Invoice Accuracy and Dispute Triage (QA)

Invoice Accuracy and Dispute Triage (QA)

1. 01

   Freeze the billing period before anyone edits time entries

   Set a hard cutoff date and lock timesheets in the tracking layer so late edits cannot silently change an invoice that has already been reviewed. Harvest and Bill4Time both support period locking, and the lock should be enforced by a named owner, not by convention.

2. 02

   Reconcile billable hours against the signed scope line by line

   Pull the retainer or SOW line items and match each against tracked hours and expenses. Flag any line where billed hours exceed the agreed cap by more than 10 percent before the invoice leaves the building.

3. 03

   Verify rate cards, currency, and tax treatment on the draft

   Check that the rate applied matches the current contract version, that multi-currency clients are billed in the contracted currency, and that VAT or sales tax rules for the client's jurisdiction are applied. Xero and Wave both let you store default tax rates per contact to reduce manual entry.

4. 04

   Confirm the payment rail and terms match what the client agreed to

   Net 30, Net 15, or due on receipt should be explicit on the invoice, and the accepted payment methods should match the client's procurement process. GoCardless and Stripe handle bank debit and card rails respectively, and the wrong rail is a common cause of week-one non-payment.

5. 05

   Run a three-point pre-send check: math, entity, and attachment

   Confirm the invoice total equals the sum of line items, the billing entity name and address match the client's vendor record, and any required backup (timesheet export, expense receipts) is attached. Missing backup is the single most common reason a client AP team rejects an invoice.

6. 06

   Log the send date and start the DSO clock

   Record the exact send timestamp in the billing system so days sales outstanding is measured from delivery, not from the invoice date. Agicap and FreshBooks both surface this metric, and agencies that track it weekly typically catch slow-paying clients two to three weeks earlier.

7. 07

   Triage disputes within one business day with a written response

   Assign every dispute to a named owner, document the specific line item in question, and respond in writing within 24 hours. Unresolved disputes are the leading cause of invoices aging past 60 days, and a written trail protects the agency if the relationship ends.

8. 08

   Escalate invoices past 45 days to a collections decision point

   At 45 days overdue, the account moves from reminder cadence to a decision: pause new work, offer a payment plan, or hand to collections. Invoice Ninja and Melio both support automated reminder sequences that feed this escalation without manual chasing.