Close the month in Flowtly

Before you start

What you need

• Administrator access, or the finance permissions for invoices, incoming invoices, transactions and accountancy.
• A month that has ended, with your team's hours logged against their projects.
• The account manager of each client project, available to sign the month.

1. 1

   Check that every client project's month is signed

   Open Projects in the menu. The list has a Sign-off column, and the Sign-off month selector next to the filters picks the month it shows. It starts at the previous month, the one usually being closed. Each client project reads Not started, In review, Signed or Re-opened, and a project without a client reads Not applicable. Only Signed tells finance the month may be invoiced, so click any other state to open that project's review.

   Tips

   • The project's account manager signs, not an administrator. They click Start the review, adjust lines with a reason if needed, then click Sign off with the month name and confirm.
   • To correct a signed month, an administrator opens it and clicks Re-open. The report signed earlier stays as the record of what was approved, and the month has to be signed again.
   • On a signed month, Open the signed report shows the report exactly as it was signed.

   • Open Projects
2. 2

   Confirm the month's sales invoices went out

   Go to Sales → Invoices. Open the Sale period filter and pick Last month. Then open the Status filter and tick draft and Sending... to see what is still open. A draft has not been issued yet. Sending... means the invoice is issued but Flowtly has not recorded it as delivered. Finish each row until the month shows only sent invoices.

   Tips

   • If an invoice reached the client outside Flowtly, use Mark as sent in its menu. Flowtly offers it only for an invoice that is issued and not yet recorded as sent.
   • With e-invoicing, an issued invoice can show Processing while its e-invoice is still being handled.

   • Open Invoices
3. 3

   Process the month's incoming invoices

   Go to Purchases → Incoming invoices. If e-invoicing is enabled for your organization, click Check E-Invoicing first to ask for new invoices from KSeF. Set the Period filter to Previous month. It filters by the month an invoice is assigned to. Open each invoice that still needs work and finish it, so nothing for the month is left half done.

   Tips

   • After you click it, the button reads Request sent. It is hidden when e-invoicing is not enabled for your organization.
   • If invoice approvals are on, open Awaiting acceptance under Incoming invoices to see what still waits for an approver. Waiting on me shows the ones waiting for you.
   • Unpaid, in the same menu, lists the incoming invoices that are not paid yet. It works even when invoice approvals are off.

   • Open Incoming invoices
4. 4

   Clear the transactions that need attention

   Open Action center in the menu and choose Transactions cleanup. The Transactions needing attention box shows how many bank transactions are missing data. Missing justification covers transactions with nothing behind them, such as an attached document or a note. Missing budget covers transactions not assigned to a budget. Open the Date filter and pick Last month, then complete each transaction until the count drops to zero.

   Tips

   • Both Missing justification and Missing budget are ticked when the page opens. Untick one to work through the other on its own.
   • Each checkbox shows its own count in brackets, so you can see which kind of gap is larger before you start.

   • Open Transactions cleanup
5. 5

   Chase the invoices that are still unpaid

   Go to Sales → Invoices → Payment reminders. The Pending tab lists reminders for overdue, unpaid invoices, one row per invoice, and nothing goes to a client until you approve it. Tick the reminders to send and click Approve & send selected, or Dismiss selected for those that should not go out. Then open the Not chased tab. It lists overdue invoices that went out but are not in the reminder queue.

   Tips

   • If the Pending tab stays empty, check that Send payment reminders for unpaid invoices is switched on in Settings → Finance & Business → Payment reminders.
   • On Not chased, a row that offers Send the invoice was never emailed to the client. A row without that action was already sent, so do not send it again.

   • Open Payment reminders
6. 6

   Hand the month to your accountant

   Open Accounting → Accountancy and choose the Export tab. Use the month navigator at the top to step back to the month you are closing. This month jumps back to the current one. Each row, such as Invoices and Costs, has its own Export button with the formats your accounting software imports. Then open the Questions tab, which lists every question that is Open or Answered, and reply to the ones waiting on you.

   Tips

   • If an Optima export shows Check these documents before importing into Optima, it lists the documents that need fixing. Correct them and export the month again.
   • Open a question to reply in its thread, and click Mark resolved once it is settled.
   • Bank Statements / MT940, Costs and Invoices keep the month you picked when you switch to them, so you can review what goes into the export.

   • Open the Export tab