Apply to Net’ would be checked (as well as ‘Apply to Form 1099 if the amount should be included in taxable income).
Adjustments can also be used to pay off all or a portion of an Agents Balance. This is accomplished by having both Net and Agent Balance checked. (1099 should not also be checked in this type of adjustment but tenants should consult their accountants on tax policies.) So, for example, an Agent receives a six-month Advance of $600 and has five months’ worth ($500) left to recover. An Adjustment for $500 with Net and Agent Balance checked is created. Then if the Agent had at least $500 in commissions, when the Adjustment was applied, their net would be reduced by $500 as well as their Agent balance.
The amount of an Adjustment that can be applied in a cycle is determined by the type of balance(s) they apply to.
- When an Adjustment has ‘Apply to Net’ checked, the amount applied is limited to the amount of Net the Agent has. The Agents Net cannot be reduced to be below zero.
- There is not a limitation if only ‘Apply to 1099’ is checked. Although a business reason to do so may be rare, an Adjustment could be applied so that the Current 1099 balance can become less than $0.00 in that cycle. Often an Adjustment with 1099 checked also has Apply to Net checked and it is the Net that sets a limitation on how much can be applied.
- An Adjustment with ‘Apply to Agent Balance’ checked is different in that if the amount of the Adjustment would take the Agent Balance in the Summary below $0.00, any additional amount below zero instead is to increase the Net amount. One way to envision this is to think of the Agent balance as a credit card balance where you owe $500. If $1000 was paid toward the $500 balance, you would receive back $500 as a refund.
After Commissions are calculated, Adjustments are applied by selecting on the tab.
Cycle page header tabs:
The admin will then be presented with an option to specify what percentage of an Agents total applicable balance of all Adjustments to apply. The applicable balance would be comprised of Adjustments that have a Processing Date on or before the Commission Processing Date of the Run, and for ones that have no Issuer Entered or with an Issuer that was selected for the Run.
The first Adjustments that are applied are ones that are for bonuses, where Net is checked, and amount is negative, so it pays money to the agent. Then the system will apply ones based on oldest Processing Date. Then if there are more than one with the same Processing Date, it will go by order of creation date.
Apply Adjustments option to specify Percentage.
After applying adjustments, they are displayed in a list page, which is referred to as the Applied Adjustments list page.
Applied Adjustment List Page
Selecting a line in the page will show options to go to go view the details of the Adjustment, or to modify the amount applied by selecting Edit/View Adjustments.
Applied Adjustment List page options after selecting an Adjustment line.
The Summary page of the cycle shows the Adjustment Balance and the amount of Adjustment Applied for the Agent or Org.
Summary page with Adjustment Balance and Adjustment Applied columns identified.
Note: The Adjustment Balance is for all Adjustments with Processing Date on or before the Cycle Date for the Agent. It also reflects the balance after negative values, so $50 balance could be from sum of Adjustments -$25, $45, and $30. Adjustment Applied also is respective of negative values, so if you apply an Adjustment of -$25 and one for $25, the Adjustment Applied amount displayed in the Summary would reflect $0 applied.
If an Agent/Org row is selected, it will show options which includes one to Edit/View Adjustments. Selecting this option from this location or from an Adjustment in the Applied Adjustment list page will open a page to allow the admin to modify the Adjustments applied to the Agent.
Summary page options after selecting a line for the Agent or Org
Adjustment Allocation page
The Adjustment Allocation page allows an Admin to change the amount applied in the Adjustments. Negative adjustments, for example for a bonus with Net checked, however, do not allow changing the amount to be applied in the cycle so the Agent will always receive the full amount.
When an Adjustment is picked up by a cycle, but the cycle is not yet closed, the Adjustment details show it with status Processed.
View Adjustment detail page
After an Adjustment is the status shows Processed, the balance will reflect after the applied amount, and there will be details to show the cycle(s) that it was applied.
View Adjustment showing one that has been processed.
