Create and send invoices

Partners and Admins only. Requires Finance. Architects can see a project’s invoices but not the amounts. Once one or more billing stages are ready, you turn them into an invoice. Arkata produces a PDF with your firm’s branding and details.

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Create an invoice from a project

1. Open the project’s Billing tab and click Create Invoice.
2. Under Select Stages, tick the stages to include. Only stages marked Ready to Invoice are listed and you can pick more than one.
3. Drag the stages into the order you want on the invoice.
4. Set the Issue Date and Due Date. The due date follows your firm’s payment terms.
5. Add a discount, notes or display options if you need them.
6. Check the subtotal, VAT and total, then create.

The stages you picked move to Invoiced. A discount is entered in euros and comes off before VAT. Show waived items on invoice lists waived lines at zero. Your firm’s default thank-you note is added to the notes automatically.

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Choose what the client sees per stage

Each stage you tick gets its own Itemise switch in the stage list, and the line under the stage name tells you which way it is set.

• Itemise on lists every service in that stage with its quantity and price.
• Itemise off shows the client one total for the whole stage.

Every stage starts from your firm’s default in Settings > Billing, and Itemise all selected turns the switch on for all the stages you picked. Mix and match freely: a fee stage can be itemised while a disbursements stage stays as one total. You can also start from Finance > Invoices: click New Invoice and pick the project.

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Invoice a client with no project

Some work does not belong to a project, such as a one-off consultation.

1. Go to Finance > Invoices and click New Invoice.
2. Switch to Client and pick the client.
3. Add line items from your service catalogue with Select Stage, or type a custom service.
4. Set the dates, notes and display options.
5. Create the invoice.

Mark a line as pass-through when you are only passing on someone else’s charge. Pass-through lines carry no VAT.

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Send an invoice

You are not stuck with the client’s saved address.

1. Click Send Email on the invoice.
2. Choose who it goes to.
3. Check the preview, which shows every recipient and the email itself.
4. Click Send.

The invoice moves to Sent and a copy of the PDF is saved to the project’s documents. If there is nobody valid to send to, Arkata stops you and says why rather than failing quietly. CC and BCC are not set here; they come from your firm’s defaults in Settings > Billing. Quotes and receipts offer the same three recipient options.

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Send a payment reminder

When an invoice is sent but not settled, you can chase it from Arkata instead of writing the email yourself. Reminders are available on Sent and Partially Paid invoices with a balance still owed. Look for the bell icon. It is on every invoice row in Finance > Invoices, on a project’s Billing tab, and in the outstanding invoices list on the Billing dashboard. The reminder is a short, friendly note with the invoice number, the amount outstanding and the due date, signed off by your firm. Clients who have already paid are told to disregard it.

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Remind several at once

To chase a batch rather than one invoice:

• On Finance > Invoices, set the filters you want, such as Overdue or a status, then use the Remind all button at the top. Its label tells you what it will cover, for example Remind all filtered invoices, and it covers every matching invoice, not only the ones loaded on screen.
• In the outstanding invoices list on the Billing dashboard, use Remind all in view. It covers exactly the invoices in the list you are looking at.

The confirmation window lists each invoice with a tick box, so you can drop any you would rather not chase before sending. The running total at the top follows your selection.

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What gets skipped

Arkata checks every invoice again at the moment you send, and tells you about anything it left out. Common reasons: Everything that did go out is confirmed in one message, and each reminder is logged on the project’s Activity, so you can see when a client was last chased. Hover the bell to see the date of the last reminder and how many have been sent.

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Waive a line item

Waiving leaves a line on the invoice marked as waived, so the goodwill is visible, without counting it towards the total. You can un-waive it up until the invoice is sent.

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Edit an invoice

Draft and Sent invoices can be edited. Open the invoice and click the pencil icon to change the dates, line items, discount, notes or which stages are itemised.

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Find an invoice

Finance > Invoices lists every invoice with its number, client, issue date, due date, amount and status. Search by client name or invoice number, filter by status, or tick Overdue. Row buttons let you send an email, record a payment, send a payment reminder or jump to the project’s Billing tab. Paid and Cancelled invoices move out of Active into Archived, so the list stays focused on what still needs attention.

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Invoice statuses

Sending moves an invoice to Sent, and recording payments moves it to Partially Paid or Paid. Partners and Admins can also set the status by hand from the status badge on the invoice’s row.

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Invoice numbering

Arkata numbers invoices for you and there is nothing to set up. Project invoice sequences continue across years. When a project has no internal reference, Arkata generates a stable code from its project ID. Client-only invoices retain their two-digit year and annual sequence. Numbers are never reused.

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Download the PDF

Download PDF gives you the invoice with your firm’s logo, name, address and VAT number, the client’s details, the line items, any discount, the VAT calculation, your payment terms and bank details, and the total due.

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Next steps