With Monograph, you can create invoices for your projects broken out by different phases and roles. We've built this workflow based on extensive user feedback and with the architecture and design industry in mind.

Go to Money in the main menu and click on Invoices. If there aren’t any templates yet, the template builder will open automatically. Click “Get Started” or “New Invoice” to create one. When you’re done, click Next at the top left — this will save your template and take you to the invoice builder screen.

📘 Learn more about invoice templates and how they help streamline your billing.

After templates are created, the same steps can be followed to create an invoice each time. New invoices can be started directly from the Invoices page, the Project Overview, or the Unbilled page.

Choose your project from the drop-down list and the invoice number will automatically populate the next available number for that specific project (archived projects cannot be invoiced).

You can manually override the invoice number with any combination of numbers, letters, underscores, dashes, or dots. Do not include any spaces between the characters.

Finally, set your Services Through the time frame for the invoice and hit Create.

The Invoice Builder is where you create and prepare your invoice. Follow the steps below to complete each section before moving on to the design stage:

Beneath each section title, you’ll see a Current Due amount and, when applicable, an Unbilled amount. These values update in real time as you complete each section.

Within the Fixed Fee and Hourly Fee Services, there are also several reference columns:

If Adjustable Billing Rates are assigned to users and Hourly Services are included in the invoice, an icon will appear to indicate which rates are being applied—either a single dollar symbol or two overlapping dollar symbols.

Although the rate tables are displayed in the tooltip, the rate applied to the invoice is determined by the rate in effect on the final date of the Services Through period. This rate is then used to calculate the Amount total for the line items shown in the Invoice Builder.

Note: If the Services Through timeframe is adjusted and the applicable hourly rate changes, the total amount for the role row will remain the same, and the hours will be automatically recalculated accordingly.

The Fixed Fee Services tab allows you to edit the invoice amounts for your Fixed Phases, compare what you planned vs. what you logged, and view milestones completed.

Invoices can be built following two different methods. Both methods should not be used in the same project, as this will cause inconsistencies in Unbilled totals.

Use the toggles below to learn more about both methods.

All phases marked as hourly in the project budget will appear under this section, and clicking on the phase name will expand to show all roles for the phase with their planned and logged time.

For each role, click Add to include the logged hours or directly type a number into the hours box to override the logged amount. Just like in the Fixed Fee section, hovering over Unbilled will let you preview all unbilled time by timeframe.

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📖 Hourly phases that have never been billed and do not have any logged hours will not appear on invoices, as there is no time recorded to display. Learn more about this here.

If you've budgeted for Consultants within a project, either as a Phase consultant or Project consultant, the planned fees for each will appear as an option to add to your invoice under the Consultants Services tab. If you have uploaded bills, they will also show in this tab.
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If a markup has been added to consultants, the middle column will display 'Planned + Markup'. If no markups were added, it will say 'Planned'. If there is a markup, hovering on the number in this column will then show a breakdown of both the planned amount and the markup.

📚 Markups on Consultants will not be shown in the invoice as a separate item. The markup will be included in the consultant fee.
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Bills that have been uploaded for the project will show at the top. If you'd like this pdf to show in the invoice, you can select 'Link to this invoice'. You can also add a note if needed.

Only Consultant Bills that have been reviewed and accepted can be added to an invoice.

The summary for each phase consultant will appear when the Consultant Services tab is opened for the first time. To expand and see each phase and phase amount, hit the arrow to the left of the Consultant Name. Once expanded, you can input the amounts as needed into each phase.

For Project consultants, use the current complete and current due fields and complete as needed.

Any expenses logged during the invoice date range will automatically be entered under the "Included" section at the top of the Expenses section.

If you don't want an expense included on a specific invoice, click the "X" to the far right on the expense line:
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Any historical expenses that have not yet been invoiced for will appear in the "Logged" section. You may opt to "Add all" to include all listed expenses, or you may add them individually by clicking the "Add" button to the far right on the expense line:

The columns displayed in the Included Expenses tab are:

The markup percentage applied to each expense automatically calculates the Current Due for that expense line. The markup information will not be visible on the client's actual invoice.

If an expense budget has been set up during the project creation process, hovering over the Current Due will show a detailed breakdown, including the total budget, previously invoiced amount, current due, and remaining balance.

If no expense budget is configured for the project, this option will not be available.

When you add any expenses with attachments, the same attachments will be shown as an appendix to your invoice. You'll be able to see it within the Invoice Preview.

🚨 Once any expenses that have attachments are included, the attachments will get added to the invoice. If you'd like to not include any receipt images, feel free to toggle off Include receipt images from the Invoice Designer tab.

🚨 Please note: Receipt attachments will always appear smaller because the full page must fit within the invoice’s borders. This is a current limitation of the system.

A workaround is to download the invoice as a PDF, then attach the file you want to share to your email before sending it directly to your client. This allows you to send the attachment at its original size and resolution, but only works if you’re sending invoice PDFs to your clients without using e-payments.

The Additional Items tab can be used for Retainers, Taxes, and adding single-line items for anything that doesn't fit into one of the default categories. These could include One-time Charges, Additional Fees, or even Discounts.

To add one of these items, click on 'Add Line Item' dropdown and then select which item you will be adding. You can add just one of these items or all 3.
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If you are adding an 'Other Item', customize the single-line item to match your specific needs by manually entering the Item Name, Description, Quantity, and Rate.

To add a Discount, simply change the rate for that specific line item to a negative amount. You can add as many 'Other Items' as you need.

💡 Note: any discount added will only be applied against the invoice total - it will not be applied to a specific phase, role, expense, or consultant on that invoice. It also will not impact any Previously Billed totals, and will only be reflected in the project's total "Billed" in Project Financials.
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To add a Retainer, click on 'Add Line Item' in the lower left of the screen, then select 'Retainer'. Input the Item, Description, and Amount.

💡 Note: the Item field will pre-populate with the word 'Retainer,' but you can adjust the language to suit your specific needs, such as a kick-off fee or a deposit. You can only add one retainer to the invoice.

You can read more about retainers here, including how to apply them.

To add a Late Fee, first ensure the late fee setting is enabled at the firm level. Click here to learn more.

Once enabled:

To add Taxes, you can again select the 'Add Line Item' in the lower left of the screen and select 'Taxes'. Depending on whether you are using QuickBooks Online, the way to apply taxes will differ.

The pop-up will allow you to select the tax rates set up in Settings, learn more here, or you can also add a new tax rate directly.

Once you have selected the tax rate, you will then select which items the Tax applies to. Then hit Save, and the tax will be shown as calculated based on the tax rate and the items to which it applies. Similar to retainers, you can only add one tax rate to the invoice.

Please note: Some locations may have more than one tax rate applied to each invoice. Currently, Monograph can only apply one tax rate. To see all Taxes Collected, please view the Taxes Report.

Use the toggles below to learn more about taxes for QBO Users using Automated Sales Tax versus Non-Automated Sales Tax.

You’ve finished building the first part of your invoice—now what? Next, use the Invoice Designer to select or create a template, then move on to previewing your invoice before marking it as open and sending it to your client.