How to Work with Invoices

You've done the work, you've sold the stuff, let's make sure you get paid for it! MonkeyPod is built to help you seamlessly manage your organization's finances, and an important part of that is creating invoices for services performed, items sold, or reimbursable expenses.

How do I create an invoice in my MonkeyPod?

To create an invoice, select Finance from the main menu, and then under "Income & Expenses", select Create an Invoice.

Invoice Info

First enter the basic information about the invoice, including the customer, invoice date, and due date.

Continue building your invoice by choosing the items sold, reimbursable expenses, and services performed.

Items

If the invoice includes a product or service that you sell regularly, choose that item from the "Item" dropdown menu. If the item doesn't already exist in your MonkeyPod, click "Create An Item" to enter it. You can add multiple items to an invoice, just click "Add item" to add each one. Check out this article about items for more information about how to set up and work with items.

Miscellaneous Services

If the invoice includes miscellaneous products or services that you don't regularly sell, click "Add Miscellaneous Service", and enter the details.

Reimbursable Expenses

If you are invoicing for reimbursable expenses, click "Add Reimbursable Expense" for each expense and enter the expense account, amount and optional memo.

Accounting & Tracking

In this section, you can add optional information that may be useful for tracking and accounting purposes:

• Assign a class: The default is "shared expenses". Learn more about classes.
• Add a tag: Learn about using tags.
• Add a memo: Enter an optional internal note.
• Assign a reference number: This is the invoice number.
• Add a customer note: Add a note to the customer. This will appear on their invoice.
• Apply a discount: Add discounts that you have already set up in your MonkeyPod.

When you have everything entered for the invoice, double check the invoice total at the bottom of the page, and click Save.

How do I send an invoice to request payment once I've created it?

You have a few options! We'll go over them here.

Option 1: Have MonkeyPod send the invoice by email and request payment online.

Select Send invoice from the action menu at the top left of the invoice page.  If you don't see that option, verify that you have an email address entered for the customer's relationship. MonkeyPod can't send the invoice without an email address on file.

Enter an optional message to include in the email, if you'd like, and then choose whether you want to have a PDF copy of the invoice attached. Select Email Invoice to send the invoice when you're ready.

Option 2: Send an email or text to the payee outside of MonkeyPod and include a link to pay online

If you'd prefer to send your own message to the payee, choose Copy payment link from the action menu on the invoice page.

You can then paste the link into an email or a text message to send to the payee. The payment link will take them directly to the online payment screen.

Option 3: Send a PDF or mail a printed copy of the invoice

When viewing the invoice, select Download PDF from the action menu. You can then choose to print and mail the invoice or send it as an attachment to an email or text. The PDF includes no mention of the online payment option.

How can I send a batch of invoices?

You can easily send a batch of invoices at one time using the Invoices report.

Select the Reports menu then choose Invoices from under the "Operations" heading.

Use the Report Settings to find the set of invoices that you want to send. You can filter by invoice date, due date, payment status and send status (whether an invoice has been previously sent).

Then use the checkboxes in the results list to select the invoices you want to send. If you want to send them for all the invoices in the list, select the checkbox in the header to quickly select them all. Then select the Email Selected button.

MonkeyPod will have you verify your decision, and you'll have the option to choose whether to include a PDF copy of the invoice in these emails. When ready, select Send Emails.

How do I record payment of an invoice?

There are a couple of ways to record the payment of an invoice.

• If the payee paid online, your MonkeyPod will take care of the transactions for you and they will be listed under the Payments Received tab on the invoice page.
• If the payee paid offline, click Record Payment on the Payments Received tab.

       Then enter the payment details and click Save.

How can I enter a credit memo for an invoice?

A credit memo is used to provide a "credit" to one of your customers, which can then be applied to an open invoice or saved to apply toward future invoices for that customer. When viewing an invoice page in your MonkeyPod, choose Record a credit memo from the action menu on the top left side of the page to apply a credit to the invoice.

Enter the amount to credit and the date of the transaction. Verify that you have selected the correct receivable account (must be the same as the invoice) and offsetting account (usually an income account, but can be an expense account if it's reflecting a discount or promotional expense). Use the Notes field to record the reason for issuing the credit memo, and click Save when done.

You also have the option to apply payments or partial payments in the Payments Received tab on the invoice page.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I find all of the outstanding invoices and see their status?

Easy! Just go to the Reports menu and select Invoices under the "Operations" heading. There you can see all invoices, filter by date, date due, status, and whether the invoice has been emailed.

Can I preview the invoice email before I send it?

Yes! Choose Preview email from the action menu to first preview the email and make sure everything looks good.

Who shows up as the sender on the emailed invoices?

You can set your default invoice sender by choosing My MonkeyPod > Organization Settings in the main menu. (If left blank, this will be the MonkeyPod account owner.)  Select the Accounting tab there, and then choose Invoicing defaults. You can choose from any of your MonkeyPod users. Invoice emails will be sent under that person's name, with replies routed to their address. If your organization's email domain is verified for sending, invoices come from their address; otherwise they're sent from a MonkeyPod address on their behalf.  Learn about verifying your email domain.  

What if I invoice someone at regular intervals? Is there a way MonkeyPod can automatically record and send recurring invoices for me?

Sure! First, create or navigate to the invoice that you have already recorded for this customer. Then, from the action menu on the left of the page, choose Memorize invoice. Set the name for the recurring invoice, the frequency, and the start and end dates, and MonkeyPod will take care of recording the future invoices. Select Automatically email each invoice to the customer when it is generated? to have MonkeyPod send a generated invoice with a link to pay online and a PDF copy attached. Click Save when ready.

Is there an easy way to copy an invoice and modify it as a quick way to create a new invoice?

Yes! From the action menu, choose Copy invoice, and then in the dialog, enter the date for the invoice and a reference number. Choose Copy & View to create an exact copy with the new date and reference number. Or choose Copy & Edit and MonkeyPod makes a copy of the invoice for you and displays the page for you to edit the additional details, including the customer.

How can our organization bill hourly for staff time on an invoice?

It's easy! First create an "item" for staff time and specify the hourly rate. Then you just add that item to an invoice and increment the quantity to match the number of hours worked.

How can I add a line item for transaction processing fees to an invoice?

Simple! First create an item called "transaction processing fee". Then add that item to the invoice!

How do I add a discount to an invoice?

First create the discount by choosing Finance > Discounts from MonkeyPod's main menu, then select "Add a discount".

Enter the details for the discount and click "Save". Discounts may be entered either as a fixed amount or a percentage to be deducted from the invoice total.

Once your discounts have been set up in your MonkeyPod, you can select them when creating or editing an invoice by clicking "Apply a discount" under the "Accounting & Tracking" heading of the invoice.