Invoices

Invoices group transactions together into a single bill for a customer. The platform creates invoices automatically during billing runs, or you can create them manually at any time.

Every customer has a special Unsent invoice. New charges accumulate on this invoice until they are moved onto a real invoice, either during a billing run or when you create an invoice manually.

Invoice Page

The invoice page has two sections:

• Left (or top): Invoice details and customer link, plus a link to raise a new invoice
• Right (or bottom): List of transactions on this invoice, with buttons to modify the invoice or its transactions

In enhanced mode, tabs show the customer’s details and a summary of all their invoices.

Invoice Details

Invoice Number

Each invoice has a unique number. By default this combines the customer account number and an invoice reference, separated by a forward slash (e.g. DEMO1234/4). This lets you immediately identify the customer and how many invoices they have had. The reference starts at one and increases by one for each new invoice.

The Unsent invoice has no reference and no bill PDF.

Customer Reference and Purchase Order Number

You can record the customer’s own reference or purchase order number against an invoice. These appear on the bill when set.

Date Details

Invoice Date

The date shown on the bill. This defaults to the date the invoice is created, but you can override it.

Cut-off Date

The cut-off date controls which transactions from the Unsent invoice are included when you create a new invoice. Call charges with a start date before this date are included. Non-call charges whose bill date (or transaction date, if no bill date) falls before this date are also included.

The bill date lets you shift when a charge appears relative to the cutoff. Setting a bill date before the transaction date bills in advance; setting it after bills in arrears.

Leaving the cut-off date empty means no transactions are automatically included. You then pick exactly which ones to include.

Changing the cut-off date on an existing invoice has no effect. It only matters when the invoice is first created.

If the cut-off date is in the future, the platform generates recurring and fixed charges ahead of time based on their bill dates, so those charges exist and are ready to bill.

Transaction Cut-off Date

The transaction cut-off date is an optional second cutoff for non-call charges. When set, non-call charges are included when their transaction date is on or before this date. The bill date advance/arrears mechanism no longer applies to non-call charges, and inclusion is based only on the transaction date.

This is useful for manual or ad-hoc transactions. For example, setting a transaction cutoff date of today captures all charges entered this month, without needing to adjust bill dates to fit a first-of-month cutoff.

If the transaction cutoff date is in the future, the platform generates recurring and fixed charges ahead of time so those charges exist and are ready to bill. Normally, recurring charges are created as they become due. A future transaction cutoff date causes them to be generated early. For example, if you request bills on 28 March with a transaction cutoff date of 30 April, the platform creates April’s recurring charges so they appear on the invoice.

Most businesses only need the standard cut-off date. Use the transaction cut-off date only if you have more complex billing arrangements.

Period Ended

If the bill shows a “Period Ended” date, this is the later of:

• the day before the cut-off date, or
• the transaction cut-off date itself (when set)

If neither cutoff date is set, the day before the invoice date is used instead.

Due Date

The due date can be calculated automatically from the invoice date and the payment terms on the payment method or customer. You can also set it manually.

Payment Details

Payment Method

You can specify a payment method for the invoice. If you leave this blank, the customer’s default payment method is used.

Amounts

Invoice Amount and Invoice VAT

These are kept up to date automatically as transactions are added, removed or edited. Small rounding errors can occur when many changes are made (as happens on the Unsent invoice throughout a month). The figures are corrected once the invoice is actually produced.

Paid Amount

If you track payments in the platform, the paid amount updates automatically as payments are added to the customer’s account.

Media Details

Invoice Message

You can set up different invoice messages (such as a welcome message, a standard message and a final bill message) and have one display on the bill. A message is applied automatically, but you can choose a different one.

Online / Email / Post Bills

You can choose which bill format (long, short or full) the customer receives through the portal, by email, or in the print bill bundle. If you don’t specify, the defaults are taken from the customer’s settings.

Transactions

The invoice page shows a list of transactions on this invoice. Each transaction has a tick-box you can use to select it for bulk operations like moving, deleting or refunding.

Available Actions

From the invoice page you can:

• Move transactions between invoices, including to or from the Unsent invoice
• Delete transactions individually or in bulk, with optional date range filtering
• Refund transactions to create refund entries on the Unsent invoice (see also Applying Credits and Adjustments for goodwill credits and manual adjustments)
• Re-rate usage fees to recalculate usage charges
• Add a new transaction via the Add menu (standalone, not linked to a feature)
• Recreate the bill PDF to reflect any changes you have made
• Download the bill in long, short or full format
• Re-apply discount plans to recalculate discount allowances after invoice changes
• Approve an invoice to lock it for delivery
• Unapprove an invoice to unlock it for amendments
• Collect Payment to create a payment and submit it to the payment provider immediately (Expert Mode). See Collect Payment below.

If you have changed the value of the invoice (for example, added or removed a transaction), a red Recreate button is shown. This means the bill needs recreating before you can view or email it.

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Invoice Fields

The fields below make up an invoice record. The platform keeps the amounts, paid figures and status fields up to date for you as transactions and payments change.

Invoice Details

This section contains the basic invoice identification details such as invoice number and billing run reference. These details uniquely identify the invoice within the system.

Field	Description
Invoice Number	The unique invoice number displayed on the invoice document
Billing Run	The billing run that generated this invoice

Date Details

This section includes dates relevant to the invoice, including invoice date, call cut-off date, optional non-call transaction cut-off date, due date for payment, and payment completion date. These dates determine billing periods and payment timelines.

Field	Description
Invoice Date	The date when the invoice was created
Cut-off Date	The call cut-off date for charges included in this invoice
Transaction Cut-off Date	Optional non-call cutoff date for charges included in this invoice by transaction date
Due Date	The date by which payment for this invoice is due
Paid Date	Date when the invoice was fully paid

Payment Details

This section defines how the invoice should be paid, including payment method and related payment information, which affects how funds are collected from the customer.

Field	Description
Payment Method	The method of payment for this invoice (defaults to customer method if not specified)

Amounts

This section contains the financial amounts for the invoice, including net amount, VAT, total amount, paid amount, and outstanding balance. These figures determine what the customer is charged and owes.

Field	Description
Invoice Amount	The net amount of the invoice before VAT
VAT Amount	The VAT amount applied to this invoice
Reverse VAT Amount	The reverse charge VAT amount for this invoice
Total	The total amount of the invoice including VAT
Paid Amount	The amount that has been paid against this invoice
Outstanding	Amount still to be paid on this invoice
Calls	Number of calls billed on this invoice (from transaction summaries)
Minutes	Total minutes (rounded to whole minutes) billed on this invoice (from transaction summaries)
One-Off Charges	Total one-off charges billed on this invoice
Recurring Charges	Total recurring charges billed on this invoice
Call Charges	Total call charges billed on this invoice
Refunds	Total refunds billed on this invoice
Late Fees	Total late fees billed on this invoice
Interest	Total interest charges billed on this invoice
Carrier Provided Charges	Total carrier provided charges billed on this invoice
Manual Billing Fees	Total manual billing fees billed on this invoice
Low Usage Fees	Total low usage fees billed on this invoice
Manual Charges	Total manual charges billed on this invoice
Non-Call Charges	Total non-call charges billed on this invoice

Status

This section shows the current status of the invoice, including approval status and other state flags that indicate where the invoice is in its lifecycle.

Field	Description
Status Flags	Current status of this invoice

Media Details

This section controls how the invoice is presented to the customer, including bill style, messages, bill types for different delivery methods, and customer references that appear on the invoice document.

Field	Description
Bill Style	The style template used for rendering this invoice
Invoice Message	Message to display on the invoice
Invoice Usage Report	Profile controlling how usage details are reported alongside the invoice
Customer Reference	Customer-provided reference to appear on the invoice
Purchase Order Number	Customer purchase order number to appear on the invoice
Online Bill	Type of bill to generate for online viewing
Email Bill	Type of bill to generate for email delivery
Post Bill	Type of bill to generate for postal delivery
Fax Bill	Type of bill to generate for fax delivery

System Information

This section contains system metadata about the invoice, including timestamps for various activities and modification tracking for auditing purposes.

Field	Description
VAT Amount (Sage)
Absolute Amount	Absolute value of the invoice amount
Absolute VAT Amount	Absolute value of the VAT amount
Type (Sage)
Last Modified	Timestamp of the most recent modification to this invoice
Created	Timestamp when this invoice was created
Approved	Timestamp when this invoice was most recently approved
Unapproved	Timestamp when this invoice was most recently unapproved

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Approving and Unapproving Invoices

Approving an Invoice

Approving an invoice locks it so it can be emailed, downloaded, or exported. Once approved, you cannot move, delete, or edit transactions on the invoice without unapproving it first.

Steps:

1. View the invoice
2. Click Actions menu > Approve

Invoices are also approved automatically when sent via the Email Bills billing run step.

Unapproving an Invoice

Unapprove an invoice when you need to correct something on it after approval.

Steps:

1. View the invoice
2. Click Actions menu > Unapprove

Important: If the invoice has already been delivered (emailed, downloaded, or printed), unapproving requires Expert Mode level 5.

Once unapproved, the invoice is unlocked. You can move, delete, or edit its transactions. When you have finished making changes, recreate the bill and approve the invoice again.

How Approval Protects Invoices

The platform treats approved invoices as finalised. When you make changes to a customer or their features, the system handles approved and unapproved invoices differently:

• Unapproved invoices: transactions are updated or removed in-place
• Approved invoices: the original transactions stay untouched. Corrections appear as refund or adjustment transactions on the customer’s Unsent invoice instead.

This means:

• Changing a customer’s VAT rate updates transactions on Unsent and unapproved invoices only. Approved invoices keep their original VAT.
• Repricing a feature (via Change Recurring Charge, Recalculate, or Refund and Rebill) creates refund transactions on the Unsent invoice for any charges on approved invoices, rather than modifying them.

If you want changes to appear on the original invoice rather than as adjustments on the next one, unapprove the invoice first, then make your changes.

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Correcting VAT on an Approved Invoice

If a customer’s VAT status changes and you need to correct invoices that have already been approved:

1. Unapprove each affected invoice (Actions menu > Unapprove)
2. Edit the customer’s VAT rate (the change now cascades to the unapproved invoices’ transactions)
3. Recreate the bill on each invoice (Actions menu > Recreate)
4. Approve each invoice again (Actions menu > Approve)

Important: If you change the VAT rate before unapproving, the approved invoices are not updated. You would need to change the rate back, unapprove, then change it again.

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Reapplying Discount Plans

Use this action when discount plan allowances on an invoice need recalculating. Common situations include:

• You moved transactions onto an invoice after it was created
• You backdated a feature with a discount plan and moved the charges onto an existing invoice
• You unapproved an invoice and edited transactions that affect discount usage

Steps:

1. View the invoice
2. Click Actions menu > Re-apply Discount Plans
3. Fill in the action form (all fields are optional):

Optional:

• Discounts Applied on Behalf Of: The user requesting the recalculation
• Reason for Reapplying Discounts: Why allowances need recalculating
• Action Details: Any extra context

4. Click Re-apply Discount Plans

What happens:

• The platform recalculates the discount allowance pools for this invoice
• Transactions are re-evaluated against the updated allowances
• Transaction amounts are updated where the discount changes
• Only the selected invoice is affected

Important: After reapplying, recreate the bill PDF if the invoice has already been produced.

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Viewing an Invoice

You can view any invoice by clicking a link to it. These links appear on the customer page, on transaction pages, and in reports. In enhanced mode, hover over any invoice link to see a summary tooltip.

Recreating a Bill PDF

When you first create an invoice, the platform produces a bill as a PDF. As you make changes to the customer’s account or transactions, the PDF may become out of date.

In some cases (such as deleting a transaction), the platform detects the change and marks the invoice as invalid. In other cases (such as changing the customer’s address), the platform cannot tell whether the bill needs updating. You decide whether to recreate it.

If an invoice is marked as invalid, nobody can download or email the PDF. The platform recreates any invalid bills automatically during daily processing each morning. You can also recreate it yourself at any time.

Steps:

1. View the invoice

2. Click Recreate in the Actions menu

3. Fill in the recreation form (all fields are optional):

   • Recreation Reason: Choose why you are recreating this invoice
   • Recreated on Behalf Of: Select the user who requested the recreation
   • Additional Details: Add any extra context

4. Click Recreate

Caution

If the invoice has already been sent to the customer, a warning appears to let you know. You can still recreate it, but consider whether you need to resend the updated PDF afterwards.

What happens:

• The bill PDF is rebuilt using the current transaction values and customer contact details
• The PDF also reflects any payments made against the invoice
• Each recreation increases the invoice’s revision number, giving you an audit trail of how many times it has been regenerated
• If the invoice was marked as invalid, a Recreate button is shown in red

Common scenario: customer changes name or address

If a customer updates their company name or address and needs their invoice to reflect the change:

1. Edit the customer record with the new details
2. View the invoice that needs updating
3. Recreate the bill PDF using the steps above
4. Resend the invoice if the customer has already received the old version

Downloading a Bill

A view link usually appears alongside invoice summaries on the customer page and in reports. View links are not shown for the Unsent invoice. If a link is missing for another invoice, the PDF may be out of date and need recreating.

The standard view link downloads the full bill. You can also download the long or short format from the invoice page.

Steps:

1. View the invoice
2. Select the format (long, short or full) from the drop-down next to Download
3. Click Download

Emailing a Bill

You can email a bill directly from the platform, rather than downloading and attaching it yourself. The platform must be configured for emailing. For general information about email delivery and tracking, see Emailing Customers.

The bill PDF must be up to date before you can email it. If the invoice is marked as invalid, recreate the bill first.

Quick Send

Click the Email button on the invoice page to send immediately. The platform emails the bill to the customer’s default email addresses using the default bill format and message template. No form appears and no confirmation is needed.

Full Email Options

For more control, use Actions menu > Email Invoice. This opens a form where you can:

1. Choose your recipients
2. Select a bill format and message template
3. Add extra attachments
4. Record audit trail details
5. Click Email Invoice to send

Choosing Recipients

The email form offers several recipient options:

• Customer Email Addresses: email addresses on the customer record
• Contact Email Addresses: emails for contacts linked to this customer
• Internal Team Emails: send a copy to yourself, the account manager, or commission holders
• Previous Recipients: addresses used for previous emails to this customer
• Other Email Address: enter any address manually (expert mode)

Leave the customer email field blank to send to all customer email addresses.

Tip

Need to send copies of several invoices at once? Use the Copy Invoices correspondence workflow instead. See Sending Copy Invoices to a Customer.

Bill Format

If the default format (shown in the invoice details) is not what you want, select a different one from the format selector in the email form. Choose from short, long, or full format.

Extra Attachments

You can attach additional documents configured for invoice emails. Select them from the Extra Attachments list on the email form.

Audit Trail

The email form records:

• Emailed on Behalf Of: the user the email was sent on behalf of
• Email Reason: why the invoice was emailed
• Email Details: any additional notes about the email

Editing an Invoice

Steps:

1. View the invoice
2. Click Edit
3. Make the necessary changes
4. Click Save

Optional:

• Load default values using Default Values > Load in the menu bar

Important: If you changed the dates or payment method and want the bill PDF to reflect those changes, click Recreate in the Actions menu after saving.

Adding a New Invoice

The platform creates invoices automatically during billing runs. You can also create one manually at any time.

From a Customer Page

Use this when you want to raise a new invoice and choose which transactions to include using a cut-off date.

Steps:

1. View the customer
2. Click Add menu > Invoice
3. Fill in the invoice details:

Optional:

• Invoice Reference: Part of the invoice number. If you leave this blank, one is assigned automatically.
• Invoice Date: The date shown on the bill (defaults to today)
• Cut-off Date: Transactions with a bill date before this date are included from the Unsent invoice. Typically the first of the current month. Leave blank if you want to pick transactions manually later.
• Transaction Cut-off Date: Optional. When set, non-call charges are included by transaction date instead of bill date. See Transaction Cut-off Date for details.
• Payment Method: If not specified, the customer’s default is used
• Payment Date: If not specified, calculated from the customer’s payment terms
• Invoice Message / Bill Types: If not specified, taken from the customer’s settings
• Load default values using Default Values > Load in the menu bar

4. Click Save

What happens:

• A new invoice is created. If a cut-off date was set, matching transactions are moved from the Unsent invoice.
• You are shown the invoice details page to confirm everything is correct
• You can then download or email the bill
• If on-delivery collection is enabled and you email the bill, payment collection starts automatically. See Direct Debit Accounts for details.

From an Existing Invoice

Use this when you want to pick specific transactions from one invoice (such as the Unsent invoice) and move them onto a new one.

Steps:

1. View the invoice that contains the transactions you want to bill
2. Tick the Update boxes next to the transactions to include
3. Click Add to Invoice, making sure the drop-down shows New Invoice (the default)
4. Fill in the invoice details as above
5. Click Save

Important: To include transactions from multiple invoices, create the new invoice from one of them, then move the other transactions onto it afterwards.

Collect Payment

Use Collect Payment to create a payment and submit it to the payment provider straight away. This is the quickest way to collect a specific invoice without waiting for automated collection.

Steps:

1. View the invoice
2. Select Collect Payment from the Expert menu
3. Choose which direct debit account or payment card to use. If the customer has only one payment method, it is selected automatically.
4. Click Collect Payment

What happens:

• The system creates a payment record for the invoice balance
• The payment is submitted to the payment provider immediately
• The payment moves through the standard status stages: Pending, Processing, Collected or Failed

Important: This action requires Expert Mode. Direct debit payments take 3-5 working days to clear through Bacs after submission. Card payments are typically faster. For the quickest direct debit settlement, consider Instant Bank Pay. For full details on collection methods and processing timelines, see Direct Debit Accounts.

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Deleting an Invoice

You can delete an invoice only when it contains no transactions.

Steps:

1. View the invoice
2. Make sure it has no transactions. You may need to use View > Empty Transactions to delete any that remain.
3. Click Actions menu > Delete

What happens:

• The invoice is deleted and you are taken to the customer page
• If the Delete option is not visible, either the invoice still has transactions, or you do not have delete permission