Soft Rounding

When the total of two or more amounts must equal a specific amount, the system uses soft rounding to force the total. For example, if you split an invoice for 100 CAD into three payments, the system calculates the first pay item at 33, the second at 34, and the third at 33 so that the total of the three pay items equals 100. If the system did not use soft rounding, you would have to enter an amount that could be divided equally among pay items or submit pay items that did not equal the total amount due, which would not be acceptable.

To minimize the negative effects of rounding, the system uses soft rounding on invoices with multiple pay items. The system stores the amount that it adds or subtracts to a calculated amount (due to rounding) in a cache (memory), and then adds or subtracts that amount from the next pay item:

• If the system rounds up the amount for a pay item, it subtracts that amount from the next pay item before rounding that pay item.

• If the system rounds down the amount for a pay item, it adds that amount to the next pay item before rounding that pay item.

If the system did not perform soft rounding, you might overcharge or undercharge a customer. Although soft rounding does not control overcharges or undercharges between invoices, it does minimize the impact of rounding within a single transaction. The system does not carry soft rounding amounts from one invoice to another.