Bill and collect
Bill eligible contract scope and keep advances, retention and cash reconciled.
7 stages · 4 approvals
Roles and responsibilities
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Step 1Prepare the billing basis
Certificate NumberContractApplicationExternal Certifier
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Step 2Review recognition
Assessment NumberContractCutoff AtPeriod
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Step 3Prepare the invoice
Invoice NumberAccountDocument TypeNet AmountCredit Note
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Step 4Approve the invoice
Invoice NumberAccountDocument TypeNet AmountCredit Note
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Step 5Release retained amounts
Retention NumberSideContractSubcontractSupplier
Process steps
Follow the process from start to finish. Select a step to see who acts and what changes.
Prepare the billing basis
Accountant gathers the eligible certified, milestone, unit-rate or advance entitlement from the current accepted contract. Preserve the approved quantities, amounts, retention terms and earlier claims. New billable scope is reduced by previous billing regardless of payment history. A stored-material amount already claimed remains the same entitlement when later installed.
Approval required
Review recognition
Independent Finance Manager reviews the performance assessment and recognition delta after independent Project Manager validation of performance evidence, excluding the relevant performer, recorder and material preparer. Use the contract's approved output/progress or point-in-time evidence. Retain obligation detail and the accounting-contract net position; neither this bill nor its certificate alone determines earned revenue.
Prepare the invoice
Accountant allocates the available source amount to the draft invoice and calculates the reviewed tax, advance recovery and retention treatment. Active claims reduce availability for other drafts. Already recognized amounts clear their appropriate contract balance; advance or unearned amounts keep the required liability counterpart. The final partial allocation receives the exact rounding remainder.
Approval required
Approve the invoice
Independent Finance Manager reviews the current invoice, source claims, terms, financial classification and required evidence, excluding the preparer and material editors. Approval binds that revision. Guarded issue posts the authorized balance once and preserves its link to the underlying entitlement, without recording the same earned amount again.
Approval required
Release retained amounts
Independent Finance Manager reviews the actual release evidence and remaining eligible retention. Release makes an existing amount due or reclassifies it under the reviewed policy. It does not create new work, revenue or cash. Other retained portions stay attached to their own conditions and balances.
Apply confirmed cash
Accountant records actual receipt evidence and applies the available amount to the eligible company and customer obligations. Preserve cash currency, document settlement and current functional carrying. Unapplied cash remains separately reconcilable; recovery of an advance consumes its exact remaining source instead of assuming it has been used twice.
Approval required
Resolve differences
Independent Finance Manager reviews the original entitlement, current outstanding scope and actual evidence. A credit first resolves its eligible original balance before any remaining credit is used under policy. Refunds require their own authorized amount and confirmed settlement effect. Returned cash preserves the original receipt history and reopens only the applicable debt.
Approvals and controls
4 approvals required in this process
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Review recognition
Finance Manager signs when a recognition assessment is due · prepare the invoice waits
RevenueAssessments, RevenueAssessmentLines, PerformanceObligations, ContractBalances, ApprovalDecisions -
Approve the invoice
Finance Manager signs · release retained amounts waits
Invoices, ApprovalDecisions, ContractBalanceMovements, JournalEntries -
Release retained amounts
Finance Manager signs when contractual release is requested · apply confirmed cash waits
RetentionBalances, RetentionMovements, ApprovalDecisions -
Resolve differences
Finance Manager signs for protected credits, refunds or corrections · closes the process
CreditApplications, Refunds, FinanceCorrections, ApprovalDecisions - The same contract's recognitionBilling position is presented once; unrelated contracts and entities stay separate.
- Conditional retention is identified within its contract position, not added again as another asset.
- Earlier certifiedBilled and paid amounts remain different measures with preserved histories.
- Missing tax or conversion evidence blocks the affected effect; reviewed zero values remain explicit.
- Closed-period corrections keep the actual event dateAuthorized posting-period treatment.
Records and postings
| Stage | Records | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Prepare the billing basis | BillingObligationsProgressCertificatesProgressCertificateLinesProjectContracts | Identify eligible remaining entitlement |
| 2 Review recognition | RevenueAssessmentsRevenueAssessmentLinesPerformanceObligationsContractBalancesApprovalDecisions | Independently review earned consideration |
| 3 Prepare the invoice | BillingAllocationsInvoicesInvoiceLinesAdvanceAllocationsRetentionBalancesTaxCodes | Reserve and calculate the draft amount |
| 4 Approve the invoice | InvoicesApprovalDecisionsContractBalanceMovementsJournalEntries | Approve and issue the current financial effect |
| 5 Release retained amounts | RetentionBalancesRetentionMovementsApprovalDecisions | Authorize release of existing held consideration |
| 6 Apply confirmed cash | CashReceiptsCashApplicationsBankStatementLinesJournalEntries | Apply actual available receipt evidence |
| 7 Resolve differences | CreditApplicationsRefundsFinanceCorrectionsApprovalDecisions | Approve bounded financial corrections |
Process reports
All reportsProgress and Billing Position
Compare current accepted ProjectContracts/SalesOrderLines with cumulative ProgressApplications, externally evidenced ProgressCertificates and conserved BillingObligations/BillingAllocations by contract and source currency; show certified-to-date, prior certified increments, active billing claims, gross billed, conditional/unconditional retention and eligible unbilled scope independently of paid cash, preserving the same stored-material amount through installation while allowing separately priced installation work and a separately assessed first revenue-recognition delta.
Revenue and Contract Balances
Reconcile approved RevenueAssessments/RevenueAssessmentLines and effective PerformanceAllocations with signed ContractBalanceMovements at the reviewed accounting-contract unit, retaining obligation-level allocated price, evidence and recognized/billed/assigned-advance components; present the net contract asset or liability only after same-unit aggregation, keep unconditional AR and tagged conditional retention from being counted again, and preserve reviewed monetary classification, historical nonmonetary advance basis, current carrying and attributable FX without netting unrelated contracts or entities.
Retention and Advances
Reconcile RetentionBalances/RetentionMovements and AdvanceAllocations with their original contract, invoice/bill, cash and settlement sources by entity/counterparty/currency at the cutoff; disclose total outstanding, held and released-unsettled retention, conditional versus unconditional entitlement, actual funded assignments, prior recoveries, purpose releases and active claims, treating ordinary retention release as redistribution rather than settlement and an unpaid billed advance as non-spendable until its separately evidenced cash path occurs.
Receivables and Payables Aging
Age remaining Invoices and Bills by company, counterparty, source currency and actual due-date bucket after posted applications, credits and signed corrections at the cutoff; show held retention, released-unsettled amounts, unapplied receipts, customer or supplier advances and surplus credits separately, reconcile source balances and current functional carrying including prior FX, and exclude unbilled contract assets and accepted-but-unmatched subcontract accruals from ordinary invoiced AR/AP totals.
Local Financial Statements
Produce each entity's trial balance, income statement and balance-sheet mappings from posted JournalEntries/JournalLines in the selected period/cutoff, retaining original and compensating effects with balanced functional debits and credits; reconcile stock, production WIP, accepted subcontract accruals, resource absorption and actual-cost clearing, net contract positions, receivables, payables, retention and advances to their distinct sources and opening controls, with no cross-entity netting, implicit consolidation or second journal from a report.
Material Availability and Use
Reconcile InventoryPositions, StockLayers, reservations and StockEvents with project requirements, material usage and transfer/return history by entity/product/location/required lot or serial at a retained cutoff; report owned quantity and current carrying separately from customer/vendor custody, available versus held or claimed stock, actual job consumption and issued production WIP, excluding internal transfers and repeat supplier billing from new project expense.
Run by an agent
Agent support
An assistant cannot provide a required independent human decision or invent customer certification, accepted site work, actual delivery or payment. It cannot treat unused stock as consumed, turn intermediate production progress into finished goods or bill the same source twice.
# Example after configuration
$ curl -fsSL https://www.erp.ai/skill.md | paste into your agent
› bill and collect · prepare the billing basis on BillingObligations, ProgressCertificates, ProgressCertificateLines, ProjectContracts
✓ Accountant gathers the eligible certified, milestone, unit-rate or advance entitlement from the current accepted contract.
› bill and collect · review recognition on RevenueAssessments, RevenueAssessmentLines, PerformanceObligations, ContractBalances, ApprovalDecisions
⏸ approval when a recognition assessment is due · waiting for the finance manager
# 5 more stages after approval: prepare the invoice, approve the invoice, release retained amounts, apply confirmed cash, resolve differences
Other processes
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Match supplier commitments to real deliveries, accepted subcontract work and payment.
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Connect accepted site activity to a reviewable customer progress application.
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8 stages · 5 approvals