The Invoices Settings allow an FYI admin to define their practice standard settings when creating invoices. This includes controlling period lock dates (preventing users from adding time after a period has been locked) and due dates on invoices.
Invoices in FYI can only be created and edited by practices on the Elite plan with FYI set as the Practice Manager source, and Time & Invoices enabled in the Time & Invoices Practice Settings. Refer to Practice Management Sync.
Displaying the Invoices Settings
- Login to FYI as an FYI Admin.
- From FYI, click Settings in the top right-hand corner.
- Select Practice settings from the drop-down, then select Time & Invoices.
- Click the Invoices tab.
Invoices Settings
Period Lock Date
Selecting a Period Locked Date will mean that invoices and time entries prior to this date cannot be recorded or edited, except by FYI Admins. If changes need to be made by a standard user, this Period Lock Date will need to be amended or removed.
Click the field to display a calendar and select a new date. Alternatively, click the X to remove the date altogether.
Changing the Period Lock Date will add an Alert to Practice Activity. Refer to Practice Activity.
Due Date Rule and Due Date Setting
When an invoice is created, a due date will be automatically created based on the Due Date Rule and the Due Date Day. When calculated, the current date is used to calculate the next Due Date.
The Due Date Rule can be set to either Next Month or Within Days.
The Due Date Day is set to a number of up to 31 days. This number is used to calculate whether the invoice will be due within the next amount of days, or on a set date of a month.
If the Due Date Day is set to zero (0) and the Due Date Rule is set to Within Days, the invoice will become due immediately.
If the Due Date Day is set to zero (0) or one (1) and the Due Date Rule is set to Next Month, the first day of the month will be selected.
For example, if the current date is the 15th of August, and the Due Date Day is set to 7:
- Setting the Due Date Rule to "Next Month" will make the invoice due on the 7th of September (next month on the date of the Due Date Day).
Note: If the Due Date Day is set to 29, 30, or 31, and that day doesn't exist for the month, the last day of the month will be selected. For example, there is no 31st of June, so the 30th of June will be selected automatically.
- Setting the Due Date Rule to "Within Days" will make the invoice due on the 22nd of August (7 days from the current date).
Changing the Due Date will add an Alert to Practice Activity. Refer to Practice Activity.
Xero Approval State
The Xero Approval State setting allows users to configure the status of the invoice in Xero after the invoice has been approved in FYI and synchronised to the Xero Ledger. This can be set to either Draft, Awaiting Approval, or Awaiting Payment.
The recommended setting is Draft.
To approve an invoice in FYI, users will need to be either an FYI admin or belong to a User Group with Approve Invoice permissions.
Update Contact Details in Xero
This setting allows practices to control when contacts are synchronised with Xero Ledger to update the contact details, for example the email address. For information on finding matching contacts, refer to Synchronising Contacts, Invoices, and Client Ledger Reports with Xero Ledger.
- Invoice Upload - contacts are updated when invoices are set from FYI to Xero Ledger.
- Automatically - contacts will be synchronised immediately when updated in FYI (the sync may take up to 15 minutes to be completed).
- Never - contact details will not be sent to Xero, and the next option in the settings, Invoice Email Address, will not apply.
Invoice Email Address
This option allow practices to use a separate email address when synchronising and sending invoices from Xero.
Note: If the Update Contact Details in Xero option is set to Never, contact details are not synchronised with Xero, and the Invoice Email Address option will be disabled.
The Client Default option uses the Client Email Address displayed on the Client - Summary tab. Refer to Client Summary.
To use a separate email address for invoices, a Client Custom Field can be selected. The Custom Field must be configured as follows:
- Applies to must be selected for Client
- The Type set to Email
Refer to Managing Custom Fields.
From the Client - Custom Fields tab, practices will be able to update the selected Custom Field to enter the email address for client invoices. If an email is not set, the default client email address on the Client - Summary tab will be used. Refer to Client Custom Fields.
Invoice Filing Defaults
Filing Defaults are used to automatically set the Cabinet (and Categories if added to the Cabinet) when manually creating an invoice, or synchronising a Credit Note from Xero. Users can change the Cabinet when creating an invoice, or by updating the Filing Details when clicking on an Invoice or Credit Note in a Documents list.
If a default has not been configured, the Cabinet field will remain blank.
Note: When creating an invoice using the "Create Invoice" Automation Step, filing will be based on the Client AutoFile settings or the Cabinet selected in the step. Refer to Process Step Details - Create Invoice
Xero Tracking Options
Used to map FYI Custom Fields to Xero Ledger Tracking Categories for greater reporting. This feature is available for Standard and Billing Jobs.
The Xero Ledgers connected to FYI will be displayed, followed by the Tracking Categories configured in Xero. Select a Custom Field from the drop-down to map to that Tracking Category for the Ledger, for example, Office.
Note: Only Custom Fields enabled for Invoices will be displayed.
When synchronising an invoice from FYI to Xero, if the Custom Field has been updated on the invoice in FYI, the Tracking Data will be updated on the invoice in Xero accordingly. Refer to Create an invoice and the Xero article Set up tracking categories