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Creating and editing invoices

How to build an invoice by hand, correct a draft, and delete one you do not need.

Invoices are created and edited from Billing in Lupa Dash, which only admins can open. To bill a whole period of work for an account in one invoice, see Monthly and automatic billing.

Create an invoice

An invoice belongs to an account. It is addressed to the account's billing contact, and you do not pick a customer yourself.

To create an invoice:

  1. Open Billing and choose New Invoice. If there are no invoices yet, you can also choose Create your first invoice.
  2. Pick the account under Select an account.... Billing contact fills in by itself. It shows the account's billing contact, or the account's only customer if no billing contact is set. If it reads (no billing contact), the invoice is rejected. Set a billing contact on the account first. See Set who receives the invoices.
  3. Check the Due Date. It starts at 30 days from today. The date in this field is kept exactly as it is, including when the invoice is sent. To have the invoice fall due 30 days after the day you send it, clear the field.
  4. Add a note under About this invoice if you want one. The field is optional.
  5. Under Line Items, fill in Description, Qty and Unit Price for each line. Choose Add line for another line, or the bin icon to remove one.
  6. Choose Create Invoice.

The draft appears in the list with an invoice number of the form INV-<account code>-<number>. Numbers count up separately for each account.

Limits. Qty must be at least 1 and at most 100,000. Unit Price must be between $0.00 and $1,000,000.00. A value outside these limits is rejected, and the reason appears in a yellow banner above the list.

Warnings after you create or save it. A yellow banner appears above the list when:

  • a line's unit price is over $10,000, so you can double-check it, or
  • the due date is already in the past. That invoice turns overdue in the next daily check after it is sent. Back-dating is allowed, so dismiss the warning if you meant it.

Choose the × on the banner to dismiss it.

If you choose Create Invoice without an account, Lupa shows Select an account for the invoice.

Fix a draft before it goes out

You can edit a draft as much as you like. After an invoice is sent, you cannot change its amounts, lines or notes. To correct a sent invoice, void it and create a new one. See Voiding an invoice.

To edit a draft:

  1. Open the invoice and choose Edit. The form opens under the heading Edit draft.
  2. Change the Due Date, About this invoice, or the Line Items. Billing contact is shown but cannot be changed here. To change who receives the invoice, set the account's billing contact. See Set who receives the invoices.
  3. Choose Save Changes.

The invoice shows your changes and stays a draft, and Lupa shows Invoice updated.

The due date when you save. Saving keeps the date in the Due Date field as a date you chose, and sending does not change it, even if the date has passed. Check the Due Date before you choose Save Changes.

Clearing the Due Date on a draft is not a way back to 30 days from sending. If the draft was created with a date in the field, or saved with one, clearing it leaves the invoice with no due date, and it is sent that way. An invoice with no due date never turns overdue.

Changing a rollup draft. Edit is for invoices built with New Invoice. To add late work to a rollup draft, use Refresh. To make any other change, void the draft with Release visits for re-invoicing ticked and roll the account up again. See Monthly and automatic billing and Voiding an invoice.

Delete a draft

Only a draft can be deleted. A sent invoice can be voided instead.

To delete a draft:

  1. Open the draft.
  2. Choose the bin icon beside Edit.
  3. Confirm Delete this draft invoice?.

If a line reads "Needs price"

The line has no unit price. This happens when Lupa could not work out a price for the visit. See Sending invoices for what happens when you send an invoice with unpriced lines. On an invoice built with New Invoice, choose Edit, enter a Unit Price, and choose Save Changes. A line on a rollup draft takes its price from the visit. See Pricing your work.

On the phone

Admins can also create invoices from the Invoices tab in the field app. On the phone you pick a customer rather than an account. The invoice appears in Billing in Lupa Dash like any other.