2. I would stick to invoices and add line items individually. Unfortunately right now you can't add a reference to each line item, but that feature would be ideal for you if it existed. If you know how, you could modify the debtor_trans_detail table (and screens) to add this custom reference (note) in there. That would help alot in reconciliation.

I'm assuming when you say do it in the "G/L" you mean post journal entries. The benefit here is you can put a note in there with a reference for reconciliation. The downside is .... journal entries are not designed for making standard business transactions with. You could easily break your ledger.

I;m just trying to figure out where/how the best way to go about this will be, so hopefully some Accounting guru's have some advice.

from my system i will be posting billings to the FA system via an automated interface.

I have 2 ways to go with this
1. post the batch total
2. post each "claim" item individually.

- when the agency/gov is billed, it is sent as a batch claim, in this batch there can be several "line items" that the doctor is billing for. (think of this the same as an invoice detail item)

- the batch/claim has a total billed.. say 100.00, in which the claim items will total up to.

in the billing cycle (usually monthly), the gov will send us a reconciliation file - which tells me:
- what items were paid and how much
- amount of direct deposit (date, amount etc..)
- adjustments made to the claim amounts

from this file I can then reconcile what was paid and/or is still outstanding.

If I post only the "total" amount for each claim, I won't be able to reconcile in FA, in terms of what line items were paid in full or adjusted.
I will also have the amount that was deposited to the bank account, so I can also make an automated "deposit"

Questions are:

1. should I post each claim item individually, so reconciliation can be much more accurate. (in my system the claims have a HDR and DETAILS table- think of it the same as invoice)

2. where would you do this ?, in GL, or treat it as an invoice -- I'm looking for the easiest and quickest route to the G/L (The goverment could be the "client" record and the claims could be the invoices.. ( I have also setup fields in the doctors profile table for A/R, Banking Acct, adjustments GL accounts that wil be used for the posting of the data)

3. I want to use FA as the primary account system for my system as i don't want to re-invent the wheel.

any advise/insight appreciated.
Johnny