Step 1: Create a New Bill
Start from the “Invoices Tab” of your Ambrook app and click on the “Accounts Payable” section in the top right quadrant.
This page is where you will see all of the bills you have created and their current status.
To make a new invoice, click the “+ New” button to the right of the “Accounts Payable” heading. That will open up an payable creation page that looks like this:
Quick Import
If you have a digital copy of the bill, you can drag it into the green “Quick Import” field and Ambrook will read in all of the details it can to save you manual entry.
If you have a paper version of the bill, use the Ambrook mobile app to take a picture of it for upload instead.
Informational Fields
Fill out the fields on the left as necessary for the bill you are creating. If you used Quick Import, then just check these fields for accuracy and fill in what the Quick Import may have missed.
Field Name | Description and Use |
Vendor | This is a required field. Depending on how you plan on paying them, make sure the vendor has a valid email, mailing address, and payment information. See the Manage Vendors article for more information. |
Invoice ID | Enter an Invoice ID if the vendor provided one. This field is not required, but if you leave it blank, it may be harder to distinguish between similar bills in the future. |
Memo | Use this to provide context on what the bill was for (ex: “March utilities”). If you are writing a check through Ambrook, this text will also appear in the “Memo” line of that check. |
Invoice Date | The date the bill was issued. |
Net Terms | Ambrook uses this information to alert you when a bill is nearing overdue. Set Net Terms to “0” if payment is due upon receipt. |
Due Date | This date is calculated based on the Invoice Date and Net Terms fields, but you can also set it directly. |
Attachments | Use the Attachments section to upload any other documents you want to be associated with the invoice for recordkeeping. If you used Quick Import, that file will already be attached. |
Line Items
Next, if necessary, enter a description and price for each of the goods or services you are buying. For products that are sold at a certain price per unit, you can enter the Quantity being purchased and Price per unit, and the Amount field will multiply Price times Quantity automatically.
For products that don’t make sense to be bought at a certain price per unit, you can skip the Price and Quantity fields and simply fill in the Amount field with the total price for the product.
There is no limit to the number of line items you can have on a bill, but you only need to record them to the extent you care about the detail for your records. The Total calculates automatically as the sum of the Amount field on your line items.
Tag your Bill
One of the benefits of managing bills directly in Ambrook is that you can do your bookkeeping at the same time as you pay the bill. You have two options when doing so.
Tag everything at once
By default, Ambrook gives you the option to tag the entire bill with a single set of tags from the tag bar above your line items (shown in the screenshot above.) You can add tags to your expense line items here just like you would from the Ledger.
Tag each line separately
If you do need to tag the line items separately, simply click the green “Tag Each Item” button and tags will appear on each line item, as below.
Draft Bill
At any time in the bill creation process, you may want to step away without finalizing the bill. To do so, simply click the “Save as Draft” button in the top right corner. Your bill will be saved as a draft and you can pick it back up later.
Draft bills are never included in your Accounts Payable metrics.
Step 2: Pay the Bill
Your bill is recorded, now all you have to do is pay it and get back to business!
Pay via Ambrook
Ambrook offers a few ways to pay directly from the application. To do so, click the dark green “Pay Bill” button in the top right corner to open up the “Pay Bill” panel.
Confirm the bill details, and use the dropdown to choose from your available payment options. If your preferred payment method is not available to you, contact support to get it set up.
Check By Mail
This option involves Ambrook mailing a physical check to the vendor’s address on your behalf. Funds for the payment will be withdrawn from your Ambrook Wallet on the day the check is cut (“Send By” date). Make sure the vendor’s profile has their up-to-date mailing address, and choose your preferred send date (or work backwards using the preferred arrival date, to preserve cash flow). Finally, click the “Schedule Payment” button. Checks by mail take up to 10 business days to arrive, from the day they are sent. Please plan ahead accordingly.
Print Check
If you have physical check paper with your bank account information on it, you can print checks directly from Ambrook and deliver them to your vendor. Contact support to configure this option.
ACH Payment
If you have your vendor’s account and routing number saved, you can pay via ACH from your Ambrook Wallet. Select their bank information from the “Deliver To” box and then click the “Schedule Payment” button to initiate the ACH. These payments typically take 2-3 business days to arrive, once triggered.
Credit Card
Credit card payments through Ambrook are coming soon, but are not available yet. Contact your vendor to see if they will process your payment via credit card directly and follow the steps in the section below to complete your bookkeeping.
Mark as Paid Outside of Ambrook
Sometimes, you may not want to pay the bill directly through Ambrook. In those cases, you should pay the bill using the method of your choice and use the “Mark as Paid” function to record it as settled in Ambrook.
To do so, simply save the invoice and reopen it to view the details. Click the “Mark as Paid” button, and another window will open to ask you how the bill was paid:
Cash Transaction
If you paid the bill with cash, use the option to record that cash transaction on the ledger and link this bill to it. This bill is now fully recorded and matched; no more actions are needed.
Check Payment
If you paid by check off of Ambrook (with a handwritten one, for example), select this option to record the check date, number, and the account from which it will draw. These details will serve as a reminder when the check clears and needs to be matched to the payment.
Expected Payment
Select this option for any other kind of payment. This will simply record on your ledger that this bill was paid, in readiness for that payment to clear and be matched to the invoice.
Match Payment
If the bill was paid and the transaction has already appeared on your ledger, you can use the “Match Payment” button to jump immediately to Step 3 below.
Step 3: Match a Payment to the Bill
Once you’ve paid the bill, you are just waiting for that payment to enter your ledger. When it does, you’ll take one final step to close the loop with your bookkeeping — match the bill to the payment that paid for it.
When the payment transaction arrives in your ledger, go find the bill in your Accounts Payable tab and click the “Match” button to associate the bill with the transaction. A panel called “Match Payments to Invoice” will appear and allow you to find the correct transaction.
Sometimes a single payment pays off multiple bills, so don’t worry if another bill has already been matched to the payment – Ambrook will keep track of how much of the payment is left to be matched to.
When you are done matching, click “Done” and the bill will show as “Matched” on your Accounts Receivable Page. Furthermore, when you see the linked transaction on the Ledger, the line items and tags from your bill will have been copied over, so there’s no bookkeeping left to do.