Base an invoice’s “previously billed” on when it’s approved, not when it’s linked to the contract

Description:

Each invoice on a contract gets a fixed spot in that contract’s billing order the moment it’s linked, and its “previously billed” and remaining balance only count invoices ahead of it in that order. Changing the invoice date doesn’t change its spot.

That causes trouble when invoices arrive early. Subs often bill before work is fully complete, so the invoice gets linked to the contract but held for weeks or months before approval. Meanwhile, newer invoices get approved against the same contract. When the held invoice is finally reviewed, it doesn’t count those newer invoices, so it shows a higher remaining balance than the contract does. That makes it easy to approve an amount that overbills the contract.

What would help:

1. Order invoices by approval date (or another date the user controls) when calculating previously billed, or

2. Recalculate previously billed and remaining balance on pending invoices so they always reflect the contract’s current balance, or

3. At minimum, show a warning on a pending invoice when its remaining balance doesn’t match the contract’s current balance to finish.

Example: A sub’s final invoice was linked to the contract in June but held for review. Two newer invoices from the same sub were approved in the meantime. When the June invoice was reopened in October, it showed about $2,500 more remaining than the contract, and the amount billed was more than the contract had left.

Submitted on behalf of Toraye Izatt, Genova Construction.