Employer billing: send invoices or run it through your membership platform?

You can bill an employer with an invoice from your accounting software, or set the group up in your membership platform and charge the employer there. Either works. What matters is that the books, the platform and the employer's census all agree each month.

Invoice from your books

You send an invoice from your accounting software, and the employer pays by ACH or check.

• Your A/R report shows exactly what each employer owes.
• Credits and adjustments are easy to show line by line.
• Members still need to be set up in your platform for scheduling and records, so the roster lives in two places.

Group billing in your membership platform

Some platforms can group members under an employer and charge the employer for all of them.

• The roster lives in one place.
• Payments may arrive bundled with individual member payments, which makes them harder to match. This post covers matching platform payouts.
• Check whether the platform handles mid-month changes, credits and invoices the employer can approve.

Questions to ask your platform

• Can one payer cover many members, with one invoice or charge?
• Can I see employer revenue separately in reports?
• How are payments deposited, and are employer payments listed apart from individual ones?
• Can I export the enrolled roster by employer?

Here are more questions for a platform.

Whichever you choose

• Each employer's revenue lands on the employer revenue line in your books, tagged to that employer.
• The platform roster matches the employer's census each month.
• Your bookkeeper can trace every employer dollar from invoice or charge to deposit.

An example

In a made-up example, a practice has three employers. Two small ones pay by card through the platform, $490 and $630 a month. One larger one gets a $4,200 monthly invoice paid by ACH. The bookkeeper records all three to the employer revenue line with each employer's tag, and the A/R report only needs to track the larger one.

What I'd do this week

• Write down how each employer is billed today.
• Check whether employer revenue can be pulled out of your books by employer.
• Ask your platform the four questions above.

Common questions

Is one method better?
Not for every employer. Ask each one how it approves and pays bills, and pick the method that fits.

Can I use both?
Yes, as long as each employer's revenue is tagged and reconciled the same way.

What if my platform can't separate employer payments?
Your bookkeeper can split them during reconciliation, but it takes more time. Weigh that against switching to invoices.