Accurately managing billable expenses is essential for the smooth financial management of your business. Joy Pilot simplifies this task, ensuring you can effectively bill your clients for these expenses. Whether you're documenting a new expense, dealing with pre-existing ones, or adding an expense while drafting an invoice, here’s a straightforward process for each scenario.
1. Record as Billable When Adding the Expense
Accurately adding and marking an expense as billable from the beginning ensures it gets included in the upcoming invoice for the relevant client.
Navigate to the Expenses Page:
Click ‘Business’ in the top menu bar and select ‘Expenses’. Alternatively, you can access this page via the left-hand side menu or by clicking the green plus (+) button at the top.
Create the Expense with Billable Status:
The first step is to change the small 'no' text to 'yes' next to the word Billable at the top of the page to mark the expense as billable.
Choose the company (from your contacts) to which the expense is billable. For assistance on adding a contact, please refer to our guides: Adding New Contacts NZ and Adding New Contacts UK.
Save the Expense:
Once saved, a red ‘B’ will appear next to the expense, indicating it’s marked as billable.
Include in an Invoice:
The next invoice you generate for this contact will automatically include this expense, highlighted in green under the Billable Expenses section. Simply tick the box to include it and save your invoice. Eventually, the red ‘B’ next to the expense will turn into a green ‘B’, signifying that the expense has been billed.
2. Create the Invoice and Select from Existing Expenses
Should you need to include an expense in an invoice that wasn’t initially marked as billable, here's how to adjust it:
Start Your Invoice:
Begin creating an invoice for your contact.
Choose the Expense:
Under the Billable Expenses section, click on the ‘select from EXISTING expenses’ button.
Manually Select and Confirm:
Manually pick the expense from the list that appears in the pop-up window. When you click the confirm button, the expense will be highlighted in green under the Billable Expenses section.
Save Your Invoice:
Upon saving your invoice, it will include the selected expense and the expenses page will automatically update, displaying a green ‘B’ next to the expense in your expenses list.
3. Add a New Billable Expense While Creating an Invoice
Discovered a billable expense that hasn’t been recorded yet while working on an invoice? Add it directly:
Access the Billable Expenses Section:
Click ‘Add a NEW billable expense’.
Input Expense Details:
Fill in the details in the New Expense pop-up window. It is set by default as a billable expense.
Complete and Save:
After saving, it’s showcased in green under the Billable Expenses section on the invoice and also added to your expense list with a green ‘B’, indicating its billed status.
Important Note
Removing a billed expense (marked with a green ‘B’) from your list of expenses won't automatically update the invoice. To delete it from the invoice, go to the invoice via the sales list, select Edit from the dropdown Action list in the upper right corner, and then manually delete the expense.
Conclusion
With Joy Pilot, tracking and billing expenses is straightforward. Whether you are including a new billable expense, choosing an existing expense to mark as billable, or adding a new expense during invoice creation, these steps guarantee your financial records and invoicing are precise and up-to-date. Explore more about expense management and invoicing through our full suite of guides and tutorials.