Overview:

Once you have Xero connected to EdgeCTP you’re pretty much good to create an invoice in EdgeCTP and, with one click, copy it to Xero.  If you haven’t connected Xero to EdgeCTP then see ‘How to Connect EdgeCTP to Xero’ and come back here.

In this post you’ll learn how to:

• Create an Invoice in EdgeCTP
• Copy and view the Invoice in Xero
• Settle the Invoice in either EdgeCTP or Xero and view settlement in either

EdgeCTP allows you to create either a Standard Accounts Invoice or a Commercial Invoice (usually used when trading internationally); both types of invoices can be copied and settled with/in Xero and the actions are exactly the same.

Benefits of a Xero Connection

You won’t need to reconnect with Xero every time, because once connected it stays connected until you disconnect the two systems manually.  This means whilst the two systems are connected they stay automatically in sync with regards to data between themselves behind the scenes.  For example, if you create an invoice in EdgeCTP, the invoice automatically get created in Xero – you don’t need to do a thing in Xero; then if in Xero you part settle the invoice amount (because a part-payment is received against the invoice), the settlement is automatically echoed in EdgeCTP – again you don’t need to do a thing EdgeCTP.  These are some of the numerous benefits of connecting Xero with EdgeCTP.

How to Create an Invoice in EdgeCTP

The following is a brief step-by-step guide that shows how to create an invoice in EdgeCTP.  As an example a Commercial Invoice is created, because it’s slightly more complex than a Standard Accounts Invoice in terms of what data needs to be entered on the invoice, apart from that the process of creation for both is the same.

Create the Invoice

Login to your EdgeCTP account and make sure you have the correct user role (Creator or above, i.e. ‘Auditor’ user roles cannot create documents).

• From the home dashboard choose from the tab menu: Docs & Certs > Financial Documents 
• The ‘Financial Documents‘ dashboard will appear, choose ‘+ New Financial Docs‘ and from the drop-down choose ‘Commercial Invoice‘ (if you wanted to create a Standard Accounts Invoice, then choose ‘Standard Accounts Invoice‘ instead)

• The invoice form/template appears ready for filling in.  You can switch on/off the ‘Help Text‘ if you need assistance with knowing which fields must be completed.  Mandatory fields on an invoice are marked in red headings and an asterisk.  Nevertheless, EdgeCTP will auto-populate as many as possible, and validate everything  once you are complete, so this should be pretty straight forwards
• For an Invoice, you MUST fill in as a minimum:
  • Check the Invoice Date is correct, usually set to the current day
  • Check the Invoice Due Date is correct, usually set to 30 days (depending on your settings)
  • Check the Invoice Currency is correct, usually set to your base currency and you can ‘set‘ to another + adjust the foreign currency exchange rate as required
  • Check the Seller Details (your firm’s name + address) is correct, or ‘change‘ as required
  • Receiver/ Consignee Details of Organisation or Person Name (i.e. who this invoice is for).  Usually, put in the name of the Buyer or firm buying your goods in this Receiver/ Consignee Details section.  If you’ve already got the Buyer’s details saved in EdgeCTP (i.e. you used them before in EdgeCTP) then their details become available for you to select and auto-fill the rest of the fields.  There’s an option to ‘+New Person‘ or ‘+New Org.‘ if you want to create brand new contact entries in EdgeCTP’s CRM component

    

  • Otherwise, complete the remaining address fields of the Receiver/ Consignee Details i.e. Country and Address Line(s) etc.
  • For Commercial Invoices only, check and complete the Country of Destination
  • For Commercial Invoices only, check and complete the Payment Methods and Delivery Terms (Incoterms 2010)
  • For Commercial Invoices only, add the Shipping Marks (external identification marks on the consignment)
  • Add the Product Detail + Description line(s) for the product/service being charged for in the Invoice. If you had previously created the product, then by simply typing the name or number of the product in the Product ID field, EdgeCTP provides a selection, and once selected most of the fields are auto-populated; check that the Account is set correctly or changed accordingly (these will be accounts sourced from Xero); check the Units in Pack are correct and/or adjust as necessary; set the Quantity to the ordered amount; check and/or adjust the Tax % appropriately (again these are sourced from Xero); if required, add any additional Product Detail + Description line(s)

    

  • Check that the Invoice Total is correct, or adjust related values above the Invoice Total to set the Invoice Total amount accordingly
  • For Commercial Invoices only, check and/or change the Place of Issue/Signing is correct, usually the city/location of the Seller’s (your) address
  • For Commercial Invoices only, check and/or change the Date of Issue is correct, which is usually set to the current day
  • Optionally, complete any other fields that you think would be appropriate (e.g. Gross Weight; Net Weight; Cubic sizing; Delivery and Other Charges, etc.)
  • Once complete, scroll or jump to the top of the Invoice and click the [Save & Authorise] button, which will save the invoice into EdgeCTP, and depending on if you have set 4-eyes checking on, EdgeCTP will route the invoice to another person (usually your colleague, manager or supervisor) for checking before setting the invoice status to authorized, meaning it’s good to send to the client (Buyer/Consignee)

    

  • If a confirmation box pop’s up, you can type in a short comment (optional) and click [Save] and you’ll have an authorized invoice, good for sending to Xero (see next section)

    

  • That’s it you’re done creating the invoice in EdgeCTP; now let’s send it to Xero

Sending an Invoice to Xero

• If the invoice you wish to send to Xero is not open, do so by first finding it in the Documents > Financial Documents dashboard and opening it in Edit mode (click the pencil icon)
• If Xero is not already connected with EdgeCTP, a warning message will appear and you can click on the ‘here‘ link to establish a connection between Xero and EdgeCTP
• The invoice appears with a status of either authorized or sent (meaning already sent to the Client/Buyer … NOT to be confused with sending to the accounting package)
  
  Copy to Accounting Package Button
• EdgeCTP internally keeps track of if the invoice has been sent to Xero or not, which means if an invoice has NOT been sent to Xero then the [Copy to Acc. Package] button is shown, and you simply click it to show a pop-up box asking for a confirmation to copy the invoice to Xero … click [Yes – Just Do It!].  After a few moments, a few messages will appear confirming the invoice has been sent to Xero and the invoice reappears (no status change takes place)

  

• Once the invoice has successfully sent to Xero, then the [Go to Accounting Package] button appears, which when you click it will open up Xero in a separate browser tab (if asked, login to Xero)

  

• The Xero version of the same invoice will appear in the Xero tab of your browser

  

• You can toggle between the two tabs to switch between Xero and EdgeCTP, and the invoice numbers + other details should be the exact same, which saves your rekeying data between EdgeCTP and Xero.
• Since, we’ll do the settlement of the invoice in EdgeCTP, let’s close the Xero tab for now by pressing the ‘X’ on the right of the Xero browser tab, which will bring us back into EdgeCTP ready to for settlement (next section)

  

Settling an Invoice

In this section, we’ll learn how to settle an invoice in EdgeCTP and see it automatically echoed in Xero.  A settlement is where monies are paid towards an invoice total to clear any outstanding amounts.  Settlement can be in full (i.e. clears the full invoice amount) or in part settlement (i.e. only part of an invoice amount is paid).  Let’s try both and see this reflected in Xero and EdgeCTP seamlessly.

• If not already done so, open the invoice in EdgeCTP that you wish to settle (either part or full) by first finding it in the Documents > Financial Documents dashboard and opening it in Edit mode (click the pencil icon)
• If Xero is not already connected with EdgeCTP, a warning message will appear and you can click on the ‘here‘ link to establish a connection between Xero and EdgeCTP
• The invoice appears and the [Go to Accounting Package] button is available, which means that the invoice has been sent to Xero, click the [Settlement] button on the top left of the invoice page and choose either ‘Part Settlement‘ or ‘Full Settlement‘ – for this example we’ll go with Part Settlement, so as to demonstrate the complete settlement functionality with Xero

  

• On the Confirmation pop-up, set the Payment/Settlement Amount by typing in a value less than or equal to the Total Amount and see the Remaining Balance (once you’ve clicked on a different field); click [Save] once done

  

• Once the settlement amount has been processed by EdgeCTP, the invoice returns with a different status of either Part Settled or Fully Settled (depending on what you chose earlier)

  

• Now click [Go to Accounting Package] to open Xero and see if the settlement amount was also echoed in Xero (a new Xero browser tab appears with the Xero version of the invoice being shown – if required to login to Xero, just do so)

  

• Notice the Amount Due on the Xero invoice is a reflection of the settlement amount (i.e. Less Payment received in EdgeCTP)
• To see the settlement also flow from Xero to EdgeCTP, let’s do a settlement whilst we have the invoice open in Xero.  Do the following steps in Xero:
  • Scroll toward the bottom of the Xero invoice until you see the Receive a Payment section
  • For the Amount Paid entry, which should be the balance of the invoice due, either change it to a lesser amount or leave it as the same as the Amount Due
  • Set the Date Paid to today (or when the payment was received)
  • Set the Paid To the appropriate Account e.g. Business Bank Account
  • Add appropriate text for the Reference field
  • Click [Add Payment]

    

  • Xero then shows a green message as confirmation of Payment Received; in the green message box click ‘View Invoice‘ to see the invoice in Xero once again

    

  • Notice the Amount Due of 0.00 (if you settled the full Amount Due in the previous step)

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  • Now click the ‘x‘ on the top browser tab for Xero to close the Xero browser tab and reveal the EdgeCTP invoice once again

    

• To see that the Xero settlement amount is also automatically reflected in EdgeCTP, with the relevant invoice open (you may need to refresh the page – click on the reload icon next to the address bar of your browser), scroll down to the bottom of the page and view the Settlement Receipts, which should be the same as that in Xero

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• If you jump back to the top of the Invoice page in EdgeCTP, and if you had settled the invoice in full, then the Invoice Status would have changed to Fully Settled too

See more on Xero and EdgeCTP

• How to disconnect Xero from EdgeCTP
• How to connect Xero with EdgeCTP
• How to create a Credit Note in EdgeCTP and copy to Xero
• Start using Xero