Sometimes you need to pay bills immediately upon receipt, before they're fully processed through your accounting software. Apron's pre-payment feature handles this workflow seamlessly.
When to use pre-payments
Pre-payments are ideal for:
Urgent supplier payments requiring immediate settlement.
Bills with early payment discounts.
Cash flow management situations.
Time-sensitive vendor relationships.
This feature allows you to maintain good supplier relationships whilst ensuring proper documentation follows later.
Uploading bills for immediate payment
Click +New payment in the Bill pay section and select Upload bill. Upload your document using any of the standard methods – photo capture, file upload, or drag-and-drop. Uploaded documents appear in the Bills section with a 'Review' status, indicating that they need initial processing.
Processing uploaded bills
Review the extracted details for each document and confirm accuracy. At this stage, focus on payment-critical information like supplier details and amounts. Detailed categorisation and tax handling can be completed later in the bookkeeping workflow. After confirming the payment details, bills are labelled with a 'Pay' status, indicating that they're ready for payment processing.
Making the payment
Select the relevant bills from the Bill pay section and choose your preferred payment method. Select your bank account and verify the recipient payment details carefully, then complete the payment via Open Banking, bank transfer, or card payment, depending on your preference and bank capabilities.
Publishing after payment
Once payment is complete, bills are not automatically published to your accounting software. To complete the accounting entry:
Navigate to the Bookkeeping section and find your paid bills.
Review remaining document details such as categories, tax amounts, and line items.
Click Publish to post both the bill and corresponding payment to your accounting software.
This creates a complete audit trail showing both the expense and payment in your accounts.