What do you owe your owners today?

Joint interest billing is how an operator bills working-interest owners for their share of a well's costs and distributes their share of its revenue. At most small operators the answer to "what do you owe me?" is "after the cycle runs," because the software only computes owner balances once a month. JIB Live keeps every owner's balance standing every day, current as of the last posted check or bill: what is owed, what is held in suspense and why, what nets against what the owner owes you. The number on the screen is the same calculation that cuts the check.

What is joint interest billing?

When several parties own working interests in a well, the operator pays the costs and collects the revenue, then settles with each owner. Joint interest billing (JIB) bills each owner their share of the costs. Revenue distribution pays each owner their share of what the purchasers paid, less taxes and deductions. Suspense holds money that cannot be paid yet: an owner without a signed division order, a title problem, a payment below the minimum check amount. The settlement nets what the owner owes you against what you owe the owner, and the check or the invoice is the difference.

Why can't most operators answer the owner's question today?

Because the software computes owner balances in a monthly batch. Costs and revenue post through the month, but they are not distributed across the division of interest until the cycle runs: extract, review, distribute, print, post. Until then, an owner's balance is a report you could run, not a number on a screen. The owner calls, and the honest answer is "after the cycle." Change something after posting and the whole cycle is backed out and run again.

What is JIB Live?

JIB Live is Envytory's owner settlement, and it is not a report. A revenue check, a vendor bill or a journal entry lands on the owners' ledgers the moment it posts. Every owner's balance is on screen every day:

• what is owed, and what it is owed for, entry by entry;
• what is held in suspense, and the reason on each hold;
• what the owner owes you, and how it nets;
• the oldest unpaid month.

Paying is one decision over that balance. You propose a settlement, review what it would pay and what it would hold, and post it. The number you reviewed is the number on the check, because it is the same calculation. A retry cannot pay an owner twice, and a settlement is final once posted; corrections are made by owner and by property, not by unwinding the month.

What does "live" mean, and what does it not mean?

Live means as of the last posted check or bill. If you posted a purchaser's check this morning, the owners' balances reflect it this morning. It does not mean owners are paid the moment revenue arrives: purchaser revenue reaches you one to two months after production, and paying is a dated decision you make on your schedule. It also does not mean the current month's overhead is already billed; that is shown as a preview before it is billed, computed by the same code that will bill it, and kept outside every balance until then.

How do you know the numbers are right?

By running a real operator's month both ways. Loaded from their backup and settled in Envytory, the billing matched their old system to the cent, and every dollar of owner suspense tied. Every figure on the screen opens to the entries behind it, which is also the answer to the owner's phone call: not "after the cycle," but "here is your balance, and here is why."