Contract amendments

Flowtly Editorial Team5 min

An amendment records what a contract's figures became, and from which date. The contract itself keeps the values it was agreed at; each amendment states the values in force from its effective date onwards.

The usual reason is a figure the signed contract does not contain. On a fit-out lease the rent is a rate per m², and the area is measured only after the premises are handed over, so the number that decides the rent arrives later. An amendment is where that number goes. A rent review, a new end date or a changed per-period amount are recorded the same way.

Where to find it

Open a saved contract from the contract list. The Amendments section sits below Prices, and it is there on every saved contract, including one that has never been amended: a contract with no amendments says so, and keeps the value it was agreed at.

Each amendment in the list shows:

  • From and the date it takes effect
  • Value - the contract value after the amendment
  • Area in m², or No area recorded
  • Per period - the amount of one period, when the amendment states one
  • the note, when one was written

The newest amendment is listed first.

Raising an amendment

Raise an amendment is available to people who manage contracts or budgets. It opens a form with these fields:

  • Takes effect from - required.
  • Contract value after - required, in the contract's currency, and greater than zero.
  • Area after (m²)
  • One period costs
  • Starts and Ends - the contract's term after the amendment.
  • Note

An amendment states the whole picture, not the change

An amendment records what the figures are from its effective date, not what changed. A field left empty is recorded as having no value after the amendment; it does not mean "unchanged".

That is why the form opens already filled in with what is in force today: the current contract value, area, per-period amount and dates. To record a measured area, enter the area and leave the rest as it is. Clearing a field is a deliberate statement that the contract has no such value from that date - an amendment with an empty Ends, for example, records a contract with no end date.

The list makes the same distinction visible: an amendment that leaves the area empty shows No area recorded rather than hiding the area.

Correcting an amendment

An amendment cannot be edited. It is a record of what was agreed at a point in time, so a wrong one is corrected by deleting it and raising the right one. People who can raise amendments see a delete button beside each one. Deleting happens straight away, without a confirmation step.

Pricing a line by the measured area

An area on its own changes nothing on the price lines. Each saved line in Prices has a switch, Priced by the measured area, that says the line is multiplied by the contract's area rather than by its own quantity.

  • With an area in force, the line shows area in force: and the area, and its total on the contract is calculated from that area. The area in force is the one from the latest amendment that has taken effect, or the contract's own area when it has never been amended.
  • With no area yet, the line shows no area measured yet - raise an amendment, and its total stays incomplete. That is the normal state between signing and handover. Flowtly does not fall back to the line's own quantity, because that is the figure the switch exists to replace.
  • A line with the switch off keeps using its own quantity, and a flat charge stays a flat charge.

The switch is set per line because one lease routinely prices the rent per m² and a fixed fee, such as a marketing contribution, as a flat amount in the same document.

Example use cases

  • Recording the measured area on a fit-out lease: after handover the premises measure 850 m². Raise an amendment taking effect from the handover date, enter 850 in Area after (m²), keep the other figures as filled in, and switch on Priced by the measured area for the rent line.
  • Flagging the rent line before the measurement: switch the rent line to Priced by the measured area when the contract is entered, so it reads no area measured yet and stays visibly incomplete until the area is recorded.
  • A rent review: raise an amendment from the review date with the new contract value and per-period amount; the earlier figures stay in the list as the history.
  • Extending the term: raise an amendment with the new Ends date, leaving the value and area as they are.
  • Fixing a mistyped amendment: delete it and raise it again with the right figures.

Connection map

Refers toUses upDerived fromPart ofPlanned vs actual
Documented hereDocumented elsewhere
invoice billed to counterparty. invoice taxed by tax-group. cost spends against budget. cost owed to counterparty. bank-transaction reconciled to invoice. bank-connection imports bank-transaction. contract schedules payment-schedule-line. payment-schedule-line invoiced as invoice. contract agreed with counterparty. contract attached to budget. contract orders purchase-order-line. contract amended by contract-amendment. contract sets out contract-clause. purchase-order-line prices position. purchase-order-line estimated against time-entry. budget raises budget-alert. budget covers project. counterparty defaults to budget. counterparty defaults to project. invoice billed from project. set-off-declaration settles invoice. set-off-declaration declared with counterparty. project linked to budget. tenant-turnover reported by counterparty. tenant-turnover compared per area from contract. utilities-statement calculated for contract. lead becomes counterparty. deal sold to counterparty.billed totaxed byspends againstowed toreconciled toimportsschedulesinvoiced asagreed withattached toordersamended bysets outpricesestimated againstraisescoversdefaults todefaults tobilled fromsettlesdeclared withlinked toreported bycompared per area fromcalculated forbecomessold toIInvoice — A sales document issued to a client: line items, dates, tax. It is created, reviewed, previewed and then sent — or, when it went out some other way, recorded as delivered.InvoiceCCounterparty — The other side of a financial document — a client billed, or a supplier owed.CounterpartyTTax group — The tax treatment applied to a line, so rates are set once rather than per document.Tax groupCCost — Money the organisation owes or has spent, tracked against a budget.CostBBudget — The financial envelope an engagement is measured against — what was planned, versus what has actually been spent.BudgetBBank transaction — A movement on a connected bank account. Matching it to an invoice or a cost is what makes the books agree with the bank.Bank transactionBBank connection — The consented link to one bank that transactions arrive through. It can stop working on its own — a consent expires or is withdrawn — so it reports whether it is still working.Bank connectionCContract — The financial terms of an engagement: a structured set of payment schedule lines, in one direction or the other.ContractPPayment schedule line — One dated amount on a contract, in a direction — money owed to a supplier, or due from a client.Payment schedule lineOOrder line — One line of a purchase order: a role priced by the hour with the hours estimated for it, or a deliverable priced as an outcome. A deliverable carries no hours at all.Order lineCContract amendment — What a contract's value, area, per-period amount and dates are from a given date. It states the whole picture rather than the change, and the contract keeps its as-agreed values.Contract amendmentIInvoicing clause — A rule a contract states about how its invoices are raised, such as which exchange rate converts the amount, quoted in the contract's own words. It informs the invoice; it is never applied automatically.Invoicing clausePPosition — The catalogue of job titles a project role is drawn from.PositionTTime entry — What actually happened — work time logged against a project.Time entryBBudget alert — A notice that a budget has gone off plan - spending over the planned amount, or a margin below the one that was planned. It is raised by a daily check rather than by anyone asking for it.Budget alertPProject — The core organizational unit for a business initiative, client engagement or internal work. Everything tracked — time, cost, invoicing, profitability — hangs off one.ProjectSSet-off declaration — A record that your invoices to one counterparty and its cost documents were settled against each other, in amounts that balance exactly. It lowers what remains due on the invoices; it is not a payment.Set-off declarationTTenant turnover — A tenant's reported sales for one month, entered by staff and used for reporting only. An absent figure means not reported, which is a different statement from a reported zero.Tenant turnoverUUtilities statement — One lease's electricity for one month, the kWh its meters recorded times the tariff in force. A draft until finalised, then it never changes; a correction is a new draft.Utilities statementPProspect — A company you are working but that is not a customer yet. It sits at New, Contacted or Qualified, and everything done to it is logged against it.ProspectDDeal — A sale in progress: a customer, an amount, and the stage it has reached. It cannot exist without a customer, and its stage is never blank.Deal