Chase missing documents from suppliers
Contacting suppliers through SmartPay
Scheduling invoices for payment
Integrating SmartPay with your accounting software
SmartPay Accounts Payable (AP) overview
SmartPay is our easy-to-use payment and invoice management tool.
Within the Accounts Payable (AP) module of SmartPay you can:
- Access all invoices for loads completed on the platform in a single view.
- Search for all invoices, apply different filters to narrow search results
- Keep track of the invoice cycle from invoice approval to payment.
You can find Accounts Payable under SmartPay in the navigation menu to the left of your desktop screen.
Accounts Payable tabs
SmartPay Accounts Payable is where you’ll find all the information you need about current and past bookings and their associated invoices. This is split into seven tabs:
Overview – a summary of all completed bookings and their statuses.
All – a list of all invoices from awaiting approval to paid.
Awaiting approval – invoices received from completed bookings that are awaiting your approval.
Ready to pay – invoices you have approved and are awaiting to be scheduled for payment.
Payment schedule – invoices that have been scheduled for payment. The status of these invoices will either be: due later, overdue or paid.
Suppliers – details of your current and past suppliers.
Archive – details of any archived invoices.
Accounts Payable dashboard
The AP dashboard makes it easy to search for invoices and payments and see invoices that require action.
The dashboard has three main sections – Summary, Requiring Attention and Shortcuts.
Summary
This section shows all recent invoices and their statuses:
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Pending Approval: The total value of all invoices received that need approval for payment. It’s a vital step to review and approve invoices, as this leads you to schedule and process the payment. When you’ve approved the invoice, the status of the invoice will change to Approved.
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Approved: The total value and the number of invoices that have been approved by yourself or other finance/admin users within your company. After the invoice has been approved, the next stage is to schedule it for payment.
- Scheduled to Pay: This is the final status of your invoices; it displays the number of files (a combination of single and batch invoices) that are scheduled to be paid. These invoices were previously approved and are ready to be paid.
Changing the time period filter
By default the Summary tab shows invoices from the past month.
To see older invoices click the cog icon in the top right of the Summary box. This pop-up will appear.
Requiring Attention
This section shows any required tasks that need urgent attention and must be completed:
- Payment overdue: The number of invoices that are overdue and have not been paid on time sorted by the due date. The date since the oldest invoice is displayed at the bottom right of the widget.
- Payment due: The number of invoices to be paid. The date on this widget displays the payment date for the oldest invoice.
If you don’t have any urgent tasks pending, the following message will be displayed:
Shortcuts
This section shows updates regarding the loads you’ve sold and allocated on the Exchange. Keep an eye on these tasks as they may require urgent attention to complete your payments:
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Missing invoices: View how many carriers have not sent you an invoice for their completed load(s). Click on the link to see a list of completed loads and contact the carrier directly to request an invoice for payment.
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Opened query: View open queries related to a particular load. The load status will change to Opened query until it’s resolved directly.
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Credit notes and supplementary invoices received: View any additional charges or credit requests sent from your suppliers.
- A Credit note is raised when the amount displayed on the invoice is incorrect, or any changes need to be made to the original invoice.
- A Supplementary invoice is an additional invoice where any forgotten services or items are added to the original invoice.
Chase missing documents from suppliers
If you're wanting to approve a completed booking but notice that an invoice or POD is missing, you can easily remind your supplier by using the one-click reminder feature for one invoice or more.
Here's how:
1. Click on the Awaiting Approval tab and find the record(s) that says Awaiting docs.
2. You can then select one invoice to send a reminder;
Or select multiple invoices;
And send a batch invoice reminder by clicking on Send reminder.
3. It is also possible to send a reminder when opening the record, then click on Send reminder.
Contacting suppliers through SmartPay
You can contact suppliers directly about an invoice using SmartPay’s built-in messenger—no need for emails. You can do this in two ways:
- Send them a message: Start a conversation linked to a completed booking for clear and organised communication. Use this feature to prompt drivers to approve invoices.
- Open a query: Use this feature to raise specific invoice issues. This will change the status of the invoice to Open query so the driver can respond.
To send a message:
1. Click on the Awaiting Approval tab and find the record(s) that says Awaiting docs.
2. Find and open the record.
3. Click on Messages.
4. You can now enter your message. Afterwards click Send.
To open a query:
1. Click on the Awaiting Approval tab and find the record(s) that says Awaiting docs.
2. Find and open the record.
3. Click on Messages.
4. Toggle the Query status on.
5. Select a reason from the drop-down in the pop-up.
7. If you would like to send a copy of your query via email, tick Email supplier, then click on Open query to submit.
Approving invoices
Approving invoices can be done on an individual or bulk basis.
1. From the dashboard, click the Pending approval widget located in the Summary section.
2. This will take you to all records that are pending approval. Find the record you wish to approve.
3. Open the record to review the documents and approve them one-by-one;
Or click on the Approve all button at the top right.
Bulk approving invoices
Bulk approving invoices (known as Smart Approve in SmartPay) allows you to approve multiple invoices received by the same supplier at once rather than approving each invoice individually. Here's how to do this:
1. From the dashboard, click the Pending approval widget located in the Summary section.
2. Find the supplier.
3. Tick the box.
4. Finally, click on Smart approve.
Scheduling invoices for payment
Scheduling invoices for payment can be done on an individual or bulk basis. Here's how:
1. From the dashboard, click the Approved widget located in the Summary section.
2. Find the record(s) and tick the box(es).
3. Click on Schedule & Pay.
4. Select a date from the calendar.
5. Finally, click on the Schedule button.
Integrating SmartPay with your accounting software
SmartPay supports integrations with Sage (Business Cloud), Xero, and QuickBooks. Here's how you can integrate your accounting software with SmartPay:
1. In the top right hand corner, you'll see the Settings cog.
2. Click on the Integrations tab.
3. Choose the accounting software you'd like to connect with and click Login.
4. Log in with your credentials and grant access to the app for data sharing.
5. You'll see a confirmation message prompting you to map the items in the lists provided.
6. Click on Login to continue. If you need to edit any of the items you've mapped, you can do so in the Settings area of your AP integration.
7. Click on the Customers tab to start connecting your customers with your chosen accounting software. If their name doesn't appear when you search for them, that means you need to create that customer in your accounting software for the integration to work.
8. You can now start sending invoices and credit notes across to your accounting software.
You'll know the integration was successful by seeing the logo of your accounting software in the Settings area of AP.