Billing Settings control the default behavior of the billing engine calculations that are run whenever Fee Billing Invoices are generated. These settings, along with Fee Schedules, Discounts, and Exclusions determine how much each account is billed for in the period.

Billing settings are reached by navigating to Run Business > Billing and clicking the settings control in the upper left.

Billing Groups

Billing Groups are a way to separate the accounts between advisors if different advisors use different billing methods. Each Billing Group has its own settings configured in Billing Settings. Billing Groups are a type of Subtenant and are created there.

If your firm chooses to use Billing Groups, use the Billing Group name tabs along the left to select which group you are configuring billing settings for.

Billing Settings

Billing Period

Select which interval to bill on.

• Monthly: Bill at the end of each month.
• Quarterly (Calendar): Bill at the end of each calendar quarter, i.e. March 31, June 30, September 30, and December 31.
• Quarterly (Anniversary): Bill at 3-month intervals beginning the end of the Account’s Billing Start Date month. For example, if an account’s billing start date is Feb 15, the account will be billed every 3 months starting at the end of February.

Note that calculated fees can vary from interval to interval based on the actual number of days in the interval.

Billing Method

Select which method to bill using:

• Arrears: Bill for the interval that just ended. Since you are billing on known balances, no adjustments are needed based on future account changes. The 3 settings for Adjustments are hidden if this option is selected.
• Advance: Bill for the coming interval by forecasting market values based on the ending balance of previous interval. If Advance billing is used, Adjustment Frequency, Adjustment Balance to Bill On, and Adjustment Settings must be configured below. For details on how adjustments happen for Advance billing, see Advance Fee Billing Adjustments.

Adjustment Frequency

If billing in advance, set whether the billed amount will be adjusted Monthly or Quarterly. Note that if billing Monthly, this setting is defaulted to Monthly and cannot be changed.

Adjustment Balance to Bill On

Set to calculate adjustments based on the Average Daily Balance or Period End Balance.

Adjustment Settings

Set which events, if any, will flag a billing adjustment: Account Opening, Account Closing, and/or Money Flows of a Minimum amount or more. When adjustments are run, only accounts that meet the selected criteria are adjusted.

Accounting Method

By default, billing is calculated on the total account value. Firms using the AE SMArtX integration can choose between billing based on the Total Account or calculating each Sleeve separately.

Account Balance to Bill On

Set to bill on the one of the following:

• Average Daily Balance: Uses the average of each day’s market value during the entire billing period.
• Period End Balance: Uses the market value on the last day of the billing period.
• Anniversary Month-End Balance: Bills based on the balance at the last month-end anniversary of the account billing start date. For example, an account that began billing in January will have the end-of-January balance used to calculate billing for all billing periods until the next January.

Account Billing Start

Set when to start billing for an account by default:

• Billing Start Date: Accounts will use the Account Open Date as the billing start. (If the Account was imported and not opened in AdvisorEngine, it will use the earliest buy date it can find as the Start Date. If no date is found, the Start Date must be set manually for that Account.)
• Initial Funding Date: The billing start date will be automatically set to the date the account first has a positive balance.
• First Purchase Date: The billing start date will be automatically set to the date of the first purchase transaction in the account.

Outside Managed Accounts

Determine how to use Outside Managed Accounts for fee billing. This option will appear once for each outside data feed enabled (such as DST or MX) and must be selected for each feed. The default setting for each feed is Exclude from billing.

• Calculate fees ¹: Accounts are subject to full billing. Accounts are used for breakpoint determination and fees are calculated for the accounts.
Note: Unless an account has another account designated to pay its fees at a Direct Custodian, the advisor is responsible for submitting these bills independently. The AE Billing system cannot debit an outside managed account.
• Exclude from billing: The Portfolio Management billing engine will ignore the account for all calculations and billing.
• Use for breakpoint determination only but calculate no fees: The account values will be used to determine the fee rate for the remaining billable accounts but will be exempt from actual billing.

¹ Full continuity of data is required for Average Daily Billing. AdvisorEngine recommends Month-End billing for households with Outside Managed accounts. If Average Daily is used, account total market values should be verified for accuracy. Contact AdvisorEngine Support for details.

Fee Types

Set the fee types you collect. Note that you may only choose either Total or a combination of the remaining three options. If you use Fidelity or Pershing custodial integration, set the Credit Account the fees are sent to and the Credit Account’s Source Code.

• Total: Charge fees that encompass all other fees.
• Advisor: Charge an Advisor fee.
• Technology: Charge clients a technology fee.
• Platform: Charge clients a fee for using the Portfolio Manager.