Where Charges, Payments, & Adjustments Go in Accounting Periods

The following information explains where charges, payments, and adjustments go into accounting periods.

Charges

Charges are based on the date of service. For example, if a claim is dated October 15th and the October accounting period is still open, the charges will be applied to October. However, if the October 15th claim is processed in November after the October period has closed, the charges will be recorded in the November period, but will retain the October service date. As a result, if you run a report for November, you may see charges associated with service dates from the previous period.

Payments

Payments are recorded based on the deposit date. If you post a payment with a deposit date of October 15th while the October period is still open, it will be applied to October. However, if October is already closed, the payment will be recorded in the November period, but it will retain the original deposit date of October 15th.

Adjustments

If the adjustment date is today’s date, it is based on the posted date. For example, if you post an adjustment on November 5th for a claim dated October 15th, the adjustment will be recorded in the next open period. Since adjustments are typically based on the posted date, they usually do not span multiple periods.

If the adjustment date is set to a prior date, the system will treat the adjustment similarly to payments. In such cases, the accounting period will align with the transaction date rather than the posted date. For adjustments, "Transaction date" acts the same as a "Deposit date."