ANTE User ManualInvoice a Client and Record a Collection
Billing a client and getting paid is one journey in ANTE: you raise a sales invoice, issue it, record the payment that comes back, and watch the balance clear across your receivables reports. This walkthrough follows that journey from the empty invoice list to a settled, fully-paid invoice.Before you start
Have these in place so the invoice can be filed and the payment recorded without stopping halfway:
- The client exists — the invoice form asks you to search and select a client, so the company you are billing must already be on file. See Client Management.
- A fund account to receive the money — recording a payment requires you to name the account the cash lands in. See Fund Account.
- Access to Treasury → Receivables — every screen in this tutorial lives under that menu.
Full reference for each screen: Sales Invoice, Collection by Client, and Receivables Aging.
Go to Treasury → Receivables → Sales Invoices. The page opens with four summary cards — Total Invoices, Total Invoiced, Total Collected, and Outstanding — above the list of every invoice you have raised.
Use Search to find an invoice by Invoice # or Description, and the Status and Tax Mode filters to narrow the list. A red Bal: line in the Paid / Balance column marks any invoice the client still owes money on.
- 1New Invoice — starts the invoice workflow
- 2Outstanding — the total still owed across all invoices
- 3Paid / Balance — a red Bal: line flags an unpaid amount
Click New Invoice. This does not open a form directly — it opens the New Invoice dialog, which asks which Invoice flow should drive the invoice.
- Default — Invoice Workflow (create → record payment) files the invoice and then opens a payment step against it.
- With Approval — Invoice Workflow (create → approve → record payment) adds an approval gate before any payment can be taken.
Any other Sales-Invoice flows your company has set up appear in the same dropdown. Choose one and click Start — the flow's first step, Create Invoice, opens automatically as a form.
On the Create Invoice step, complete the header:
- Client (required) — search and select the company being billed.
- Description (required) — a short line describing what is being invoiced.
- Invoice number — leave blank to have it generated for you.
- Issue date (defaults to today) and Due date — the due date is what the aging report later measures lateness against.
- Tax mode — VAT Inclusive (prices already contain the 12% VAT) or VAT Exclusive (VAT is added on top).
- Currency, Payment terms, and an optional Memo / payment instructions for bank details or late-fee terms.
Add a row per thing you are charging for. Each line takes an optional Item (selecting a stock item fills in the description and unit price), Qty, Description, Unit price, Discount, and a Tax type — VATable (12%), Zero-Rated (0%), VAT Exempt, or Non-VAT. The Amount is calculated for you.
Check the running Subtotal, VAT, and Total beside the form, then click Submit Invoice. Submitting the form is what files the invoice — there is no separate save step. The workflow then moves on to its Record Payment step.
You need a client and at least one line item before the invoice will submit. There is no Project field on the form — if this invoice belongs to a project, open it afterwards and add the project from Edit.
A new invoice starts as Draft. Use Change Status on the invoice to move it to Sent once it has gone to the client; only the valid next statuses are offered. As money arrives the status becomes Partially Paid and then Paid, and an unpaid invoice past its due date reads Overdue.
On the with-approval flow you will see For Approval instead — that status is set and cleared by the workflow itself, switching to Sent once approved, or dropping back to Draft if the approver rejects it.
To send the client a copy, open the invoice's workflow timeline and switch it to Exportable, then click Export Invoice for a branded PDF (an Excel button next to it downloads the same invoice as a .xlsx workbook instead) — or click the Download button right on the Create Invoice step's card in the Timeline view for the same PDF in one click.
When the client pays, open the invoice and click Receive Payment (or open the workflow's Record Payment step). Review the read-only invoice information, then enter:
- Payment Amount (required) — pre-filled with the outstanding balance, and it cannot exceed it.
- EWT Rate — the Expanded Withholding Tax the client withholds, from No EWT (0%) through the goods, services, and professional-fee rates.
- Fund Account (required) — the account the money lands in.
- Payment Date (defaults to today) and an optional Payment Memo.
Check the calculated EWT Amount and Net Amount Received — the net is what actually reaches your fund account — then click Record Payment. The receipt appears under Collection Receipts and the Outstanding Balance updates.
Collecting less than the full balance from the workflow's Record Payment step is fine: ANTE records that payment and automatically creates a follow-up Record Payment task for the remainder, so the workflow keeps chasing the invoice until it is fully Paid.
Go to Treasury → Receivables → Collection by Client to see the payment reflected in the client's total exposure. Each row shows Total Collection (everything billed to them) against Outstanding Balance (what is still owed, in red while it is above zero).
Set the With Collections filter to With Outstanding Balance to list only clients who still owe money, and open a client to see the same figures broken down across each of their projects.
- 1Client filter — switch to With Outstanding Balance to focus on debtors
- 2Total Collection — everything billed to that client
- 3Outstanding Balance — shown in red while money is still owed
Finish with Treasury → Receivables → Aging Report. It lists every client with an open balance, split into Current, 1–30 days, 31–60 days, 61–90 days, and 90+ days past due, with a Grand Total underneath.
Leave As of date blank for today, or pick a past date and click Apply to reconstruct how receivables stood at month-end. Fully paid invoices drop off the report entirely, so the invoice you just collected on disappears from here once its balance reaches zero.
- 1As of date and Apply — recalculate the report for any date
- 21–30 days — the first overdue band
- 3Grand Total — combined open balance across every client
Where to go next
- Recording a Payment (Collection Receipt) — the full field reference, including voiding a payment recorded by mistake.
- Invoice Statuses — what each status means and which transitions are allowed.
- Collection by Project — the same receivables view grouped by engagement, with an Add Invoice shortcut.
- Fund Account — where collected cash lands and how balances are tracked.
- Treasury FAQ — quick answers on invoicing, payments, and reconciliation.