Bills and QuickBooks

• Each line is checked against the PO or subcontract, the prices on it, and the tickets and deliveries it pays for.
• A project manager sees what doesn't match before anything is owed, not after it's paid.
• The approved bill lands on the right job and cost code, and draws down the PO, the moment it's approved.
• It goes to QuickBooks for you, so nobody types it twice.

1. Start it.

   Open Money › Vendor bills and select Enter a bill. On a purchase order or subcontract, Enter a bill starts one against it.

2. Start with the bill's PDF.

   At the top, under Drop the bill’s PDF or photo, or type it in, drop the file or select Choose the file. A draft is saved, the bill is attached, and AI reads it: the vendor, number, dates, lines and tax fill in for you to check. You can also skip it and type the bill in.

3. Say who it's from.

   Under Vendor, start typing and pick the company from your directory. Its Terms come with it, and the Due date is worked out from them; change either if the bill says otherwise. Check the Bill number and the Bill date.

4. Check a line for each thing it charges.

   Choose the Job, the Cost code and, if there is one, the PO or subcontract. Enter What it's for, the Quantity, the Unit and the Unit price; the Amount is worked out to the cent, and you can change it. A PO's price for that cost code fills the unit price, and its retainage fills Retainage. Check Billable to the customer for a cost the customer pays; it can then go on an invoice to them, once, with Add billable costs.

   Press Enter in a line's Retainage to go on to the next line; a new one is added at the end.

5. Check the tax.

   Check the bill's Tax and add a Memo if you like. The totals add up as you type. A bill typed in by hand can still have its file attached, and Read the bill (AI) fills it in from that file.

6. Save it or send it.

   Save draft keeps it to finish later. Send for approval runs the check and tells everyone who can approve bills (by default owners, Accounting & payroll and the project managers) that it's waiting.

Under each line, Tickets and deliveries lists that vendor's site tickets on the line's job that are confirmed and not on any bill yet, and the job's deliveries.

• Check the tickets the line pays for, or select Match all. The quantity fills from them: loads for tickets by the load, hours for tickets by the hour, and the quantity for the rest.
• Check the deliveries the line pays for.
• A ticket on one bill isn't offered on another. If the bill is sent back or voided, its tickets are free again.

When it's sent for approval, the check looks for:

• more billed than is left on the PO or subcontract;
• a unit price that isn't the PO's or the ticket's;
• more billed than the tickets or deliveries show;
• a bill number the vendor has already sent;
• a cost code pushed over its budget.

What it finds shows on the bill as notes. A note that starts “For information” is only that; the others need a project manager to decide.

The To approve chip lists what's waiting. Open a bill to see its lines, the bill as it came, and the notes from the check.

• Nothing that needs deciding: select Approve.
• Notes that need deciding: if it's right anyway, say why in the box and select Approve anyway. The notes and your reason stay in the bill's history.
• Not right: select Send back, write what to fix under Why it's sent back, and select Send it back. Whoever entered it fixes it with Edit and sends it again.

Approving puts the lines on the job's cost and records the invoice against the PO or subcontract. If QuickBooks is connected, it's sent there at once.

• The vendor: the one matched to your directory company, or the one with the same name. If QuickBooks has none, it's made from the directory, with its email, phone and terms.
• Each line: the item or expense account matched to the line's cost code on the QuickBooks and accounting page, with the job as the customer and class, and as the location if that's how your books track jobs.
• Tax: shared over the lines by amount, so each line in QuickBooks is what landed on job cost.
• Retainage: QuickBooks has no place for it on a bill. The whole amount goes, with a note saying how much is held back, and the bill reads part paid until the retainage is paid.

A sent bill shows In QuickBooks and an Open in QuickBooks link. If it didn't go (a cost code or job not matched yet, say), it stays approved and on job cost and says why, under the Approved, not in QuickBooks chip. Fix what it says on the QuickBooks and accounting page and select Retry.

Pay the bill in QuickBooks as usual. The payment comes back with the next sync, and the bill reads Part paid or Paid. Without a QuickBooks connection, select Record a payment on an approved bill, enter the Paid on day, the Amount, the Method and the Check no. or reference, and select Record it.

The Unpaid, Due this week and Overdue chips show what's still owed. Overdue due dates are in red.

• A draft, or a bill that was sent back, can be changed with Edit.
• An approved bill that hasn't gone to QuickBooks and has no payment: Undo approval takes it off job cost and makes it a draft again, to correct.
• A bill that's in QuickBooks: to change it, Void it, saying why, select Void the bill, and enter it again. Voiding takes it back out of QuickBooks, off job cost and off the PO, and frees its tickets. If QuickBooks won't take it back, nothing changes here and it says why.
• A bill with a payment on it can't be voided. The bookkeeper credits it in QuickBooks instead.

A bill typed straight into QuickBooks still reaches job cost through the cost import (Sync now on Settings › QuickBooks and accounting, and the daily round), but without the check against the PO and the tickets. A bill sent from Aggrado is never brought in a second time.

Expenses go to QuickBooks too, once they're posted. See Expenses › Sent to QuickBooks.