How to Track Bills & Expenses for a Booked Project

Overview
Once a project is booked and in progress, it's important to properly track all bills, expenses, and receipts to maintain accurate job costing and financial reporting. You can access Bills & Expenses either from the Production tab or from the Budget tab, since both are interlocked and stay in sync with each other.

Before You Begin

• The project must be booked.
  
  
• The project status should be In Progress.
  
  

Step 1: Navigate to Bills & Expenses

1. Open the project, then in the left-hand sidebar under the Production section, click Bills and expenses directly.

This will show you a list of all previously created bills and expenses for this project. Note that you can also create Bills and Expenses directly within the Budget tab, and they will show up here as well, since the Bills and Expenses tab and the Budget tab are interlocked.

Step 2: Create a New Bill or Expense

If no entries exist, or you need to add a new one:

1. Click Create New.

2. Choose one of the following options: Import from your device, Import from Bolster Drive, Take a picture, or Skip upload to enter the amount manually.

Step 3: Enter Expense Details

After uploading (or skipping upload), you'll be prompted to enter the expense information.

1. Fill in the Receipt Number.

2. Fill in the Vendor (who the purchase was made from).

3. Fill in the Item Name.

4. Fill in the Quote Reference.

5. Select a Specific Estimate Item to tag the bill or expense to a line item within the budget (optional but recommended).

6. Enter the Amount.

7. Select Mark as Paid, if applicable.

You can tag a bill or expense to a specific item from your estimate to ensure accurate job costing.

Step 4: Advanced Options (QuickBooks Integration)

If using QuickBooks integration:

1. Open Advanced Options.

2. Choose whether to push the transaction to QuickBooks.

3. Choose the Expense Type: Bill or Receipt.

This ensures proper accounting classification and synchronization.

Best Practices

• Always link expenses to the correct estimate item when possible.
• Mark items as paid only after confirming payment.
• Upload receipt images for documentation and audit trail.
• Use consistent vendor naming to maintain clean reporting.

Why This Matters

• Keeps bills, expenses, and receipts organized and tied to the correct project for accurate job costing.

• Since the Bills & Expenses tab and Budget tab are interlocked, entries created in either place stay in sync.

• Supports proper accounting classification and synchronization when using QuickBooks.

Summary

From a booked project's Bills and expenses page (in the left-hand sidebar under Production), view, create, or upload bills and receipts, tag them to specific estimate items, mark them as paid, and, if applicable, sync them with QuickBooks as a Bill or Receipt.