Edition: Professional, Business, Enterprise
User-level: All levels
Previous steps: Invoices
Bills Explained
Bills are an essential tool for managing invoices from suppliers and subcontractors. They allow you to keep track of the work that has been completed and the costs associated with it. This article will cover how to create, disburse, and on-charge a Bill as well as adding bill attachments.
The Bills Page
How to Access Bills
Go to the main Organisation menu then select Bills.
The Bills screen will open to the default view. Any existing bills are listed and new bills can be added form this screen.
Finding an Existing Bill
Click the Magnifying glass at the top right.
If required, select the bill status using the status filter at the top left.
Enter a bill number or a contact name in the search box to refine the search.
To search for all bills using only the bill status, leave the search box blank.
Click the Search button. To clear your search, click the 'Clear' link on the search bar.
Change View
To see the project or projects a Bill has been disbursed to, click View: Default at the top left and select Project details.
This view displays additional details including the project number and name of the project the the bill has been disbursed to, the Synergy invoice number that includes the bill disbursement, the status of the disbursement line and if Export to Connect has been selected.
'Multiple' is displayed in the Project #, Project name, Invoice # and Status columns when bill lines have been disbursed to several projects, or have different statuses e.g. WIP, Draft invoice, Invoiced, or Written off.
Creating a New Bill
Go to the main Organisation menu then select Bills.
Click 'Add' at the top right of the screen.
Enter the details of the bill that you have received e.g. Bill contact name, Bill invoice number, Bill date and Due date
Select a Cost Centre and Discipline. These can used when syncing the bill to an accounting system using Connect.
Select a Purchase Order if required.
Enter a Note. This is a basic description of the bill.
If your organisation has multiple offices, you can select it using the Office field. This field will default to the primary office of the person entering the bill.
Enter the bill line items:
Line description - enter the details of what has been charged to you e.g. 'Environmental report Lot #22435'.
Expense type - select the expense type for the bill. Additional expense types can be created under the Main menu > Settings > Project lists > Expense types.
Units - the number of units on the bill. e.g 4 hours of work would be entered as 4 units.
Unit value - the cost per hour or cost per item.
Tax rule - the tax rule from the received bill.
Click Save at the top right.
Bill attachments
Files can be added to bills as attachments allowing you to keep copies of your original supplier or subcontractor invoice with the relevant bill.
Each bill can hold up to 10 files, with a combined size limit of 10 Mb.
A wide range of file types are support including JPG, PNG, PDF, DOC and XLS.
Bill edit permissions are required to add, download or delete bill attachments.
Adding a bill attachment
Open a Bill.
Open the Documents tab by clicking the arrow or the document icon in the side panel.
Click the 'Add Attachment' button or the '+' button. Files can also be dragged and dropped directly into the blank space.
On the Add attachment panel, click '+ Choose'.
Select the files to be uploaded. The files will display with the the file name and the file size. Click the Upload button.
The uploaded files will be displayed in the Documents tab as individual tiles with the file name and the file type.
Downloading a bill attachment
Open the bill then open the Documents tab..
Click on the relevant tile to download the attachment.
The file will be downloaded to your device for viewing or storing.
Deleting a bill attachment
Open the bill and open the Documents tab.
Click the trash icon diplayed on the right hand side of the attachment tile.
The attachment will be deleted permanently.
Disbursing a Bill
When you disburse abill to a project, it creates a transaction that can be included on an an invoice.
Click the Disburse link located to the left of the units in the bill line.
A new section is dsiplayed below the bill line. You can choose to split the number of units across multiple projects and stages or across several stages of a single project.
Disburse to project - Select the project you wish to disburse the bill items to.
Stage - Select the stage on the selected project that the bill items will be disbursed to.
Rate - Select the mark-up rate that will be applied to the bill transaction. The markup will be added at the time of invoicing. Additional rates can be created under the Main menu > Settings > Financial > Rates. Please contact your Synergy system administrator if the required rate is not available.
Status - Once disbursed, this will show you the status of the bill transaction e.g. WIP, Draft Invoice, Invoiced or Written Off.
Units - Enter the number of units you wish to disburse.
Value - The total value of the disbursement line. This is calculated as units selected x unit value.
Click Save.
Lock the bill by clicking the padlock icon in the 'Lock bill' field. This will preventny further edits from being made.
Marking a Bill as Paid
Once you've paid the bill, you can mark the Bill as paid. This can be done by manually on the bill in Synergy, or by importing a bill payment using Connect (*Xero and QBO).
Manually marking a Bill as 'Paid'
Select 'Is paid' at the bottom right hand corner of the bill.
Change the payment date if required.
'Paid by' will default to the name of the staff memeber who is marking the bill as paid.
Add a payment note if required.
Save.
Importing the 'Paid' Status
This is available in Connect for Xero and QBO.
Sync your Bill(s) to your accounting package.
Allocate a payment against the bill in the accounting package
In the Connect Settings, scroll down to Bill Settings and tick the 'Import paid status into Synergy' check box.
Save the change then continue with the Connect preview and sync process.
Visit the relevant knowledge base article for your accounting package for more information on this process.
Cancelling a Bill
From time to time, a bill may need to be cancelled and re-created. This allows the same bill number to be entered on a replacement bill.
To cancel a bill:
Open the bill.
If the bill is ocked, unlock the bill by clicking the Unlock link or the padlock icon in the 'Lock bill field'.
Delete any disbursements by clicking the red x at the end of each disbursement line. The disbursement lines must have a statis of 'WIP' to be able to complete this step. Click Save.
Click the ellipses button at the top right and select Cancel bill.
The bill status is changed to Cancelled and made inactive. The bill is locked permanently and no further edits can be made.
Syncing Bills
Bills can be exported from Synergy to a supported accounting system using the Connect to Accounting feature.
Xero and QBO also allow bill payments to be imported back into Synergy which marks the bill as Paid.
Visit the relevant knowledge base article for your accounting package for more information on this process and the available Connect settings.
Finding and Invoicing Disbursements
Once a Bill has been disbursed to a project and stage, a project transaction is created against the stage. This transaction can be on-charged by including it on an invoice.
Adding a Disbursement to an Invoice
Create a new invoice.
Check the checkbox for the stage.
Click on the Stage name.
A window will display showing the transactions. The trnasaction will be marked up by the % value of the rate that was selected on the bill disbursement line.
Click Save.
Recording a Bill against a Project that won't be Invoiced
Sometimes you want to record a bill against a project, but don't intend to charge this onto the client. There are two ways of handling this situation in Total Synergy.
Create a No Billing Stage
Any time a Bill is disbursed against a "No Billing" stage, it is automatically written off, but the costs remain available for reporting.
Create a new stage on the project.
Make the Fee Type "No Billing".
Disburse your Bill against this stage.
Write-off the Transaction
If you're unable to create an additional stage, or need to disburse the Bill against a billable stage, you can write-off the transaction.
Go to Project > Financials > Transactions.
Find the disbursed bill transaction (use Filter, Search, or change View).
Using the checkboxes on the left, select the transaction you wish to write off then click the ellipses button at the top left.
Select 'Write-off' from the available options.
If writing-off multiple bill disbursements, click the check-box beside each one before selecting 'Write-off'.
FAQ:
Why can't I unlock a bill?
Once a Bill is locked, only someone with System Administrator access level can unlock it.
What rate type(s) do I use to disburse a bill?
When disbursing a bill, you'll need to select a supplier or subcontractor rate that either disburses the value at the charge value or selected mark-up %.
Can I access Bills via the API?
You can access Bills via the API, key features of the endpoint include:
Support for filters, pagination, search, and ordering based on Bill Date.
Clear and structured responses to streamline integration with your workflows.
Note - You will need Bill Read permissions to make a request to this endpoint.
To access detailed information about the endpoint, including how to use it, please refer to the API documentation.
Can I sync bill attachments to my accounting software?
Not yet, but this feature is coming soon, so stay tuned!
Where to next?
What other features does this relate to?