The Accounts Receivable report located in the Reports Ability is the preferred method to run your A/R. It is considered a "real-time" report. This means that at the moment it is run, it will calculate your practice's A/R for all data that's entered within MacPractice and present the status of your A/R as of that moment.
However, there may be a time when you need to go back and run the A/R for a historical date. Maybe you simply didn't save a copy of the report or you need to see how your A/R has changed since you implemented a new office workflow.
You can now use the Accounting Ability's General Ledger to review the procedures, payments, and adjustments that were present in the system on that specific date. The Accounting Ability shows everything by posted date, regardless of the procedure dates, so any changes you've made since the date in question would not be reflected.
Example Historical A/R
In my scenario, I'd like a copy of what the A/R was on 11/21/17 when a new billing company took over. Here is an example of the Accounts Receivable report from that date.
To find the same information, navigate to the Accounting Ability and select the General Ledger node. In the General Ledger, leave the Start Date blank and enter the report date in the End Date.
The Accounts Receivable number is calculated from 4 possible sections in the results. The Insurance and Patient A/Rs will display your overall debits. The Unapplied Payments and Unapplied Negative Adjustments will reflect any outstanding credits on that date. Together, these numbers reflect your Net Accounts Receivable.
The Insurance A/R in Accounting will match the Total Insurance Balance on the report.
The Patient A/R in Accounting will match the Total Patient Balance on the report.
Add your Patient and Insurance A/Rs together to get the Accounts Receivable on the report.
Add your Unapplied Negative Adjustments and your Unapplied Payments together to get the Total Unapplied Balance on the report.
Your Net Accounts Receivable is the Accounts Receivable minus the Total Unapplied balance.