Entering and Ingesting Bills

#Bill Concepts

A bill in Light represents a vendor invoice. Bills contain:

• Header: Vendor, bill date, due date, amount, currency
• Line Items: What was purchased (product, service), quantity, price, GL account, cost center
• Tax: Tax amounts and GL accounts
• Terms: Payment terms and conditions

Bills progress through states: DRAFT → POSTED → PARTIALLY_CLEARED → CLEARED → ARCHIVED.

#Manual Bill Entry

#Creating a Bill Manually

1. Navigate to Spend management → Bills

2. Click Create Bill

3. Select the Vendor (or create inline)

4. Set bill metadata:

   • Bill Number: Vendor's invoice number
   • Bill Date: Invoice date
   • Due Date: When payment is due
   • Company Entity: Which entity is receiving the bill
   • Currency: Billing currency
   • Description: Internal notes (optional)

5. Click Next to add line items

#Adding Line Items

1. Click Add Line Item

2. Enter line details:

   • Description: What was purchased
   • Quantity and Unit Price
   • GL Account: Which account to charge (e.g., Office Supplies, Professional Services)
   • Cost Center (optional): Department or project
   • Tax Category: If applicable
   • Amount: Automatically calculated

3. Light calculates Line Total including tax

4. Click Add

5. Repeat for each line

Good to know: You can override tax calculations per line if needed, though Light generally calculates tax correctly.

#Adding Taxes

1. In the bill details, navigate to Tax

2. Light may auto-calculate based on vendor location and products

3. Review calculated tax:

   • Tax Rate used
   • Tax Amount
   • GL Account for tax

4. Override if needed and click Save

The total amount (subtotal + tax) is shown at the bottom.

#Uploading Invoices with AI Extraction

#Upload a PDF or Image

Light's AI automatically extracts invoice data from PDF and image files:

1. Navigate to Spend management → Bills
2. Click Create Bill
3. Choose Upload Invoice
4. Select a PDF or image file (JPG, PNG)
5. Light extracts data and creates a draft bill
6. Review and correct extracted information
7. Click Create

Tip: Invoice PDFs work best; clear photos of printed invoices also work well.

#Reviewing Extracted Data

After upload, review the AI extraction:

1. Light shows the original invoice image and extracted data side-by-side

2. Verify:

   • Vendor: Correct vendor selected
   • Bill Number: Invoice number
   • Bill Date and Due Date: Dates extracted correctly
   • Line Items: Products/services and amounts
   • Total Amount: Grand total

3. Click on extracted fields to correct if needed

4. If vendor or line items are incorrect, click Correct and make changes

5. Click Confirm Extraction

AI is typically 90%+ accurate on standard invoices.

#Batch Bill Import

#CSV Import

Upload multiple bills at once from a spreadsheet:

1. Navigate to Spend management → Bills

2. Click Bulk Actions > Import Bills

3. Download the CSV template

4. Fill in bill data:

   • Vendor Name
   • Bill Number
   • Bill Date
   • Amount
   • GL Account
   • Description
   • Line items

5. Save as CSV

6. Click Upload CSV

7. Light validates and shows preview

8. Click Import

Light creates draft bills for all valid rows and reports any errors.

#Bill States and Workflow

Bills progress through these states:

• DRAFT: Created but not posted; no GL entries yet
• POSTED: Confirmed and GL entries created; ready for matching/approval
• OPEN: Posted and waiting for payment or approval
• PARTIALLY_CLEARED: Partial payment received
• CLEARED: Fully paid or matched to a payment
• ARCHIVED: No longer active; retained for history

To change a bill's state:

1. Open the bill
2. Click Change Status
3. Select the target state
4. Light validates the transition is allowed
5. Add a Reason (optional)
6. Click Confirm

#Three-Way Match

The three-way match validates that Purchase Order (PO), receipt, and bill align:

1. Open the bill

2. Navigate to Three-Way Match

3. Light checks for linked PO and Receipt

4. Review:

   • PO Amount vs. Bill Amount: Should match (within tolerance)
   • PO Quantity vs. Receipt Quantity: Should match
   • Receipt Date vs. Bill Date: Should be close (within tolerance)

5. If mismatches exist, Light highlights them

6. Click Resolve to document discrepancies

7. Choose action: Approve despite discrepancy, reject bill, or request correction

Good to know: Three-way matching can be configured to auto-approve if all fields match within tolerance (e.g., amount within 2%).

#Linking to Purchase Orders

Associate a bill with a Purchase Order:

1. Open the bill

2. Navigate to Related Documents

3. Click Link to PO

4. Search for and select the PO

5. Light validates:

   • Same vendor
   • Same items
   • Amount matches (or tolerance exceeded with note)

6. Click Link

Linked POs show on the bill; linked bills show on the PO.

#Bill Duplicate Detection

Light flags potential duplicate bills:

1. When creating a bill, Light checks for:

   • Same vendor and bill number
   • Same amount and date
   • Same line items

2. If potential duplicate found:

   • Light shows a warning
   • Displays the existing bill
   • You can:
     • Skip: Ignore and create the new bill anyway
     • Cancel: Don't create (duplicate not needed)
     • Merge: Combine with existing bill

#Bill Amendments

To correct information on an existing bill:

1. Open the bill
2. If DRAFT: Click Edit and make corrections
3. If POSTED: Click Amend Bill
4. Light creates an adjustment record
5. Make corrections
6. Click Save Amendment

Amendments maintain audit trail of original and corrected amounts.

#Related Articles

• AI-driven invoice data extraction
• Vendor portal and magic links
• Bill approval workflows
• Scheduling and executing payments