A settlement invoice (also referred to as a final invoice or summary invoice - these terms are used interchangeably in Allfred) is an invoice issued after a proforma invoice at the end of a project. It adjusts for actual costs and previous payments to reflect the true value of services provided, subtracting the amount already paid via the proforma invoice.
There are three ways to issue a settlement invoice in Allfred:
Manually, using the standard invoicing process and attaching the paid proforma invoice.
Automatically, by marking the proforma invoice as paid and checking the "Create summary invoice" checkbox.
Fully automated, via an invoicing plan set up to issue the settlement invoice as soon as the proforma is paid (see How to Enable Automatic Summary Invoices After Proforma Payment).
Important: A settlement invoice can only be issued for a proforma invoice that has already been marked as paid. If the proforma isn't paid, there will be no option to attach it. You can mark a proforma invoice as paid in the Proforma invoices section, using the Action menu.
Method 1: Issue the settlement invoice manually
The settlement invoice follows the same issuing process as a regular outgoing invoice (see How to create Invoice / Request for Invoicing), with a few differences in step 1 and step 3.
1) Project details
Fill in the same details as for any invoice:
Brand
Billing address
Project
Client (contact person)
2) Budget items
Select the budget item(s) that the settlement invoice should cover.
3) Invoice details
This is where the settlement invoice differs from a regular invoice:
Attach the paid proforma invoice you're settling.
Once the proforma is attached, an additional field appears where you attach the payment receipt (the tax document confirming the payment was received). This tells Allfred which amount to deduct as the already-paid deposit.
Important: If you forget to attach the payment receipt, the settlement invoice will not be correctly reduced by the paid deposit amount. Always double-check that the payment receipt is attached before issuing the invoice.
4) Submit for invoicing / Create an invoice
Same as for any other invoice - see How to create Invoice / Request for Invoicing for details on roles and permissions at this step.
Partial payments
If a proforma invoice was paid in multiple partial payments (for example, two separate payments against a single proforma invoice), a separate payment receipt exists for each partial payment. When issuing the settlement invoice, you'll need to attach the payment receipt(s) that correspond to the payment(s) you're settling.
This gives you two options:
Settle only part of the payment: attach just one payment receipt. The settlement invoice will only be reduced by that partial amount.
Settle the full amount after full payment: attach all payment receipts related to the proforma invoice. The settlement invoice will be reduced by the total amount paid.
Method 2: Mark as paid manually + Create summary invoice
Instead of issuing the settlement invoice through the full invoicing flow, you can generate it directly when marking the proforma invoice as paid:
Go to the Proforma invoices section.
Open the Action menu for the relevant proforma invoice and select Mark as paid manually.
Check the Create summary invoice checkbox.
Confirm.
This automatically creates both the payment receipt and the settlement invoice at the same time. Once created, you'll find a link to the generated invoice in the "Final invoice" column next to the proforma invoice.
