Learn More About Accounts Receivable

In this article:

1. What can Accounts Receivable (AR) do for me?
2. How do I start using AR?
3. How do I set my bank details?
4. How do I add a secondary set of bank details? How to add factoring information?
5. How do I upload a POD?
6. How do I edit a POD?
7. How do I create a new invoice for a completed load?
8. How do I edit an invoice? 
9. How do I download an invoice?
10. How do I download an invoice statement?
11. Can I combine multiple loads for the same customer onto one invoice (batch invoicing)?
12. How do I raise a supplementary invoice or credit note?
13. How to contact your customer in AR
14. How do I keep track of payments as owed to me?
15. How to mark an invoice as paid?
16. How to view all paid invoices?
17. How do I see all my activity for a load?
18. How do I perform multiple actions?
19. Where can I find all my customer records?
20. How do I create a private (customer) invoice? 
21. How do I print my invoices?

 

1. What can Accounts Receivable (AR) do for me?

We’ve built the new Accounts Receivable with the Exchange Carrier in mind, so they can spend more time moving freight. Here’s a quick view of its benefits:  

Make your accounting practices easier 

AR exists to make the accounting practices of a freight transporter easier on the Exchange. It’s an easy-to-use solution built into the Exchange platform that puts customers and suppliers on the same page providing end-to-end booking visibility. It drastically saves time on both ends, as all documents for a booking are shared on the same screen. No more payment delays as a result of missing required paperwork for a completed load. 

Tidy, strategic communications with your customer 

We’ve made it easy to communicate with your customer for each invoice with a built-in messaging system. For example, if you’ve completed multiple loads with a single customer, you can start a conversation about one invoice in particular, and keep it separate from the rest to avoid confusion. 

Switch bank details in one click 

If you’re using a factoring service to finance your invoices, we’ve introduced a single-click solution that automatically switches between these bank details on the same invoice you’re looking at. 

Keep records of all your accounting activity 

Trace your steps whenever you need to with the ‘History’ tab. It provides you with a list of all your accounting activity within the AR solution. 

Headache-free additional invoicing features 

If you need to raise a supplementary invoice or raise a credit note, you can do this without worrying about your customer getting past invoices mixed up or lost. Each invoice raised on AR is linked to the ID of the completed load. This means that any updates like credit notes or supplementary invoices regarding a particular load will easily be updated and reflect on the payer’s side in AP. 

No confusion, customer frustration or extra admin!  

A single view of payments due 

Use the ‘Awaiting Payment’ tab to see all the invoices you’ve raised, which are pending approval or have been approved by your customer. If you’ve received payment for an invoice, keeping your records tidy is easy by marking them as ‘paid’. This will also reflect on your customer’s side in Accounts Payable, so they know the transaction has been completed. 

Easy integration with Xero, Sage or QuickBooks 

If you’re already using Xero, Sage or QuickBooks for your business, we offer easy integration with AR. This means you can avoid duplicating invoices and rekeying data on both platforms when managing your accounting. 

 

2. How do I start using AR?

If you have been upgraded to Finance Manager already, access to the Accounts Receivable (AR) solution is found on the far left of the screen in the side bar menu. You should see the application icons for Courier or Haulage Exchange, and Finance Manager (AR and AP). 

 

If you need assistance, you can always reach out to our support team.  

 

3. How do I set my bank details?

If you’re already logged into Accounts Receivable  

Step 1) At the top-right of the screen, click on the gear icon. This will take you to ‘Settings’. 

Step 2) Click on the ‘Finance’ tab. 

Step 3) Click on the ‘Bank Details’ tab. Enter your bank details for the account you want the payment to be made out to. When you’re done, click ‘Save’.

 

 If you need assistance, you can always reach out to our support team.  

 

4. How do I add a secondary set of bank details? How to add factoring information?

You can switch between these two bank accounts if you need to when creating an invoice. 

 

 

If you need assistance, you can always reach out to our support team.

 

5. How do I upload a POD?

PODs must be submitted via the Driver app or the Diary tab on the Exchange to be shown on the new Accounts Receivable.  

If a booking is missing a POD, you’ll see the POD required label as below.  

• You’ll have to go to the Diary tab on the Exchange to upload it. 
• Use the side menu to easily head to the Exchange, click on the Diary tab. 
• Select the booking you want and upload the POD.  
• Now go back to AR using the side menu and the boking status will be changed to Ready to invoice.
• Click on the boking to see the POD reflected there.  

If you need assistance, you can always reach out to our support team.  

 

6. How do I edit a POD?

If you want to replace a POD that is already upload to Accounts Receivable, you don’t need to go back to the Exchange. Simply click on the three dots below the POD and choose Replace.  

If you need assistance, you can always reach out to our support team.  

 

7. How do I create a new invoice for a completed load?

Please keep in mind: Draft invoices won’t appear in the ‘Awaiting Payment’ tab or have an invoice number. 

If you’re happy to raise the invoice, click ‘Save’. The invoice will now appear in the ‘Awaiting Payment’ tab. 

If you require any further assistance with invoicing, please raise a ticket here.  

 

8. How do I edit an invoice?

Invoices can only be edited if your customer hasn’t approved them yet on their side in Accounts Payable (AP). If the ‘Edit’ button still appears, that means you can make changes.   

 

If the option to edit is no longer available, you have to raise a supplementary invoice. 

For example, if you’ve forgotten to add an item like parking or congestion charges, you’d have to raise a supplementary invoice for this.  

On the other hand, if you’ve added a charge that shouldn’t be on the invoice and your customer has already approved it for payment (you’ve overcharged the customer), you’ll need to raise a credit note. 

 
If you require any further assistance with invoicing, please raise a ticket here.  

 

9. How do I download an invoice?

If you need assistance, you can always reach out to our support team.  

 

10. How do I download an invoice statement?

Use filters or select the records you wish to include on the statement and click “Export”. You’ll be able to choose the statement format as shown below.  

 If you need assistance, you can always reach out to our support team.  

 

11. Can I combine multiple loads for the same customer onto one invoice (batch invoicing)?

Batch invoicing is a smart feature in Accounts Receivable allowing you to 'batch' multiple loads completed for the same customer into a single invoice, rather than invoicing for each load individually. 

The biggest advantage of batch invoicing is the amount of time it saves you on billing for multiple completed loads and it also speeds up payment by making it easier for the customer to approve all invoices in one go.   

 

Here’s how to batch invoices for multiple loads:  

  

Step 1) Click on the ‘Ready To Invoice’ tab and select the loads for the customer you want to batch invoice for.   

Step 2) Click on ‘Batch invoice’ and then click ‘Continue’ when prompted.  

Step 3) In this example, you will see that the two loads have been batched together where it says ‘Order Details (2 pages)’. The same applies to the PODs of each load to the right. 

Step 4) Click on the middle invoice page where it says ‘Please click to create invoice’. You will see this:  

Step 5) Start adding your line items for the load as you normally would when creating an invoice. You will see the load IDs separating each load so you don’t confuse the line items.   

Step 6) The invoice date at the top is automatically populated with the current date, but this be changed if needed.   

  

Please note: invoice dates can be changed to one month in the future, but if you would like to backdate the invoice, the latest date you can choose is the load completion date.

You can see the corresponding line items for the first and second load automatically populated in the invoice preview to the left.  

Step 7) if you’d like to add line items to each invoice, you can do so by clicking on the ‘+ Add Item’ button.  

 

You will see the extra line items update in the invoice preview.   

Step 8) When you’ve finished creating the invoices for each load, click ‘Save’ at the bottom of the page.   

In the middle, you should see the details of the batch invoice you’ve just created for your chosen loads. The order details and PODs will also be included.   

 

 

To view your activity history in Accounts Receivable, you can click on the ‘History’ tab at the top.   

In this example, you can see the history of batching two loads together onto a single invoice: 

For this particular example, there aren’t any internal notes, but if there are notes relating to any of your chosen loads included in the batch invoice, they will appear here in the ‘internal notes’ section.   

Just like you would with regular invoicing in Accounts Receivable, if you’ve forgotten a line item or need to raise a credit note, you can do so here:  

If this batch invoice has already been approved by your customer and is locked for further editing, you can raise a supplementary invoice by clicking on the 3 vertical dots and choosing ‘Create supplementary invoice'.   

If you need assistance, you can always reach out to our support team.

 

12. How do I rase a supplementary invoice or credit note?

An invoice will be locked for further editing if it’s already been approved by your customer in AP. If you’ve forgotten an item that should be on your invoice, you’ll need to raise a supplementary invoice. 
 

How to raise a supplementary invoice: 
 

Step 1) Find the load you need to raise a supplementary invoice for in the ‘Awaiting Payment’ tab. 

Step 2) Next to the green button that says, ‘Approved’ click on the three vertical dots to expand the menu. Select ‘Create Supplementary Invoice’. 

Step 3) Complete the invoice as you normally would with the missing items and click ‘Save’ when done. You will see this new invoice appear and the total number of invoices at the top change accordingly. 

Supplementary invoices will keep the same invoice number but have an added suffix such as ‘- A’. 

 

If you’ve added an item on your approved invoice that shouldn’t be there, or an amount is incorrect, you’ll need to add a credit note for your customer. 

 
How to raise a credit note: 
 

Step 1) Find the approved invoice in the ‘Awaiting Payment’ tab. 

Step 2) Click the 'Credit Note’ button. 

Step 3) Adjust your items and click ‘Save’ when done. 

 

Please keep in mind: Credit note amounts cannot exceed the total invoice amount. 

If you require any further assistance with invoicing, please raise a ticket here.  

 

13. How to contact your customer in AR

AR offers a built-in messenger so you can contact your customer directly about your invoices or PODs if you need to. Your messages will also reach your customer via email. 

The great thing about this messenger is that it keeps your conversations organised per load ID, so if you’ve completed multiple loads for the same customer but have a query about one invoice, they’ll know which one you’re referring to and won’t confuse it with others. 

 

Please keep in mind: your customer must be a member of the Exchange for you to message them.   

If your customer replies via email and attaches a file, it will appear in the ‘Supporting Docs’ tab. If you need to add any additional files you can do so within this tab. 
 

If any internal notes have been added to the load on the Exchange platform, these will reflect in the ‘Internal Notes’ tab. You can also add internal notes here if you want. They won’t be sent to your customer. 

 If you need assistance, you can always reach out to our support team.  

 

14. How do I keep track of payments owed to me?

The ‘Awaiting Payment’ tab shows you all the invoices you’ve raised which your customer either still has to approve or has already approved for payment.

 

Once you’ve received payment for an invoice, you can click the ‘Mark As Paid’ button. You can mark an invoice as paid even if your customer hasn't changed the status to "Approved" on their side in AP. 

If you've received payment, we recommend marking it as paid. It helps you see the totals of the invoices and credit notes, alongside any outstanding amounts for the record. 

 If you need assistance, you can always reach out to our support team.  

 

15. How to mark an invoice as paid

Step 1) Click on the ‘Mark As Paid’ button to begin. 

Step 2) Enter the payment amount that’s in your bank account, select the date you received payment and the payment method. 

Step 3) Saving this will update the record’s status to ‘Paid’, keeping your records tidy and easier to manage. Once a record has been marked as paid, it’ll be moved to the ‘Paid’ tab. 

 Please note an invoice will only move to the “Paid tab” once you “Mark them as Paid”.  

If you want to mark multiple invoices as paid, you can do so by selecting multiple records and clicking on ‘Mark as Paid’ in the bulk actions menu.  

 

 
If you need assistance, you can always reach out to our support team.  

 

16. How to view all paid invoices?

Click on the ‘Paid’ tab to see a list of all your invoices marked as paid. If you’d like to tidy this area up by moving old invoices out to make space for new ones without permanently deleting them, you can archive them.   

If you need to undo that action, you can easily unarchive the invoice.  

If you need assistance, you can always reach out to our support team. 

 

17. How do I see all my activity for a load?

The ‘History’ tab will show you an audit trail of all activity on a record. These activities could be uploading a POD, raising an invoice or supplying a credit note. 

It’s a great way to see if any documents are outstanding or to confirm that your customer has received all they need to approve the payment. 
 
Here’s a screenshot example of what this tab looks like when there’s activity on a record: 

If you need assistance, you can always reach out to our support team. 

 

18. How do I perform multiple actions?

You can select multiple records and apply the same actions to them by using the 'bulk actions' functionality. 

To perform a bulk action, individually select multiple checkboxes or click on the 'select all' button to select all records in the list.  

Once you've selected all your records, you have the option to either:  

• Download the documents  
• Export the transaction details to a CSV 
• Send invoices to your accounting software if integrated
• Archive records

You can also use the bulk actions feature when sorting paid invoices into your archived folder.  

Unarchive records using the bulk actions feature is also very easy to do.  

If you need assistance, you can always reach out to our support team. 

 

19. Where can I find all my customer records?

In the ‘Customers’ tab, you’ll find a list of all your customers and the total amounts for the records marked as paid. 

In addition to this, you can also view your customer’s information like bank details by clicking on ‘View customer details’ details in the more options menu. 

 

If your accounting software is integrated, you will also be able to link your customers to the 'Customers' area in your accounting software too.  

 If you need assistance, you can always reach out to our support team. 

 

20. How do I create a private (customer) invoice?

Private Invoicing is a new feature of Finance Manager which allows you to invoice customers who are not on the Courier Exchange. It’s powerful and can be used by following these simple steps.

Log into Finance Manager -> Accounts Receivable. Once there, go to either the “Ready to Invoice” or “Awaiting Payment” tabs. On the bottom left-hand corner of the page is a blue circular icon with a plus sign:

Clicking the icon will take you to the Create Invoice page for private invoicing.

As you fill in each field, Finance Manager shows you a side-by-side preview of what your invoice will look like.  Let’s begin by going through each field on the form.

Customer

The “Customer” field stores the name or customer id of your customer.  Typing 3 letters of an existing customer name brings up a list of matching customers.  For example, when “cou” is typed this is what comes up.

There is also the option to add a contact to a new or existing customer.

Alternatively, you can simply type in the name of a new customer.

Customer Ref

This field stores the customer reference number.

Items

This is where you enter the services you provided for your customer as well as extra items such as damage that you wish to charge for. You can set the “Quantity” and “Price” fields to determine how many of a particular service type you provided and how much that service cost.  There are also two dropdowns, “Item type” and “VAT rate”:

Item type contains 14 options

Vat Rate

VAT rate covers the type of VAT you want to charge for a particular set of items.

Add Item

If you wish to add a new item, simply click the “Add Item” button

Public Notes

This is a text field for any extra notes you want to add. These will be visible on the invoice. 

Once you’ve finished your invoice, Finance Manager gives you three different options for what to do with it.

Save as draft

This option saves your invoice as a draft, clicking it shows you the following screen.

The “edit & save” button allows you to make changes to your invoice while “delete” lets you delete the draft.

Create

 This option generates a pdf of your invoice. Clicking it will show you the following screen:

“Credit” lets you add a credit note while the icon consisting of three vertical dots lets you view the document, download a pdf and email it to the specified address. We recommend using this option.

Create and email

This option generates a pdf of your invoice and emails it to a specified email address. We advise that you only use this option if you are completely satisfied with the invoice you have created.

Factoring your invoice

Some people find it convenient to factor their invoices. Finance Manager now provides a section, “Use invoice finance bank details”, to add the bank details of your chosen company.

This allows your customers to pay that company directly, saving you the hassle.

 

22. How do I print my invoices?

To print your invoices, click on the “Awaiting Payment” heading on the Accounts Receivable tab: 

 

 

To print one invoice, please click on the three dots displayed on the generated invoice. Then click 'Print Invoice'

 

 

 

To print more than one invoice, tick the left-hand side boxes of all the invoices you want to print. Or, as shown in the image below, click the top left-hand box to automatically select all invoices.

 

 

Then click on 'Print Invoices' to print all the invoices you have selected.