Billing And Invoicing

Billing is where finance teams manage money owed to the organisation. It covers invoices, credit notes, customer balances, aging, statements, recurring billing, dunning, and payment allocation against invoices.

Billing does not manage payment rails or payout execution. Those belong to Payments & Settlement. Billing records the commercial obligation and the receivable balance; Payments records how money moved and whether it settled.

Service modules such as Agriculture, Production, Events, POS, or Resource Capacity may originate commercial context, but they should not create separate receivable ledgers. When a party must pay the organisation, the receivable truth belongs in Billing.

When To Use Billing

Use Billing when you need to:

• Create an invoice for a client, supplier, member, tenant, or other party.
• Track invoice approval, issue status, payment status, and outstanding balance.
• Apply a received payment against an invoice.
• Create a credit note to reduce an invoice balance.
• Write off an invoice balance that will not be collected.
• Review aging, statements, recurring billing, and overdue follow-up.

Use Billing after Agriculture when the business has moved from source evidence into receivable collection. Examples include buyer invoices for produce sold, service invoices for managed-plantation work, recharge invoices for inputs or logistics, or any approved field-service outcome that must bill a customer.

Workspaces

Billing is split into setup and operations.

Workspace Reference

Workspace	How Users Reach It	What Users Usually Do There
Invoices	Billing -> Operations -> Invoices	Create and review invoices, lines, issue state, payments, credit notes, write-offs, balances, and posting status.
Apply Payments	Billing -> Operations -> Invoices, then payment allocation actions where available	Apply received money against invoice balances.
Aging	Billing -> Operations -> Aging	Review outstanding balances by age band and as-of date.
Statements	Billing -> Operations -> Statements	Generate party statements showing invoice, payment, credit note, write-off, and balance movement.
Recurring Billing Setup	Billing -> Setup -> Recurring Billing Setup where enabled	Maintain recurring invoice rules before automated billing runs.
Recurring Billing	Billing -> Operations -> Recurring Billing	Review due schedules and run recurring invoice generation.
Dunning	Billing -> Operations -> Dunning	Review overdue follow-up, reminder status, and collection notes.
Payment Transactions	Payments & Settlement -> Operations -> Payment Transactions	Review actual money movement after invoice payment activity.

Open Billing > Setup for billing configuration that affects how future billing work is generated, such as recurring billing schedule setup where enabled.

Open Billing > Operations for day-to-day receivables work:

• Invoices: create and review invoices, invoice lines, issue status, payments, credit notes, write-offs, and balances.
• Apply Payments: allocate received money against invoice balances.
• Aging: review overdue balances by age band and as-of date.
• Statements: generate a party statement showing invoice and settlement activity.
• Recurring Billing: review and run due recurring invoice schedules.
• Dunning: review overdue notices and reminder activity.

The tabs you see depend on your permissions and service context.

If a service screen sends you into Billing, treat that as a handoff into the owner module. The invoice, statement, balance, credit note, write-off, and payment-allocation history are still shared Billing records even if the underlying business story started in Agriculture.

Invoice Lifecycle

A typical invoice moves through these stages:

1. Create the invoice header.
2. Add invoice lines for goods, services, fees, penalties, or other charges.
3. Submit the invoice if approval is required.
4. Approve and issue the invoice.
5. Receive and allocate payments.
6. Apply credit notes or write-offs if needed.
7. Review the remaining balance in aging and statements.

The invoice detail view is the best place to inspect the full invoice history. It shows invoice lines, payment allocations, credit notes, write-offs, balance movement, and posting status in one place.

Applying Payments To Invoices

Use Apply Payment when money has been received and you need to reduce the invoice balance.

The payment form captures the business details of the receipt:

• The invoice being paid.
• The amount received.
• The payment date.
• The payment channel, such as cash, bank, mobile money, wallet, cheque, card, or internal transfer.
• Any reference or narration needed for review.

After posting, the invoice balance reduces and the payment appears in the invoice detail view and customer statement.

For broader payment-ledger review, use Payments & Settlement > Operations > Payment Transactions.

Credit Notes

Use a credit note when the invoice balance should be reduced because of an adjustment, return, pricing correction, discount, service dispute, or approved cancellation.

A credit note should describe why the invoice was reduced. Once approved and posted, it becomes part of the invoice history and appears in statements.

Write-Offs

Use write-off only when the organisation has decided that an outstanding balance should no longer be collected.

Write-offs are normally controlled by stronger permissions and should include a clear reason. After posting, the invoice no longer carries that written-off balance as collectible debt.

Aging

Aging shows unpaid invoice balances grouped by how long they have been outstanding.

Use it to answer questions such as:

• Which parties owe us money?
• Which balances are current?
• Which balances are overdue?
• Which balances need collection follow-up?
• How much receivable exposure exists as of a specific date?

Statements

Statements summarise activity for a party over a period. A statement can include invoices, payments, credit notes, write-offs, opening balances, closing balances, and settlement activity.

Use statements when communicating with customers, members, tenants, suppliers, or other parties about what they owe and how their balance changed.

Recurring Billing Setup And Operations

Recurring schedules help generate invoices that repeat on a predictable basis, such as monthly service fees, subscriptions, rent, retainers, or standing charges.

Use Billing > Setup > Recurring Billing Setup to maintain recurring billing rules where your permissions allow it.

Use Billing > Operations > Recurring Billing to review due schedules and run recurring invoice generation.

Before using recurring billing, confirm:

• The party is correct.
• The amount and recurrence pattern are correct.
• The start date and next run date are correct.
• The invoice description is clear enough for statement review.

Dunning And Follow-Up

Dunning helps teams track overdue invoice follow-up. Depending on configuration and permissions, users can review overdue notices, reminder state, and collection activity.

Dunning should be used as a finance follow-up aid, not as a replacement for proper invoice review and customer communication.

Billing Versus Payments

Question	Use Billing	Use Payments & Settlement
Who owes us money?	Yes	No
What invoice created the receivable?	Yes	No
What is still outstanding?	Yes	No
Which channel moved the money?	Limited	Yes
Did the provider settle the money?	No	Yes
Do we need to pay many beneficiaries?	No	Yes
Do we need settlement reconciliation?	No	Yes

For Agriculture specifically:

• use Agriculture source workflows for settlement statements, contracts, deliveries, and field evidence
• use Billing only when the organisation is billing a customer, buyer, tenant, processor, or partner
• use Payments for outbound payouts to farmers, workers, suppliers, or other beneficiaries

Common Mistakes To Avoid

• Do not create a new invoice just to record a payment. Apply the payment to the existing invoice.
• Do not use a credit note when the debt is uncollectible. Use write-off when the business decision is to stop collection.
• Do not use Billing to manage payout batches. Use Payments & Settlement.
• Do not read invoice total as outstanding balance. Always check the current balance or aging view.

Related Guides

• Payments & Settlement
• Clients & Groups
• Financial Reports
• Navigation & Permissions