● Organisation Contact, Currency and Timezone

● Index Interest Rates

● Transaction Channels

● Tax Rates

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Organisation Contact, Currency and Timezone

Please see the dedicated article.

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Index Interest Rates

It's a common practice in some organisations to fix their internal interest rates to a standard rate determined periodically by an external entity, such as Central Banks.

The interest rate source is defined when creating a Loan Product using declining balance methods as explained in Interest Calculation Methods in Loans.

All the accounts created under a loan product using Index Interest Rate will be reviewed at a frequency which is also determined when creating the product.

When the accounts are reviewed, if the Index Rate remains the same, there will be no changes in the repayment schedules. On the other hand, if the Index Rate changed after the latest review, the repayment schedules will be updated to reflect the new interest rate.

Adding an Index Interest Rate

To add an Index Interest Rate you have to add first a Rate Source. Available Rate Sources: Interest Rate, Value Added Tax, Withholding Tax. 

1. Go to Administration
2. General 
3. Rates
4. Add Index Interest Rate
5. Enter the rate and the start date
6. Save Changes

There are a few aspects to take into account when adding a new index Interest Rate:

• The first Index rate can be added with a start date in the past
• All other Index rates should have either the current or a future date

Editing and deleting an Index Interest Rate

Index Rates can only be edited or deleted if the start date is either the current or a future date, or if it is not being used in any account yet.

To edit an Index rate click on the correspondent icon > edit the Index rate > Save Changes.
To delete an Index rate click on the delete icon > Delete.
 

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Transaction Channels

In addition to the four predefined Transaction Channels--Cash, Receipt, Check and Bank-- you can add others if your organisation uses other payment forms, such as POS devices. In order to use transaction channels only for specific transactions or products, you can set Loan Constraints and Savings Constraints. The constraints are based on transaction type (Disbursement and Repayment in case of Loan Constraints and Deposit and Withdrawal in case of Deposit Constraints), Product (Loan/Deposit) and Amount.

When adding a new Transaction Channel, you can define which fields should be available as well as the Fund Source GL Account to which that channel should be linked. This will allow you to log different journal entries depending on which payment method you use while keeping your books updated.

To add new transaction channels:

1. Go to General 
2. Transaction Channels
3. Add Channel
4. Enter name and ID
5. Choose the GL account to be linked to that channel
6. Add Loan Constraints/Savings Constraints
7. Check the user roles that should be able to post transactions using that channel
8. Save Changes

The new Transaction Channel will be added to the list and available when you enter any transaction.

 When users are posting transactions they will only see the channels that are available for their role.

Editing, Deactivating and Deleting Transaction Channels

If you need to make any changes to an existing transaction channels, you'll find the option to edit under Actions and you'll be able to do the changes.

 If you need to change the GL Account on a Transaction Channel already in use, you should make sure that you reflect the changes with manual Journal Entries.

Under Actions you will also find the options to Delete or Deactivate a Transaction Channel. You can only delete channels that haven't been used before. If a channel has been used before but you don't want it to be available anymore, you can simply deactivate it and users won't be able to see it as an option when logging a transaction.

Rearranging Channels

You can define in which order the Transaction Channels will be displayed to users so that the most used ones are on top of the list, for example.

To rearrange the existing channels:

1. Go to General Settings
2. Transaction Channels
3. Rearrange
4. Drag and drop the channels in the order you want
5. Save Changes

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Tax Rates

Organisations might be required to collect taxes on the income generated from loans interest, fees or penalties, and/or to withhold taxes on interest paid to deposit accounts. These taxes are usually called Value Added Tax - VAT in the case of Loan Products, and Withholding taxes in the case of Deposit products. 

 Taxes are set up at the Product Level, using a previously defined Tax Rate, for Tax details please see the relevant sections in the Loan Product Setup and Deposit Product Setup articles.

Adding Tax Rates

Just as it happens with the Index interest rates, also taxes source, rates and start date need to be added under Administration before being used.

The first step should be to add the tax source. To do so go to Administration > General Settings > Rates > click the plus icon > enter the source's name > choose the Rate Source Type > Save Changes.



Once the tax source is defined, you can start defining your Taxes rates. Choose the appropriate Tax source > click "Add Vaule Added Tax" or "Add Witholding Tax"> enter the new rate > enter the date when it should be valid from > Save Changes.



 Taxes can't be enabled or disabled on a product if it already has active accounts  

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