Overview of Invoicing

⏱️ 4 minute read

Forecast's Invoicing streamlines project and financial management by connecting time tracking, budgeting, and billing, allowing you to generate accurate, real-time invoices directly from your project data.

It provides a clear financial overview, supports recurring billing, and ensures you're invoicing for actual work and expenses. Invoicing also integrates seamlessly with accounting tools like QuickBooks (QBO) and Xero.

Invoices use a date-effective model. Currency conversions apply the exchange rate active during the historical date range of the items being billed.

Both draft and finalized invoices are anchored to the exchange rate in effect on the invoice date, so adding a rate that starts after that date won't change them.

Understanding Invoicing

Forecast simplifies your invoicing process while improving cash flow visibility and overall operational efficiency.

Invoicing provides:

Seamless integration across projects and billing. Save time and reduce errors by billing directly from tracked work and project progress.
Real-time financial overview. Gain clear insight into what has been invoiced and what remains outstanding.
Automated recurring invoices. Reduce administrative work and ensure consistent cash flow by setting up recurring invoices for retainer projects.
Billing based on actual work. Ensure accurate, transparent billing that builds client trust and minimizes disputes.
Centralized financials. Access financial records and invoices alongside project data for easier audits, reporting, and client communication.
Integrations with accounting tools. Streamline your bookkeeping process by syncing invoices with tools like QBO and Xero.

Permissions: Who Can Access Invoicing?

To view and manage invoicing, permission profiles must include access to financials. Invoices are accessible by the standard permission profiles: Admins, Controllers, and Managers. Admins have access to all invoices across all projects, while Controllers and Managers can view invoices only for the projects they're assigned to.

For custom permission profiles, one of the following permissions must be enabled:

View financial information
View financial information, revenue only

To access automated invoicing in Retainers, an additional permission is required:

See and manage retainer periods

Note: All non-Admin custom permission profiles will only have access to invoices in the projects they're assigned to, unless the Access all projects and programs permission is also enabled.

For more details, see About Permission Profiles.

Accessing Invoices

Invoicing is accessible to permissioned users via the Finance section or directly within a project's Financials. Users can create and view invoices from the company's Finance page (under Invoice Creation and All Invoices), or at the project level via Project > Financials > Invoicing.

Accessing invoices from Finance

To access invoices from Finance:

Click Finance in the navigation ribbon.
Select Invoice Creation or All Invoices.

Invoice Creation — a list of all un-invoiced projects for the selected time period, grouped by budget type.

Use the Eye icon to show/hide project data such as:

Project Name
Project Client
Total Invoiced
Total Un invoiced (Fixed Price)
Total Un invoiced (Retainer)
Total Un invoiced (Time & Material)
Un invoiced Expenses
Un invoiced Fixed Price
Un invoiced Locked Periods
Un invoiced Time Registrations

All Invoices — a detailed list of all invoices that have been created, including the amounts invoiced, paid, and unpaid.

Use the Eye icon to show/hide invoice data such as:

Client
Due Date
Invoice Date
Paid
Projects
Reference
Status
Total Invoiced
Unpaid

All Invoices includes the Export feature for accounts integrated with an accounting tool like QBO or Xero. Invoices that have been exported successfully display the third-party's logo at the far right of each invoice. For non-integrated accounts, Invoicing includes the option to download a PDF of the invoice.

Accessing invoices from Projects

To access invoices from Projects:

Click Projects from the navigation ribbon.
Select All Projects from the dropdown.
Open the project you wish to view or create invoices for.
Click Financials in the left side panel.
Select Invoicing.

Invoicing — a list of all invoices created for the project. The summary cards at the top display the project's financial information and invoice details, such as:

Confirmed revenue
Invoices created
Invoices sent/exported
Invoice payments
Overdue invoices

Note: If an invoice contains multiple projects, the invoice won't be listed or accessible at the project level. For projects that have invoices containing more than one project, the following message will display:

Users must access the invoice as directed, by clicking Go to All Invoices.

Invoicing includes the Export feature for accounts integrated with an accounting tool like QBO or Xero. Invoices that have been exported successfully display the third-party's logo at the far right of each invoice.

For non-integrated accounts, Invoicing includes the option to download a PDF of the invoice.

Project-level invoicing by budget type

Time and Materials

Use the date picker to view Un invoiced Time Registrations and Expenses.

Retainers

Locked Periods and Expenses display below the summary cards, reporting un invoiced values from locked periods in both time and money.

Fixed Price

Invoices display below the summary cards.

Note: Expenses associated with a Fixed Price retainer period are absorbed into that period's line item.

To learn more about expenses on fixed-price retainers, review our release notes: Introducing Expenses on Fixed-Price Retainer Periods.

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Understanding Invoicing

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