Handling recurring bills
Rent, alarm monitoring, internet, insurance — some expenses hit every month like clockwork. Instead of creating a new vendor bill from scratch each time, you can streamline the process.
Option 1: Duplicate a previous bill
The simplest approach for most FFL dealers:
- Go to Accounting → Vendors → Bills.
- Find last month's bill for the same vendor (e.g., your rent bill from February).
- Open it and click the ⋮ (three-dot menu) or Action button at the top.
- Select Duplicate.
- A new draft bill is created with all the same details — vendor, amount, account, description.
- Update the Bill Date and Bill Reference to match the current month.
- Adjust the amount if it changed.
- Click Confirm.
This takes about 15 seconds and works well for bills that are the same amount every month.
Option 2: Set up the vendor with defaults
If you create your vendors with good defaults, new bills are almost pre-filled:
- Go to Contacts and open the vendor (or create a new one).
- On the Sales & Purchase tab, set:
- Payment Terms — e.g., "Net 15" for your alarm company
- When you create a new bill for this vendor, the payment terms are pre-filled. You add the line item, enter the amount, and confirm.
Create products for your regular expenses. Set up a product called "Monthly Rent" (type: Service, price: $2,500, expense account: Rent Expense). Then when you create a new bill, select this product as the line item — the description, price, and account are all filled in automatically. Do the same for alarm monitoring, internet, insurance, and any other recurring charge.
Keeping track of what's due
To make sure you don't miss a recurring bill:
- Set due dates. When you create each bill, make sure the due date is set correctly. This way overdue recurring bills show up in your Aged Payable report.
- Check bills to pay weekly. Go to Accounting → Vendors → Bills and filter by Not Paid to see everything outstanding. A quick weekly check ensures nothing slips past.