Clarification on best way to manage my new products and invoiceing cycles

[stardotstar]

Hi all,

 

I never seem to be able to get this right and very often put a client's billing cycle out of sync by altering the "next due" date.

 

Please allow me to describe:

 

I sell advertising delivery on some of my servers. We always bill on the 20th of each month for the full calendar month in advance - ie if you are advertising with me you get an invoice 14 days in advance of a due date on the 20th for advertising delivery the following calendar month.

 

So usually, 7th May you get an invoice for $100, due 20th May for advertising 1 June - 30 June

 

But basically because the system won't accommodate that payment-in-advance on the 20th we accept that the invoices run 20th - 20th.

 

So far so good. If the account is setup on the 20th.

 

But Today I have a new client and I am going to give them free advertising for May and want to take payment for June as usual on the 20th May, so I really just want to set them up manually to join this month's invoices.

 

When I created the order however it created a billing cycle of 8th May - 8th June (today) with invoice due 22nd May.

 

I want his invoice due 20th with a billing cycle of 20th - 20th, starting this 20th May.

 

I note that the next due date actually says 8/5/2013 - no doubt because the product setup today, even though the due date of the invoice is 22nd (terms?).

 

I think that I could use prorata to force billing always to the 20th but that would not allow me to setup the product in advance and not charge for the current month.

 

Can anyone help me untangle the best approach? I often find that if I edit the next due date the whole invoice generation cycle gets pushed back a month and I have to start making manual invoices until the billing cycle automatically catches up.

 

Best regards,

W