When an order is completed, all the Expenses attached to that order and any related Dispatches will appear in the Bill Posting module, much as the Order will appear in Invoicing. While it is possible to post these related Bills along with the Invoice – as we explained in Posting and Transmitting Invoices – you may also choose to post the Bills separately.

Of course, not every Expense will be related directly to an Order – whether it be office expenses, insurance premiums, employee wages, or any other miscellaneous costs of doing business. To track these expenses, you will have to create a stand-alone Bill.

Navigate to the Payables list using the left navigation, and click on the ‘Create’ button at the top of the list. This will bring up the Create Bill page.

First, select the appropriate Bill Type, then the Vendor or Personnel – the person you will be paying. If they are not already in your database, you may need to add a new Vendor or new Personnel.

Fill out the remaining fields and click ‘Create.’ This will take you to the newly-created Bill Record, where you can add the actual Payable Charges.

To do so, click on the ‘Add Payable Charge’ button – this will bring up some in-line fields directly below the Payable Charges list. Select the Charge Type, the number of units, Unit Rate, and any taxes, then click ‘Add Line’ to add the line to the Bill. Continue this process for any additional charges.

Once they have all been added, the Bill is done. You can Post it directly by using the ‘Post’ button at the top of the record – or do so later, from the Bill Posting screen.

Before they are posted, Bills are provisional – they are based on the expenses from an Order or Dispatch, but if those expenses are based on a Vendor’s quote, they may very well change once the actual invoice arrives. This is particularly true of carrier invoices, where additional costs or charges may have been incurred during the trip. Because of all this, you will want to wait until the actual Invoice arrives before posting a bill from a Vendor.

To see all the Bills waiting to be posted, navigate to the Bill Posting module using the left navigation. The listed Bills include those from completed Orders and Dispatches and any stand-alone Bills that have been entered into the system.

If you want to review the individual Bills or make any changes, you can click on the blue 'O' button to open the Bill. You can also Post a Bill from inside the Bill Record – use the ‘Post’ button at the top.

Before you post any bill, you should enter the details of the invoice received from your vendor or outside carrier, including the invoice number, the date of their invoice and your received date. The received date will be used to age the payment to the vendor according to the terms you have set on the vendor record.

Once all the necessary details have been added to a Bill, you can mark that Bill 'approved' using the toggle on the left of the Bill Posting list. When you have approved all the Bills you want to post, click on the ‘Post’ button at the top of the list.

Once posted, the Bills will disappear from the Bill Posting list and move over to the Vendor Pay list, where they will remain, waiting patiently to be paid. They will also appear in the "Payables" module.

Once you have the actual vendor invoice in hand, you may want to use the Incoming Bill Wizard instead of posting bills manually. The Wizard will allow you to match up incoming invoices to existing, un-posted bills, letting you reconcile any discrepancies as you do so. The Invoice Wizard is also a good way to create a stand-alone bill and post it all in one step.

The Incoming Bill Wizard duplicates the manual instructions above – we recommend trying them both to see which is the best fit for your company's workflow and then sticking with that method as consistently as possible.

Of course, once they have been posted, you will eventually want to Pay Your Bills.