Starter tag plan
A team that starts coding invoices without an agreed list of tags soon has three names for the same thing. This page gives a services company a ready first set of tag groups and tags, as one table, so everyone starts from the same base. Rename the tags to fit your business, and drop the rows you do not need. Why the groups are cut this way is explained in Choosing tags for budgeting.
Three rules to agree first
- Every invoice gets at least one tag. Create one tagging category per tag group in Tagging categories and switch Required on for Cost type. An invoice with an empty required field is marked as incomplete, which never blocks saving, so nobody is stopped from parking an invoice before it is coded. A tagging category is a field on cost invoices, so it flags only those. A sales invoice is checked through the Untagged row of the Clients breakdown.
- A project tag is linked to its project once. When you create the tag, set Linked project on it. From then on, on a purchase invoice, choosing the project fills in the tag and choosing the tag fills in the project, so nobody has to remember which goes with which. Keep one tag per project: if two tags name the same project, choosing that project fills in neither.
- Your accountant's categories go in as a second group. Ask your accountant for the list of cost categories they book by, and create it as a separate tag group next to Cost type. Your own breakdown and the accountant's then stay apart, and a document counts in full in each. If you export to your accountant, fill in Accounting code on each of those tags.
The plan
| Tag group | Tag | What goes in it | Example invoice | Project or budget |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost type | Bank fees | Account fees, card fees and transfer charges | The bank's monthly account fee, often a payment with no invoice | Breakdown only |
| Cost type | Office | Rent, utilities, cleaning and office supplies | The monthly rent invoice for the office | Breakdown only |
| Cost type | Software and subscriptions | Tools and services the whole company uses | The monthly invoice for your accounting software | Breakdown only |
| Cost type | Taxes | The tax payments your accountant counts as costs | An income-tax payment to the tax office, a payment with no invoice | Breakdown only |
| Cost type | Own marketing | Advertising, events and materials that promote your own company | An invoice for online ads for your services | Budget: a Marketing budget that includes invoices with this tag |
| Clients | One tag per client, such as Client A | Every sales invoice raised for the client, and costs bought only for that client | The monthly retainer invoice to Client A | Breakdown only |
| Projects | One tag per project, such as Client A website | The costs and income of one piece of client work | A freelancer's invoice for building Client A's website | Project: set Linked project on the tag |
| Re-invoicing | To re-invoice | Costs you pay first and invoice on to a client | A hotel invoice for a trip made for Client B, to be charged to Client B | Breakdown only; also give it the client's tag and the project's tag |
| Accounting categories | One tag per category your accountant books by, such as Rent | The same costs as Cost type, split the way your accountant splits them | The office rent invoice, tagged Rent here and Office in Cost type | Breakdown only; fill in Accounting code |
| None | No tag | Transfers between your own accounts | Moving money from your main account to your VAT account | Neither |
To load the plan in one step, put it in a spreadsheet with one row per tag and the columns group, tag and description, and use Import on Settings → Finance & Business → Invoice tag groups. Leave out the last row, which is not a tag, and replace each One tag per … row with your real clients, projects and categories. Put the What goes in it text in description: it becomes the tag's Description, which is shown to people picking the tag. If a tag's name has no Latin letters or digits, add a label column with a short label for it: without it, the row is flagged and nothing in the file can be applied until it is fixed. The import shows what it would change before anything is saved. An import never deletes, so tags you already have stay as they are.
What the last column means
- Breakdown only. The tag is a row in the P&L by tags view of every budget the document counts in, once you choose its tag group. A document with no tag from that group lands on the Untagged row, so a large Untagged row shows where the first rule is not yet followed.
- Project. Linked project ties the tag to one project, as the second rule describes. The project carries the cost into every budget that covers the project.
- Budget. When you create the Marketing budget, tick Tagged incoming invoices in the step that asks what the budget includes, and pick the Own marketing tag. Every received invoice carrying that tag then counts in that budget. See Budget configuration.
A payment with no invoice, such as a bank fee or a tax payment, is tagged on the payment itself, in its drawer under Transactions.
Transfers between your own accounts get no tag. They are not a cost. Flowtly recognises a transfer as your own when the other account number in the bank's description matches another bank account you have added in Flowtly, and does not flag it as missing a budget. For a counterparty whose payments never belong in a budget, mark it Budget neutral. See Transactions management and Counterparties.
Example use cases
- A new office manager and the founder agree on the table before anyone codes an invoice, and import it in one step.
- A team that argued over whether a hotel bill is Travel or Client B tags it To re-invoice, Client B and the project, and stops arguing.
- An accountant sends the list of categories they book by, and the administrator adds it as a second tag group with an Accounting code on each tag.
- An administrator sees a large Untagged row in the Cost type breakdown and switches Required on for the Cost type category.