Bills, receipts and expenses: what they are
The plain-words meaning of a bill, a receipt and an expense in Todah, where each one lives, and which article to read next.
Every dollar your business spends needs to be in your books, so your profit and your GST/HST return are right. Todah keeps all spending on one screen: Bills.
The words, in plain English
| Bill | An invoice someone sends you. A supplier did work or sold you something, and you will pay them later. In Todah a bill starts as Outstanding (you still owe it). |
|---|---|
| Receipt | Proof that you already paid, on the spot: the slip from the hardware store, a gas station or a restaurant. In Todah a receipt is recorded as a bill that is already Paid. |
| Expense | Any money the business spends to run. Every bill and every receipt is an expense. In Todah, bills and receipts are how you record expenses, so there is one place for all of them. |
| Vendor | The business you bought from: your supplier, your landlord, your phone company. Vendors are listed under Vendors in the menu on the left, and you can also add one straight from the bill form. |
| Expense category | A label for what the money was spent on, such as Materials or Insurance. Categories decide where the cost lands in your Profit and Loss report. |
| Payment | A record that you paid a supplier: how much, on what date and how (cheque, e-Transfer, card). A bill can be paid all at once or in several payments. |
| Outstanding, Partially Paid, Overdue, Paid | The statuses a bill can show. Outstanding: you owe all of it. Partially Paid: you have paid some of it. Overdue: you still owe some or all of it and its due date has passed. Paid: it is settled. |
Where things are
- Bills (menu on the left): every bill and receipt, the New Bill button, and the Scan Bill or Receipt button.
- Vendors (menu on the left): your list of suppliers, and below it the Expense Categories card where you manage categories.
- Banking (menu on the left, owners and admins only): bank lines you can match to bills, or turn into a bill when there was no paperwork.
- Reports (menu on the left): Profit and Loss and the sales tax summary, which both read your bills.
Which article do I need?
- A supplier sent you an invoice to pay later: Record a bill.
- You paid at the till and have a slip: Record a receipt (an expense you already paid).
- You have a photo or PDF and want Todah to fill in the form: Scan a receipt or bill.
- You paid a bill and want it to show Paid: Mark a bill paid.
- You paid part of a bill, or pay a supplier in instalments: Pay part of a bill.
- The receipt is in US dollars or another currency: Bills and receipts in another currency.
- You need to fix a bill you already saved: Change or delete a bill.
- You bought something for one client and want to charge it back to them: Recharge expenses to a client on an invoice.
Good to know
- Todah keeps your books in Canadian dollars. A scanned document in another currency is converted to the Canadian-dollar amount you confirm when you save it.
- Todah records the payments you make. The money itself moves the way you already pay suppliers: online banking, cheque, card or e-Transfer.
- A bill emailed to you is saved like any file: save the attachment to your computer or phone, then use Scan Bill or Receipt, or attach it to a bill with Attachments.
See also
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