Learn how to automate interoffice billing and reconciliation
Overview
Interoffice billing automates the workflow where one office/entity invoices (bills) another office/entity within the same agency organization in Accountability. This enhanced workflow replaces the manual creation of a supplier invoice in the office of the entity being billed.
For example, Office A raises a series of client production or sundry invoices every month that need to be processed as supplier invoices in Office B.
Set up default client scenarios
Normally, you would have a client established in office A that represents the other office/entity being billed, let’s call this client ‘Office B’.
Open the detail page for client ‘Office B’ and click the Interoffice Billing link on the top right. You can set the following default values for when production or sundry invoices are created for this client:
|
Field |
Entry (based on example scenario) |
|
WHEN BILLED BY OFFICE |
Select ‘Office A’ |
|
CREATE SUPPLIER INVOICE IN OFFICE |
Select ‘Office B’ |
|
SUPPLIER INVOICE SUPPLIER |
When the supplier invoice is created in Office B – which supplier should it be assigned to – for example you would have a supplier called ‘Office A’ |
|
WHEN PRODUCTION INVOICE CREATED? |
Check this if a supplier invoice should be created when a client production invoice is created for this client |
|
WHEN SUNDRY INVOICE CREATED? |
Check this if a supplier invoice should be created when a client sundry invoice is created for this client |
|
SUPPLIER INVOICE JOB NO. |
If the supplier invoice is always coded to the same job number for this client – enter it here – if not leave this empty |
|
SUPPLIER INVOICE GL ACCOUNT NO. |
If the supplier invoice is always coded to the same job number for this client – enter it here – if not leave this empty |
Job-level defaults
When you create a new Job, the Job will pick up the default settings established for the client above. You can change/assign the defaults on each Job created for the client.
Open the detail page for the Job for client ‘Office B’ and click the Interoffice Billing link at top right. Using our example scenario, you can set the following default values for when client production invoices are created for this job:
|
Field |
Entry (based on example scenario) |
|
CREATE SUPPLIER INVOICE WHEN THIS JOB IS BILLED |
Check this box if an interoffice supplier invoice should be created when this job is invoiced |
|
CREATE SUPPLIER INVOICE IN OFFICE |
Select ‘Office B’ |
|
SUPPLIER INVOICE SUPPLIER |
When the supplier invoice is created in Office B – which supplier should it be assigned to – for example you would have a supplier called ‘Office A’ |
|
SUPPLIER INVOICE JOB NO. |
If the supplier invoice is always coded to the same job number for this job – enter it here – if not leave this empty |
|
SUPPLIER INVOICE GL ACCOUNT NO. |
If the supplier invoice is always coded to the same job number for this job – enter it here – if not leave this empty |
Invoice creation and approval workflow
When you create a client production or sundry invoice for this client/job (based on the above defaults) and Approve that invoice, Accountability will:
- Send an email to the Incoming Supplier Invoices using the incoming payables email address for the office being invoice
- The pdf of the client production/sundry invoice will be attached to the email
- The supplier assigned above will be assigned to the supplier invoice, as will the invoice date and invoice number
- If default supplier invoice job number or GL account were assigned in the defaults, this coding will be applied to the incoming supplier invoice
Now you just need to submit and approve the incoming supplier invoice in the usual manner.
Note - To have the invoice appear in Incoming Supplier Invoices, uncheck the option of Send Intercompany Supplier Invoices to Incoming Supplier Invoice Via Email found under Set Up Files > Set Up Options > Accounting Options.
Interoffice reconciliation
Accountability will maintain an automatic reconciliation of these interoffice client and supplier invoices upon approval .
You can run an Inter-Office Reconciliation Report from Accounting>General Ledger>General Ledger Reports>Transaction Reports. Select the accounting year and month and select the option Interoffice Billing Reconciliation. For each interoffice relationship, the report will show:
- The details of each interoffice client invoice raised, amount of receipts against that invoice and the unpaid balance
- The details of the related interoffice supplier invoice, amount of payments against that invoice and the unpaid balance