Docs
How this works
The lifecycle of a bill: Quote (optional) → Invoice → approval → sent → paid. Corrections after that go through a Credit note, never an edit.
Documents
Quote
A non-binding estimate. Nothing is owed, no number is assigned to identify it as a contract until sent. Once a client accepts it, converting it creates a real invoice - the quote itself never becomes a bill on its own.
Invoice
The actual bill. A draft has no number - one is assigned only when it's approved, inside a transaction that can never produce a duplicate. Once approved, it's locked: nothing about an issued invoice can be edited again.
Credit note
How you correct an issued invoice. It doesn't touch the original - the original stays on record exactly as it was issued, marked "Credited", and the credit note is a separate, independently-numbered document that reduces what's owed.
Receipt
Generated automatically the moment a payment is verified. There's no button to create one directly - it's proof that a specific payment was confirmed.
Statement
A client's own running account: every invoice issued to them in a date range, what's settled, what's outstanding - kept separate per currency, never blended into one number.
The approval pipeline
Draft
Being written. Fully editable. No number yet.
Submitted
Handed off for review. The person who created it can no longer edit it themselves while it's in this state.
Approved
Signed off by someone other than whoever created it - the same person can never approve their own invoice. This is the moment a real invoice number is assigned.
Sent / Paid
Emailed to the client, then settled once payment is recorded and verified.
Payments
Record payment vs. verify payment
Two different steps, done by two different people on purpose. Recording says "a transfer came in." Verifying confirms it actually cleared. The same person can never do both for the same payment - that's the whole point of the check.
WHT (withholding tax)
For clients who withhold tax at source. Set a rate on the invoice section once the client remits payment and tells you what they withheld; track whether the certificate proving it has arrived under Reports → WHT certificates.
Repeat billing
Duplicate vs. recurring schedule
Duplicate copies one invoice, once, as a new draft - use it for a one-off repeat. A recurring schedule (Settings → Recurring invoices) generates a fresh draft automatically on a schedule you set. Neither one ever submits, approves, or sends anything by itself - every generated invoice still needs a human to review it.
Your subscription vs. your clients' invoices
Two entirely separate flows of money
Your subscription (Settings → Billing) is what you pay Suwebatu to use this platform, and it goes through our payment processor, Paymish. The invoices you create are what your own clients pay you, and they work completely differently: your client pays into the bank account printed on the invoice, you record the transfer, and a second person verifies it. We are never in the middle of that money, and your subscription lapsing never touches your clients' invoices or their payment history.