Bills - Flag a Bill as 'in dispute / query'
Ability to flag individual bills as in dispute
Purpose | To enable review and ensure the business does not make payment for a bill when it's currently 'under query'
 AdminXero Team
    (Admin, Xero)
 shared this idea
AdminXero Team
    (Admin, Xero)
 shared this idea
      
    Hi community, we acknowledge the strong feelings in this idea and why you need a feature to flag bills directly within Xero. We really appreciate all your feedback and the detailed explanations of how this would help streamline your accounts payable.
We are dedicated to providing a solution for this over the longer term, but this will take some time requiring changes that sit beneath the face of bills.
In lieu of a direct feature for this we wanted to highlight some of the options discussed by the community here:
- Add a note to the bill: A detailed note on the bill itself can serve as a clear internal reminder of the dispute.
- Utilise tracking categories: Creating a specific tracking category like "Disputed Bills" can help you filter and report on these items.
- Adjust the due date: Temporarily extending the due date can prevent accidental payment while the dispute is being resolved.
- Update the reference to add a notation such as [reference number] - Do not pay
- Adjust the planned date to be very far out in the future
We know these options won't fit all needs here, and we are invested in continuing to develop Purchase and more specifically bills in Xero to suit your needs.
We'll continue to provide updates with any progress that steps closer to enabling you to flag bills that are in dispute in Xero. Thank you for continuing to engage and share insights through this idea.
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       Nadine Hyslop
    
 commented Nadine Hyslop
    
 commentedHi Kelly, "Credit Limits" does not work for service businesses it just adds more admin. Please match the same option of being able to "flag/marker" both invoices + bills in the case of an instalment plan or in dispute. 
 Maybe something as simple as making all the info red similar to how the due dates are highlighted red when overdue? It would be good to show on the dashboard to below the 'overdue' ones.
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       Shipa Ahmed
    
 commented Shipa Ahmed
    
 commentedHave option to mark supplier invoice as disputed - the invoices need to posted, so its inlcuded in the account but if you dont want to pay the invoice until a query is resolved, there should be option to mark it as DISPUTED/DONT PAY for companies who have different people doing different roles. 
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       Liz Dark
    
 commented Liz Dark
    
 commentedWe process our invoices through Hubdoc which then come through to Xero. Sometimes, an invoice has been processed to be paid, but then a product is damaged and we wait for a credit note to be issued. We would like it so we can mark some how, that invoice "not to be paid as waiting on a credit to come through" 
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       Liz Dark
    
 commented Liz Dark
    
 commentedAbility to mark invoices that are waiting on a credit "do not pay" 
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       Chris Curlett
    
 commented Chris Curlett
    
 commentedXERO 968 users need this and 12 YEARS of inaction is unacceptable. Perhaps a new mantra would be better ... "XERO ignores user's needs" would be more appropriate 
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       Julia Bastin
    
 commented Julia Bastin
    
 commented@Bianca Davitt - 12 YEARS for a basic accounting function!!!! WTF. Xero really is the worst bookkeeping software I have ever used. 
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       Bianca  Davitt
    
 commented Bianca  Davitt
    
 commented@Chris Curlett - unfortunately it's not 7 months..... I have been voting for this feature for the last 12 years. They deleted the old version of the forum with the old thread on it. So I would not hold your breath. 
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       Chris Curlett
    
 commented Chris Curlett
    
 commentedFrom November 2023 to June 2024 (7 Months) should be enough time to implement something as simple as this when it is requested by so many. What is the hold up. This is far more important than a new Invoice system which was not requested by users and there are so many complaints about. 
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       Chris Curlett
    
 commented Chris Curlett
    
 commentedCome on XERO, 968 people wanting this is enough of a reason to expedite its implementation! Users want/need this - the community would prefer to see some action rather than stalling double talk! XERO actions speak louder than platitudes! 
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       Kelly Nour
    
 commented Kelly Nour
    
 commentedAs Xero does not have the standard functionality of a document (invoice) date and document posting date, we have to enter a supplier invoice in the same month as we receive it to capture the cost correctly, even if the is a dispute on the invoice. Having the ability to flag it as "In dispute" eliminates the possibility of it being paid by mistake 
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       Skye Baillie
    
 commented Skye Baillie
    
 commentedCurrently for some customers I need to manually create statements due to the inability to place invoices on hold. So it also makes the 'Send Statements' function unusable. 
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       Angela Meakin
    
 commented Angela Meakin
    
 commentedI think this is critical, for both customers and suppliers, so that when raising payments we need to know if these invoices are disputed, otherwise they could be paid by mistake 
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       Philip Hankers
    
 commented Philip Hankers
    
 commentedChanging the Sales invoicing by just moving functionality around and in the process make the resulting layout less user friendly compulsory is clearly more important to Xero than adding the "on hold" bill functionality. Shame on Xero's "development" priorities. 
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       Chris Curlett
    
 commented Chris Curlett
    
 commentedCOME ON XERO DO SOMETHING USERS NEED TO HAVE DONE. Less condescending emails and more improvements would make a change. 
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       Joel Mansford
    
 commented Joel Mansford
    
 commentedComing round to 6months and still no sign of this... 
 As a software developer I can't understand why this is taking so long?
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       Katy Lloyd
    
 commented Katy Lloyd
    
 commentedThe ability to hold purchase or sales invoices in the system would be great. We have a large client who needs to hold specific invoices as they are expecting a credit note but there is no functionality within Xero for this. 
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       Mark H
    
 commented Mark H
    
 commentedOnce an invoice as started to be entered in Drafts putting it on hold till it is fully completed so it can't be approved till is finished 
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       Antoinette Micallef
    
 commented Antoinette Micallef
    
 commentedHi all If you want Xero to notice, you need to leave a review on Trustpilot 
 https://au.trustpilot.com/search?query=xero
 There are many overseas users leaving a review you might like to see then leave your own review.
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       Julie Sutton
    
 commented Julie Sutton
    
 commented@Sarah - one HUGE downside of marking a bill as paid before its actually paid is that it disappears off the short term cashflow forecast in Xero ..... I have queried this with Xero and been told "thats how its supposed to work" Somewhat crazy functionality! There is "suggestion" here if you would like to add to it https://productideas.xero.com/forums/939198-for-small-businesses/suggestions/46818148-analytics-plus-include-bills-with-future-dated-p 
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       Sarah Verge
    
 commented Sarah Verge
    
 commentedI'd like to be able to mark those bills that are going to be paid by Direct Debit, so that I don't pick them up in a payment run by accident. If I was approving bills straightaway, I'd add the Direct Debit payment when processing the bill, but all bills go for approval via ApprovalMax, so that's not possible. 

