Releasing a bill for payment

Approving a bill no longer pays it. Approval and payment are now two separate acts, made by two separate decisions. See How to Approve Expenses for getting a bill through its approval chain; this article covers what happens after that, when the bill is ready to be paid.

The Pay this bill button

Once a bill is fully approved, its side panel shows one full-width primary button:

There is never a second money button next to it. Everything else related to the bill, editing, voiding, downloading, lives in the More actions overflow.

Choosing how it gets paid

Clicking Pay this bill opens a pop-up titled Pay this bill, subtitled "Choose how this bill gets paid. Only one of the two moves money."

Send the payment through URBI

URBI moves the money itself: from the property's paying account to the vendor's bank account on file. The footer buttons are Cancel and Send the payment. The payment date is not editable on this path, because a real transfer cannot be back-dated.

Record a payment made outside URBI

This records a payment journal entry only; no money moves. Use it when the bill was already paid by cheque, wire, or some other method outside URBI. The footer buttons are Cancel and Mark as paid. Here the payment date, the bank or cash account, the payment method, and the reference are all editable, the same as before. See Choosing the payment date when you mark something paid for how the date field works on this path.

Paying part of a bill

Both paths now ask for an amount, so a bill does not have to be settled in one go. The field starts filled in with everything still owed, which is the ordinary case, and you can type a smaller figure to pay part of it.

A few things worth knowing:

• You cannot pay more than is still owed. URBI refuses the amount rather than accepting an overpayment it would then have to unpick.
• A part-paid bill sits at Partly paid rather than Approved or Paid, so it is obvious at a glance which bills still have something outstanding.
• Each payment is its own record. Paying a bill in three instalments leaves three payments on the bill, each with its own date, method and account.

Seeing what has been paid so far

An open bill lists every payment made against it, newest first, with what is still owed at the top.

If a payment was recorded in error, open it and choose Reverse this payment. Reversing does not erase anything: the original payment stays on the bill marked reversed, alongside the entry that undoes it, so the history reads as what actually happened. The amount goes back onto what is owed and the bill returns to Partly paid or Approved as appropriate.

While the payment is travelling

After you choose Send the payment through URBI, the bill shows Payment on its way until the transfer lands:

Nothing else about the bill changes while it is in this state, and the bill turns Paid on its own once the transfer lands.

Clicking Pay this bill twice does not pay twice

Once a payment is released, the second release is refused. URBI already knows a payment for this bill is in progress or complete, and will not send or record a second one.

Never work around a stuck payment by hand. If a bill sits at Payment on its way longer than expected, wait for it to resolve or contact support. Recording a second payment outside URBI to "unstick" it creates a real duplicate in your books that then has to be found and reversed.

When paying through URBI is unavailable

Nothing is ever unpayable. When Send the payment through URBI cannot be used, it appears disabled with a plain one-line reason underneath it, and Record a payment made outside URBI is preselected and fully usable.

Real examples of the reason shown:

• "Northgate Roofing is on file as a record-keeping company with no bank details, so there is nowhere for URBI to send the money."
• "Kingsway Terrace has no way of paying set up yet, so record a payment made outside URBI instead."

A bill against a vendor whose bank details are on file for a different country than the property is refused for the same reason: there is no working route between the two, so the by-hand path is the one to use.

Related articles

• How to Approve Expenses, for getting a bill through its approval chain before it reaches this step.
• Automatic payment and bank details, for having URBI release the payment on its own instead of clicking Pay this bill.