Client invoices overview [in-depth guide]
Guide contents: Types of client invoices | Ways to use client invoices | Reporting on client invoices | Generating & printing client invoices | Client invoice setup matrix | Estimate & invoice templates and layouts | Emailing client invoices | FAQ | Other | Resources
Types Of Client Invoices
Standard (revenue) invoice
- These can be created manually by adding a new client invoice, or generated based on your client setup & billing process such as billing worksheets, mass billing, or from the individual project's Billing screen.
- You can apply advance billing invoices & credits to a standard invoice to reduce the open amount due on the invoice.
Advance bill
- This type of invoice is the same as a normal invoice but can be applied to other invoices. Its main purpose is to reduce the amount open on future invoices. You would use this type of invoice when pre-billing a client for work to be performed. You may pre-bill for 25% of the estimated project budget.
Client credit memo
- This type of invoice is similar to a standard invoice, except the lines entered will have a negative amount. This invoice is then applied to another invoice to reduce the AR amount of the standard invoice.
Ways to use client invoices
Printing & emailing invoices
- The way in which you generate an invoice determines the level of detail by which you can print the invoice for the client to see.
- These PDF printouts can be emailed as well.
Void a client invoice
- Use when an invoice is generated incorrectly, yet you do not want to delete the record.
NOTE: You cannot "void" an advance bill invoice.
Write off a client invoice
- Use when an invoice will not be paid, either in part or in full.
- This will create a credit memo invoice and apply it against the "open amount" on the original invoice. NOTE: You will need to post the credit memo before running any financials.
Creating a credit memo
- While you can manually create credit memo invoices manually, this process relates more to advance bill invoices.
- This converts the "unapplied amount" of the advance bill invoice to a credit memo so it can be printed & sent to the client to use against future client invoices.
Close an advance bill client invoice
- Use if you want to use up the rest of the "unapplied amount" of the advance bill. This will create a revenue invoice defaulting the sales account from GL tracking option & automatically applying the advance bill against it.
Prepayments
- For when payment was received prior to the invoice date being generated.
Recurring invoices
- You can also schedule invoices to recur, this is useful if the same invoice needs to be created on a regular basis.
Taxes
- Tax is applied at the line level, so if you want to tax item A and not item B, then the transactions/services/items need to be on separate lines. I.e. 'one line per' = 'service/item'.
Reporting on client invoices
Client invoice views
This screen can be customized to show you header-level data of client invoices.
Client invoice data custom report
This report can be customized to show the header & line level of data for client invoices.
Client statement standard report
The client statement will show a list of invoices & receipts made for a designated timeframe. The statement is created via Menu > Reports > AR reports > Client statements.
You MUST select an invoice layout prior to creating the PDF file. The invoice layout will provide the header information, including the company logo for the statement printout. You may want to create invoice templates specifically for statements, so the word "Statement" will print out, as opposed to "Invoice".
Generating & printing client invoices
NOTE: The way you generate a client invoice will determine how it is tracked in the ledger & what line details can be printed.
For example, if you need to print an estimate or invoice with lots of details including taxes, you must use a line detail setting that will generate a line for each service and item. This is set in your client setup. By default, it's set to 'one line'.
Client setup definitions
Billing method - May determine how the invoice is printed based on other settings.
- Time & materials - Bills the actual transactions on the lines of the client invoice.
- Fixed fee - Bills the budgeted amount of the project.
- Retainer - Bills the amount set up in the retainer chosen.
One invoice per - Select how an Invoice is generated when using billing worksheets or mass billing.
- Project
- Client
- Parent client
- Division
- Product
- Campaign
One line per - Select how much the line detail is to be generated when using billing worksheets or mass billing.
- Project/invoice
- Project & task
- Service
- Service/item
- Project then billing item and item
- Billing item and item
Client invoice setup matrix
Not all 'one line per' options are available based on the 'one invoice per' option selected. This matrix will show you what options you have based on your selection.
| One invoice per | One line per |
| Project |
|
| Client |
|
| Parent Client |
|
| Division |
|
| Product |
|
| Campaign |
|
Estimate & invoice templates and layouts
Once you generate the invoices with a sufficient amount of detail for internal tracking purposes, such as sales accounts & taxes, you can choose a template or layout to produce a visual printout for your clients. What this means is that the details you generate may not be the same as what is printed. However, the grand total will be the same.
Estimate templates - For more on this refer to Estimate templates [in-depth guide].
Invoice templates - For more on this refer to Invoice templates [in-depth guide].
Layouts - For more on this refer to Invoice/estimate layouts [in-depth guide] .
Emailing client invoices
NOTE: When using the email features of Workamajig to send invoices to your clients, keep in mind they will see an attached PDF as if you had printed it from the invoice itself. Meaning, you want to make sure you are set up to print the invoices the way you want your clients to see them prior to using the email features.
Email primary contact (default)
By default, the primary contact will be the one getting emailed all client invoices when using the email features from Today billing & Client invoices views.
Email multiple email addresses (including primary contact)
From the primary contact record, click on Edit next to Contact info. Then click on Add invoice email to add additional email addresses
Emails invoices to (not including primary contact)
From Client setup > Billing > Edit defaults, you can choose another contact in the 'email invoices to'.
You can use this other contact to email & add more invoice emails as described above if you choose.
Standard email footer
You can create a standard email footer that is sent on all emails that go out of Workamajig. This is located in Menu > Admin/manager > System setup > Account information > Connections > Emails > Outbound emails > Standard footer text.
Emailing from Today billing
From the Today billing page, look for 'invoices to print or email' from the invoices section on the left (NOTE: this section only appears only when there are invoices that are not currently flagged as 'emailed' or 'printed').
From the screen that opens, click on Email in the upper right.
Check the invoices you want to email.
Click on the Email invoices button that appears.
A progress confirmation screen will appear as it runs through the email process.
Emailing from Views > Client invoices
Go to the Views, either from the Today page, or form Global search > Views.
Click on Client invoices. Then choose a View. For this example, we will choose a default view called Open AR. This can show you invoices that have not yet been emailed, plus invoices that have been emailed already, as you might want to remind your client.
Check the invoices you want to email.
Click on the Email invoices button that appears.
A progress confirmation screen will appear as it runs through the email process.
Frequently asked questions
If I have multiple invoices for one client, can they all be sent in one email?
- Yes. So long as you check the multiple invoices at the time of sending from Today billing or Views.
Can the invoices for a client be sent to different contacts based on the project?
- Yes. So long as the primary contact of the project is the contact you want to be emailed, AND you are generating one invoice per project, AND there is no billing contact set in the client setup.
Is there a way to determine which invoices have not been emailed?
- Yes. There is a flag for 'emailed' that gets checked when it's emailed for the first time from Today billing or Views. You can use the views to search/filter/sort for the emailed report column. This can be unchecked if necessary to have it reappear in Today billing, but you can use the views to resend already sent invoices regardless.
Other
Alternate payer - In your client invoice details, there is an option for 'alternate payer'. This allows you to choose a different client that can pay for this invoice when entering a receipt.
Split billing - This allows you to create one project that multiple clients pay for, by way of percentage.
Resources
Printing/emailing estimates [in-depth guide]