Finance
XBuddy Finance is the operational money layer of your business: it turns sales and purchases into invoices, bills, and payments, chases what customers owe, controls what you owe suppliers, and keeps cash flow visible. Every document it produces posts a journal entry into Accounting automatically, so your books stay accurate without double entry.
Who uses it: AR clerks issuing and chasing customer invoices, AP staff processing supplier bills, employees filing expense claims, finance managers approving payments and closing periods, and FP&A owners watching cash flow. Finance sits downstream of Sales, Procurement, and Inventory and upstream of Accounting — it is where transactions become money.
For Vietnam, Finance handles VAT at the standard rates (0%, 5%, 8%, 10%), enforces compliant invoice sequencing, and supports declaration output such as form 01/GTGT. Configure tax codes and sequences in Finance → Settings.
Before you start
Prerequisites
| You need | Why | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Accounting set up | Every invoice, bill, expense and payment posts to the ledger. Without a chart of accounts and account mappings, documents send but their GL posting fails | /accounting/chart-of-accounts, /accounting/posting-rules |
| An open accounting period | You cannot post into a period that is closed or locked | /accounting/periods |
| Contacts | An invoice needs a customer; a bill needs a vendor | /crm/contacts |
| Tax rates | VAT lines resolve their rate and payable account from here | /accounting/tax-rates |
| Payment terms | Drive the due date and the dunning schedule | /finance/settings/payment-terms |
| Bank accounts | Payments post against a bank account, not against thin air | /accounting/bank-accounts |
Permissions that unlock each area
| Permission | Unlocks |
|---|---|
invoices:read / :write | See and edit invoices |
invoices:send | Send an invoice — this is what posts it to the ledger |
invoices:approve | Approve an invoice when the approval gate is on |
invoices:payments | Record and void payments — this is the payment permission; there is no separate payments-write key |
payments:read | See the payments list |
bills:read / :write / :approve / :payments | Vendor bills and paying them |
expenses:read / :write / :approve | Employee expenses |
credit_notes:read / :write | Credit notes |
dunning:read / :write | The collections ladder |
retainers:read / :write | Retainers |
recurring:read | See recurring templates — creating one requires finance:write |
timesheets:read / :write / :approve | Billable time |
finance:admin | Finance automation and administration |
⚠️
Permissions are ANDed, not inherited. invoices:write does not imply invoices:send, and invoices:send does not imply invoices:payments. A user who can build an invoice but not send it will get as far as the draft and no further — which is often exactly what you want, but it is a deliberate configuration, not an accident.
Which records you see
Invoices, bills, expenses, payments, credit notes and recurring templates are all owner-scoped (Axis 7). Your tier decides the set:
| Tier | You see |
|---|---|
own | Documents assigned to you or created by you |
team | Yours plus your reports’, following the manager chain |
all | Everything in the company |
A single record outside your tier returns 404, not 403 — the system does not confirm that a document you cannot see exists.
Key Features
- Customer invoices: create, send, PDF, track payment, and dun overdue accounts
- Draft invoices stay fully editable — customer, due date, notes, and every line item — until they’re sent
- Every invoice carries a Document Chain showing exactly what it was generated from and what it produced downstream
- Supplier bills with a full draft → submit → approve → schedule → paid lifecycle
- Expense claims with multi-level approval and receipt capture
- Payments and bank reconciliation with automatic matching
- Tiered dunning (payment reminders) for overdue receivables
- Recurring billing and retainers for subscription and prepaid revenue
- Timesheet billing with rate cards — turn approved, priced time into invoices
- Credit notes for refunds and corrections
- Revenue reconciliation to catch gaps between orders, invoices, and payments
- Automatic journal posting to Accounting on every invoice, bill, and payment
Screen map
Receivables — money coming in
| Screen | Route | What it is for | Permission |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overview | /finance | Cash position, overdue, what needs action | invoices:read |
| Invoices | /finance/invoices | The AR list | invoices:read |
| Invoice detail | /finance/invoices/[id] | Lines, payments, journal entries, document chain | invoices:read |
| New invoice | /finance/invoices/new | Create — also the target of “convert from quotation” | invoices:write |
| Credit notes | /finance/credit-notes, /finance/credit-notes/[id], /finance/credit-notes/[id]/edit, /finance/credit-notes/new | Reduce an issued invoice | credit_notes:read / :write |
| Recurring | /finance/recurring, /finance/recurring/[id], /finance/recurring/new | Templates that raise invoices on a schedule | recurring:read / finance:write |
| Retainers | /finance/retainers, /finance/retainers/[id], /finance/retainers/new | Prepaid balances drawn down over time | retainers:read / :write |
| Dunning | /finance/dunning | The collections ladder and its runs | dunning:read |
Payables — money going out
| Screen | Route | What it is for | Permission |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bills | /finance/bills, /finance/bills/[id], /finance/bills/new | Vendor bills | bills:read / :write |
| Bill import | /finance/bills/import | Bulk import | bills:write |
| Expenses | /finance/expenses, /finance/expenses/[id], /finance/expenses/[id]/edit, /finance/expenses/new | Employee expense claims | expenses:read / :write |
| Approvals queue | /finance/approve | What is waiting on you | per document type |
Payments and time
| Screen | Route | What it is for | Permission |
|---|---|---|---|
| Payments | /finance/payments, /finance/payments/[id] | Receipts and disbursements | payments:read; recording needs invoices:payments |
| Timesheets | /finance/timesheets | Billable time feeding invoices | timesheets:read |
| Timesheet approval | /finance/timesheets/approve | Approve before it can be billed | timesheets:approve |
| Timesheet settings | /finance/timesheets/settings | Rules and rounding | timesheets:read |
Reports
| Screen | Route | What it is for | Permission |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reports home | /finance/reports | Index | invoices:read |
| Aging | /finance/reports/aging | AR and AP by bucket | invoices:read |
| Cash flow | /finance/reports/cashflow | Operational cash view | invoices:read |
| Revenue | /finance/reports/revenue | Revenue by period and category | invoices:read |
| Revenue reconciliation | /finance/reports/revenue-reconciliation | Ties invoiced revenue to the ledger | accounting:read |
| SKU margin | /finance/reports/sku-margin | Margin per item | invoices:read |
| Project P&L | /finance/reports/project-pl | Profitability per project | invoices:read |
| Overhead allocation | /finance/reports/overhead-allocation | How indirect cost is spread | invoices:read |
Settings and automation
| Screen | Route | What it is for | Permission |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finance settings | /finance/settings | Module behaviour | finance:admin |
| Expense settings | /finance/settings/expenses | Categories, limits, approval rules | finance:admin |
| Payment terms | /finance/settings/payment-terms | Terms that drive due dates | finance:admin |
| Rate cards | /finance/settings/rate-cards | Billing rates for time | timesheets:read |
| Revenue categories | /finance/settings/revenue-categories | Revenue analysis buckets | finance:admin |
| Agents / workflows | /finance/automation/agents, /finance/automation/workflows | AI agents and approval workflows scoped to Finance | finance:admin |
Important features
Full feature reference
| Nav item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Overview | Finance dashboard with AR/AP KPIs, cash position, overdue totals, and charts of revenue and outstanding balances. |
| Invoices | Customer (AR) invoices — create, send, PDF, track payment status, apply VAT per line, edit freely while in draft, trace lineage via the Document Chain, and generate credit notes or reminders. |
| Bills | Supplier (AP) bills with the draft → submit → approve → schedule → paid lifecycle and optional three-way matching against PO/GRN. |
| Expenses | Employee expense claims with receipt capture and multi-level approval before reimbursement and posting. |
| Payments | Records of money received and paid, linked to the invoice/bill they settle, with bank reconciliation and matching. |
| Credit Notes | Refunds and corrections that reverse or reduce an invoice; posts the offsetting journal entry and adjusts the customer balance. |
| Recurring | Scheduled invoice generation (monthly/annual) for subscriptions and repeating charges. |
| Timesheets | Billable time records, priced via manual rates or saved rate cards, that can be turned into invoices; the source for time-and-materials billing. |
| Timesheet Approvals | Approval queue where managers approve submitted timesheets before they become billable. |
| Retainers | Prepaid customer balances drawn down as work is billed, with remaining-balance tracking. |
| Dunning | Tiered, automated payment-reminder engine for overdue receivables, grouped by aging. |
| Finance Reports | Reporting hub: AR/AP aging, cash flow, revenue, expense analysis, and tax/VAT reports with CSV export. |
| Revenue Reconciliation | Cross-checks orders, invoices, and payments to surface revenue leakage or unbilled fulfillment. |
Integration points
| Connects to | How the data flows |
|---|---|
| Sales | A confirmed sales order can generate a draft invoice with customer and lines pre-filled; the invoice’s Document Chain traces back to the originating quotation and order. |
| Accounting | Every invoice, bill, expense, and payment posts a journal entry automatically to the general ledger. |
| Inventory | Goods issue (delivery) can trigger the customer invoice for shipped goods, keeping billing tied to fulfillment. |
| Procurement | Supplier bills are created from purchase orders; three-way matching compares PO, goods receipt, and bill. |
| Bank Accounts | Bank feeds provide transactions that are matched to payments for reconciliation; see Accounting for importing statement files and reconciling. |
| Time Tracking | Approved timesheets, priced with rate cards, flow into billing so time-and-materials work is invoiced from actual hours. |
Related AI agents
| Agent | What it does |
|---|---|
| AR Collector | Monitors overdue invoices, proposes and sends the right dunning reminder, and escalates aging receivables. |
| AP Manager | Reviews supplier bills, flags three-way mismatches, and schedules payments to optimize cash and avoid late fees. |
| Expense Auditor | Screens expense claims for policy breaches, duplicates, and anomalies before approval. |
| FP&A Analyst | Analyzes cash flow and financial trends, producing forward-looking insights for finance leaders. |
In this guide
Customer invoicesSupplier billsExpense claims + approvalPayments & reconciliationDunning (tiered reminders)Recurring billing & retainersTimesheet billing and rate cardsPayment approval gateEmployee disbursementsIndividual service payments and PIT withholdingWorkflows & examplesPermissions & settingsLimits, troubleshooting & FAQ