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Applications > Accounts Payable > Bills > Create a bill > Create a recurring bill

Create a recurring bill

Automate your billing process with recurring bills. For example, if you pay the same bill on a regular basis, such as a monthly rent bill—you can save time by having Sage Intacct create the bill automatically for you.

Intacct respects non-standard recurring transaction schedules and automatically enters and posts bills on the schedule you define. The transaction and GL posting date for an automatically generated bill are the same, but you can change either.

For companies with multiple base currencies, create recurring bills at the entity level.

Recurring bills don't support custom fields, or custom fields defined in a bill. If you need to use a custom field in a recurring bill, configure the custom field as not required. For details about creating custom fields, see Define custom fields for business-specific data.

Permissions and other requirements

Enter header information

1. Go to Accounts Payable > All > Bills and select the + beside Recurring bills.

   Or, update an existing bill and make it recur by going to Accounts Payable > All > Bills > Edit > More Actions > Create recurring transaction.

2. Select a Vendor.
3. The Pay to and Return to fields default from the vendor record.

   Did you enter a different pay-to contact on the bill than what’s associated with the vendor record? Learn how to print that pay-to contact on the check.

4. If Accounts Payable is configured to require bill numbers, enter a Bill sequence number.

   Each recurrence of the bill automatically receives an incremented number from the defined sequence type. This number prints on the remittance stub, not on the check itself.

5. Enter a Reference number.

   This is a number such as a purchase order or account number that might be useful in searches or reports on this bill. This number shows on the GL Details report and prints on the check and vendor stubs.

6. Enter a Description.
7. If the bill is a result of an ongoing contract, enter a Contract ID and a Contract description.
8. Enter a Term.

   Learn about AP terms.

9. Enter an Attachment.Need help?

   To permanently and safely store a digital version of a supporting document, in the dropdown next to Attachment, select an attachment. Or, select Add and upload your attachment. Learn more about who can add attachments.

   You can drag and drop your files to add an attachment. To attach a document to multiple journal entries, see Bulk processing.

10. For multi-currency companies, enter currency and exchange rate information in the Currency section.
    1. Select the Transaction currency to use.

       If this is not your company's base currency, continue with the next two steps.

    2. Select an Exchange rate type such as Intacct daily rate or WSJ Published Rate.

       If you know the exchange rate for this transaction, or are contracted with the vendor on a set exchange rate, enter it in the Exchange rate field.

    3. Enter or select a date in Exchange rate date.

       The default is the current date, but you can override this. For example, you might want to change it to the date the transaction was issued, or the date you intend to pay the transaction.

       If you override the Date field, the Exchange rate date updates automatically.

Enter line items

In the Entries section, you can add values directly to each line item, or click Show defaults to define default values to autofill each line item. To set up a value as a default for each existing and new line item, click the dropdown beside the appropriate field and choose a value. You can override any default value on any line item. Learn more about setting default line items.

1. Select an Account to receive the expense.

   If your company is set up to use account labels, enter an Account Label instead.

2. If the vendor is set up for 1099 tracking and enabled for 1099 flag override, you can tag individual line items for 1099 treatment.
3. Enter the line item Amount, even if the amount is zero.

   For multi-currency companies, enter the Transaction amount, which is the amount in the transaction currency. This calculates the Base Amount of the line item in your company's base currency according to the exchange rate defined in the header.

   Are you entering a negative line item as an inline credit?

4. (Companies enabled for allocations) Select a transaction Allocation template for the line item to distribute the bill amount across specified dimensions.

   This selection overrides the allocation template in the Entries defaults section. Any default dimensions that you selected for those line items do not flow through to the transaction allocations table. Select Customize Allocation above the table to set values. You can select Show defaults and enter a default for all the line items in your allocation table. Learn more about how to Allocate bills, invoices, or journal entries.

   Use transaction allocations
   1. Create a transaction allocation if one doesn’t already exist. This new transaction allocation appears in your list of allocations, and you can select it the next time you allocate a bill, an invoice, or a journal entry. Intacct automatically applies the distribution you specified when you created this transaction allocation.
      For more information, see About transaction allocation definitions.
   2. Select the line item and select the transaction allocation to use.
      After you select a transaction allocation, Intacct removes any dimension values selected for the line item; instead it populates the dimension values from the transaction allocation directly.
   3. To change the dimensions for the line item, select the Show details tab, and select Customize Allocation.

   Even when a transaction allocation with a predetermined distribution of amounts is assigned to a line item, you can still override these amounts. You can also override aspects of the allocation at the line item level of the relevant transaction page (bills, invoices, or journal entries).

   For more information about overriding allocations, see Transaction allocations on bills, invoices, or journal entries.

   Override a transaction allocation

   You can apply a transaction allocation either to individual lines of a transaction or to the entire transaction. If you apply it to the entire transaction, all the line item entries inherit the distribution of the allocation. However, you can override that allocation on a line-by-line basis.

   When you change the allocated dimensions/values, the allocation will be re-set as “Custom,” as it now contains a specific allocation distribution unique to that line item. The unique allocated values are stored with your line item for audit trail purposes.

   To override a transaction allocation:

   Click the line item you want to override and click the Show details tab. The Allocation Splits detail area appears.

   For example, say you have a default transaction allocation that distributes the cost over departments in the San Francisco location, in equal amounts. You can override the department distribution as needed, say to allocate $1,000 to Operations, $100 to Support, and $440 to Services.

     If you change the amounts so that the total is different from what you entered in the transaction page, Intacct updates the total when you save and return to the transaction page.

5. Type a Memo to appear on the check stub.

   This memo does not appear on the check face. Learn more about printing extra information on checks and check stubs.

6. Select the Department or Location for the line item.

   If you use additional dimensions, such as customer, employee, or item, and are assigning the expense to them, select the corresponding dimension dropdown list and select the value.

   Including a warehouse dimension on a transaction won’t affect Inventory values. It's only used for tracking and reporting purposes.

Create the recurring schedule

1. On the Recurring Bills page, go to the Schedule tab.
2. Select the Start Date on which you want this bill to be generated.
3. For Repeats, select the frequency in which the bill is to recur:
   • To have the bill occur only once, select None.

     For example, you’re creating a bill for an item that might be recurring such as a 30-day trial for a new service. Later, you can choose to change the schedule if the service becomes an ongoing expense.

   • To have the bill occur at regular intervals, select Days, Weeks, Months, or Years. Then, enter the number of intervals in the adjacent text box.

     For example, if a bill only occurs every other month, select Months and type 2. If you select a time period but do not enter a number, the default is 1.

     For weeks, months, and years, the bill recurs at the next interval on the same day as the start date. For example, if you set a start date on the 15th of the month and recur monthly, the bill generates each month on the 15th. To have a bill with a Months interval generate at the end of the month, select End of Month.

4. For Ends, select the appropriate termination date for this bill:
   • To keep the bill perpetually running, select Never.

     This is common for bills like ongoing services that have a set price.

   • To have the bill run for a limited number of times, select After a number of occurrences, and then in adjacent text box, enter the number of times you want the bill to recur.

     This setting is often used for debts that are being paid over time. Setting the number of occurrences eliminates the possibility of making payments after the debt is paid off.

   • To have the bill recur until a specific date, select End Date, then in the adjacent text box, type or select the last date on which the bill is to recur.
5. Select Save.

Tips for scheduling recurring bills

For weeks, months, and years, the bill will recur at the next interval on the same day as the start date. For instance, if you set a bill to start on March 15th and recur monthly, the first bill will be created on March 15th, with subsequent bills recurring on the 15th of each month thereafter.