Clients and estimates

Keep the business context together

Keep the client identity, billing address, due-date basis and estimate lines together. Items supply a starting description and rate; the estimate preserves the agreed version. Client acceptance belongs to the identified recipient and the actual document sent. An expired or superseded quote stays in history rather than silently becoming a new commercial agreement.

An accepted estimate gives the bookkeeper a starting invoice without retyping the customer or recalculating a different commercial offer. Compare the estimate subtotal, configured tax and final total with the resulting invoice. A taxable line contributes its net amount to the subtotal and its tax once to the tax total. The sent offer retains its taxable decision and rate, so a later rate update cannot change what the customer accepts. Conversion uses that accepted offer without refreshing prices or tax.

Give each decision a clear owner

A Client may approve or decline only the estimate bound to their signed link. Owner / Admin and Bookkeeper can record evidenced offline acceptance and convert an accepted estimate once. Assistant can prepare and send an estimate but cannot invent the customer decision.

A customer may ask to change a quantity after receiving the estimate. Prepare a replacement offer and send it to the correct recipient. After acceptance, that replacement is a new linked estimate with its own customer decision. The original acceptance cannot approve the revised scope. Keep the accepted version available when someone asks why a later invoice differs from an earlier proposal.

Handle exceptions with the original record

If a recipient changes, invalidate the old access link before sending a replacement. A repeated acceptance or conversion must return the original result. Similar client names or a shared email address require a checked identity match; neither is sufficient to merge billing histories.

The estimate queue separates work awaiting a response from work ready to convert. Expiry dates close unanswered offers. An accepted estimate keeps its decision while the bookkeeper prepares the invoice; conversion cannot turn it into a declined or expired offer. Opening a document may explain that the recipient has viewed it, but only a recorded customer decision changes whether the estimate is accepted.

Find the work that needs attention

Configure business contact details, invoice numbering, client terms and reusable item descriptions before sending the first proposal. Import clients using checked identifiers rather than names alone. If two contacts share an accounts-payable address, their signed document links must still resolve only to the particular offer each was sent.

Configure it around your business

The result is an agreement that remains understandable throughout billing: who accepted it, which services and amounts were agreed, and which invoice came from it. A duplicate conversion request returns that invoice instead of creating another charge, so the customer does not receive two bills for the same accepted estimate.