The groundwork your accountant asks for each month

Billing admin for growing businesses

This service usually fits a business that sends a steady run of invoices, pays a handful of regular vendors and has a bookkeeper or CPA who would rather receive tidy records than a shoebox. Often the owner is the one doing invoicing late in the evening.

An assistant takes over the repeat steps in QuickBooks or Xero. Invoices go out, reminders follow on schedule, receipts get attached, bills are entered and left waiting for approval, and statements are compared at month end.

Your accountant keeps the accounting. You keep control of payments and bank details.

A usual month of billing admin

The rhythm is usually weekly, with a pass at month end.

• Each week: invoices created and sent for finished work, reminders sent on overdue ones, receipts matched in the bank feed, new bills entered as drafts.
• Month end: vendor statements compared with recorded bills, open questions listed for your bookkeeper, and the month's documents filed in a shared folder.
• As needed: a customer asks for a copy invoice, a vendor sends a corrected bill, or a new customer needs setting up.

You get a short summary of what went out, what is overdue and which bills are waiting for your approval.

Decisions only you should make

An assistant can prepare nearly everything on the billing side. A few decisions still belong to you:

• Approving bills and releasing payments
• Changing bank details, card details or remittance instructions, after confirming any request through a contact you already know
• Issuing credits, refunds or write-offs
• Settling disputes with customers or vendors
• Anything tax-related, together with your CPA

Write down who makes each call and how the assistant should reach that person. The page then goes into the assistant's procedure notes, so the answer is there when the question comes up.

Questions about invoicing and bookkeeping admin

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