Understanding Assessments and Donations

Assessments and donations are additional costs or deductions that affect the final payment amount. These costs and deductions affect the payment amount of a contract, but do not affect the item price. Some companies may choose to track these costs and deductions separately for reporting purposes by using both assessment and donation adjustment types, while other companies may choose to track all costs and deductions by using one adjustment type only.

If you commonly use an assessment or donation, you can set up a standard assessment or donation and assign it to multiple contracts. For example, assume that your company pays an annual state assessment fee to all growers in the state. You set up a standard assessment that contains default information such as the amount (as a percentage or a flat amount), the effective and expiration dates, and the account. Then you assign the assessment name to the contract. For seldom-used or one-time only assessments or donations, you can enter the information when you attach a contract block to a contract. All assessments and donations are stored in the Assessment Donations table (F43C30).

When you enter an assessment or donation, you enter either a positive or a negative amount. The system subtracts negative amounts and adds positive amounts during the settlement process.

Assessments and donations apply to the harvest record, but you can assign both to the block record to serve as default values for the harvest record.

This table shows the differences between standard assessments and donations and those that are not standard:

Difference	Standard Assessments and Donations	Assessments and Donations (Nonstandard)
When Used	These are commonly used assessments and donations that you set up with default values for frequent use.	These are seldom-used or one-time-only assessments and donations.
Setup Required	You set up the assessment or donation on the Standard Assessment & Donations form. You enter a unique name and a type when you set up the assessment or donation. If you change the name, the system automatically updates existing contracts with the new name.	Not applicable.
Currency Codes	You assign a currency code to the amount of the assessment or donation that you set up.	You assign a currency code when you enter the assessment or donation. It must be the same as the currency code of the contract.
Where Assigned	You enter the name of an existing assessment or donation on the contract block.	You enter the type, description (without a name), and other details for an assessment or donation on the contract block.
Deletions	You cannot delete a standard assessment or donation if it is attached to a contract.	You can delete the assessment or donation on the Update Contract Block form.