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Can Elliott Support Gift Cards or Gift Certificates?

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Q - Can Elliott POS (Point of Sales) Systems support gift cards or gift certificates?

A - Even though Elliott POS does support credit card processing. For Visa, Master or American Express gift card, they work just like a credit card.  Therefore, Elliott will support those cards. Elliott will not detect the account balance on the card.  Therefore, Elliott will either approve or decline the authorization amount depend on whether it is under or over the balance.

While we support Visa, Master or American Express gift card, we do not support branded gift cards that works for your stores only.  On other hand, Elliott POS does support gift certificates.  As you can see in the sample screen below, the Elliott POS payment window allows users to enter the following types of payments:
  • Cash
  • Checks
  • Credit Cards
  • Gift Certificates
  • Credits on Account


With a gift certificate, we prompt for the amount.  However, we do not validate whether the gift certificate's serial number is valid at the time of POS.  Neither do we check if the same serial number has already been redeemed.  For these reasons, we need an internal control procedure to prevent potential fraud.

The following is a guideline on how you should set up Elliott so your financial side will present gift certificate information correctly. The sample item number, product category, material cost type, location, and chart of accounts are given as an example.  You should set up those values according to your situation.  In the following, we outline the internal procedure to detect potential frauds with gift certificates.

Gift Certificate Stock, Issue, Redemption Handling

Your organization will sell gift certificates with fixed face value to customers, and certificate holders will redeem them for future purchasing.

Producing Gift Certificates

A gift certificate can be treated as currency for purchasing power. For that reason, a gift certificate should give appear to be as valuable as it actually is, and should be somewhat unique-looking to prevent it from being fabricated. A gift certificate should include:

  1. Item number (under 15 characters) with barcode
  2. Serial number (under 15 digits, no leading zero) with barcode
  3. Expiration date (optional) – this is a challenge since the date of sale will vary greatly
Stock to System and Storage

 A gift certificate is considered as inventory within the system so you should:

  1. Create a new item – Item number is the gift certificate item number, which is a serialized item.
  2. Receive gift certificates with a serial number through I/M Inventory Processing.

Elliott Setup

 

1. Inventory

  • A gift certificate is a serialized item controlled as inventory (i.e., Item # GCF-20, Gift Certificate, Face Value $20.00)
  • New Product Category (i.e., GCF – Gift Certificate)
  • Material Cost Type (i.e., G)
  • Stock location (AA)
  • POS Location (AD)
  • Redeemed location (i.e., AR)

2. GL Chart Accounts

  • Gift Certificate Stock Inventory (DR): 1360-0000-00. This is for Location: AA or Store location.  You will set this up through "Material Cost Type/Loc File" under I/M -> Maintenance.
  • Gift Certificate Redeemed Inventory (DR): 1361-0000-00 This is for Location: AR only. You will set this up through "Material Cost Type/Loc File" under I/M -> Maintenance.
  • Gift Certificate Outstanding (Liability) (CR): 2450-0000-00.  You will set this up by creating a gift certificate payment type under A/R -> Maintenance -> Payment Source.  Then set up the default gift certificate payment source in Global Setup -> Acct -> A/R Payment Source.

3. Sales and COGS Setup from COP Product Category / Loc File

  • You can set this up through COP -> Maintenance -> Prod Cat/Loc Account File
  • Product Category: GCF
  • Location: Store, Range and Program counter
  • Sales Account: 2450-0000-00
  • Cost of Goods Sold: 55AA-2600-00 (can be other expense account)   

4. Inventory (Stock) Account Setup from IM Material Cost Type / Loc File

  • You can set this up through I/M -> Maintenance -> Material Cost Type/Loc File
  • Material Cost Type: G
  • Location: AA
  • Inventory Account: 1360-0000-00
  • Repeat and set up the same for AD location by using the same account.

5. Inventory (Redeemed) Account Setup from IM Material Cost Type / Loc File

  • You can set this up through I/M -> Maintenance -> Material Cost Type/Loc File
  • Material Cost Type: G
  • Location: AR
  • Inventory Account: 1361-000-00

Example


6. Print Face Value of $20 on Gift Certificate, QTY 10,000 units, Move to Stock (Set Cost as 1/1000 of Face Value)

Total Face Value: $20 x 10,000 = $200,000.00
Total Cost: $200,000.00 / 1000 = $200.00
Create an Item GCF-20, with product category as GCF, and material cost type as G. Set the cost to $0.02 (1/1000 of the gift certificate face value).
  • Receive to Stock from IM Inventory Transaction Processing (Type R).
  • Receive 10,000 serial number to inventory as well.
  • You will receive to "AA" location, and system will default inventory account and DR. 1360-0000-00 for $200.00
  • You will distribute to receiving accrual account, which will CR. 55AA-2600-00 for $200.00
 7. Transfer 100-Unit Gift Certificate to Store AD
  •  Transfer inventory from AA to AD for 100 units with 100 serial numbers.
  •  No GL transaction will take place with this transfer since AA and AD use the same inventory account.

8. Customer Purchases 20 $20 Gift Certificates

  • Processing as regular sales order (desk) for item # GCF-20, QTY: 20, total invoice amount $400.00. The following G/L Distribution will take place:
  • (Cash / Sales) DR. Cash in Bank $400.00 / CR. 2450-000-00 $400.00. Keep in mind that we have a liability of $400 now that we sold the gift certificates.
  • (COGS / Inventory) DR. 55AA-2600-00 $0.40  / CR. 1360-0000-00 $0.40

9. Customer Redeems Gift Certificate of $100 with $5 Cash for Purchasing Amount of $105.00

  • The following G/L distribution will take place:
  • DR. 2450-0000-00      $100.00. This will reduce our gift certificate liability of $100.
  • DR. Cash in Bank       $    5.00
  • CR. Sales                    $105.00

10. Redeemed Gift Certificate Are Stored in AR Location by Accounting Department for Auditing Purposes

  • Receive to location AR through IM Inventory Transaction Processing (Type R)
  • Make sure the G/L Account is handled as follows: The inventory account should default and DR. 1361-0000-00 for $0.10 (1/1000 of the redeemed amount).
  • Make sure you distribute G/L account and CR. 55AA-2600-00 for $0.10

11. After the Above Processing, You May See the Balance from Trial Balance

  • GCF Inventory Stock 1360-0000-00   DR. $199.60
  • GCF Redeemed Inventory 1361-0000-00 DR. $0.10
  • GCF Outstanding (Liability) 2450-0000-00 CR. $300.00

12. Ideal Internal Control Amount

  • Originally Issued Amount = GCF Stock*1000 + Outstanding+ Redeemed*1000
                     $200,000.00    = $199,600+$300+$100

Q&A:

 1. Why Do We Need GCF Inventory Account (1360-0000-00)?

Answer: For internal control purposes, we should show insignificant inventory cost on the financial statement. Based on the cost x 1000, we get the face value.

2. Do We Need to Receive Redeemed GCF Back to Location AR?

Answer: Receiving redeemed GCFs back to AR will prevent duplicate redemption if the serial number is duplicated from Receiving. It should be a good internal control method.

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