The Commercial overview
Where your money is, what is stuck between a finished job and cash, and what to do next, on one page.
Commercial opens on Overview: one page that says where your money is now, what is stuck between a finished job and cash, and what to do next. Every figure opens the list behind it, filtered to the records it counted.
Who sees what
The overview follows your permissions:
- Manage commercial shows the money coming in: work to invoice, what clients owe, what they have paid and your contracts.
- Manage bills & expenses shows the money going out: bills, purchase orders and expenses.
- With both, you see both on one page. Owners always do.
- With only Manage bills & expenses, Commercial opens on the money-out overview, described under The money-out overview below.
- Labour cost in Margin by contract is shown to owners and to people who hold both Manage commercial and Manage payroll.
Commercial's tabs run money in, then money out: Overview, Contracts, Rate cards, Measures, Invoices, Valuations and Variations, then Bills and Expenses. A feature your workspace has switched off has no tab, and its part of the overview isn't shown.
If your access is limited to some workstreams, measures, jobs, variations, bills and orders count only those workstreams, as their own lists do. Invoices, valuations and payments count the whole workspace, as the Invoices and Valuations tabs do.
Choosing what it covers
The bar at the top sets what the figures count:
- This month, Quarter, Year to date, 12 months, or Custom for dates of your own. Maliru remembers your choice on this device, apart from custom dates.
- Client and Contract narrow the money coming in to one client or one contract. They reset when you leave the page.
- Currency appears only when you hold money in more than one currency. The overview counts one currency at a time and never adds two together. It opens on the currency you use most.
A figure marked Now is a balance as it stands today, such as what you are owed, so the period doesn't change it. The rest follow the period and are compared with the stretch before it: This month with the same days of last month, Quarter with the same number of days into the quarter before, Year to date with the same dates last year, and 12 months and custom dates with the same number of days just before. The line at the top right says which stretch, such as Live · compared with 1 – 14 Sep 2026.
The page keeps up as your team works. Refresh reads it again.
The four figures at the top
- Work not yet invoiced (Now): approved measures that are on no invoice, valuation or application (Ready), plus measures still awaiting approval. A line such as +14 jobs not measured counts finished jobs nobody has measured yet. Invoice ready work opens the measures ready to invoice.
- Owed to you (Now): what clients still have to pay on issued and part-paid invoices and applications, tax included, less anything the client withholds. The red part is overdue. Paid in 41 days on average runs from issue to payment, over the invoices paid in the last year. Chase overdue opens the overdue invoices.
- Cash in: the payments recorded in the period, by the date they arrived, with the change on the stretch before. A refund counts against it. Payments opens the paid invoices.
- Owed by you (Now): what you still have to pay on approved bills, how much is due soon and how much is overdue, and to how many suppliers. Bills opens them.
Without Manage bills & expenses, the fourth figure is Invoiced instead: what you invoiced in the period, before tax and less credit notes.
From finished work to cash
This follows your work from a finished job to the money arriving, in five steps:
- Finished, not measured: jobs that are done with nothing measured on them. Nothing will be invoiced for them until somebody measures them. Measure opens Jobs on exactly those jobs, with Billing set to Not measured.
- Measured, awaiting approval: measures submitted and waiting for a decision. Review opens them.
- Approved, not invoiced: approved measures on no invoice, valuation or application yet, and how many jobs they cover. Create invoice opens them.
- Invoiced, awaiting payment: the same money as Owed to you, with the overdue part in red. Chase opens the overdue invoices.
- Paid this month, or paid in the period you chose: what came in. View opens the paid invoices.
The first four steps say how long the oldest item has waited, such as Oldest 16 d. For invoices, it is how late the oldest overdue one is. The tag turns amber when the wait is getting long, and red for an invoice more than 60 days overdue.
Finished, not measured counts only workstreams that have recorded a measure at least once, so a workstream you never bill by measure doesn't fill it. A parent in a route workstream never counts; its sub-jobs do. To leave out a workstream that measures but isn't billed that way, see Overview settings below.
How long it takes
Under the steps, Finished job to cash, last 90 days is the median number of days from a job being finished to its money arriving, for the jobs whose invoice or application was paid in the last 90 days. The bar splits it into Measure, Approve, Invoice and Get paid. A note says when it has changed against the 90 days before, such as Invoicing is 4 days slower than the 90 days before.
Applications for payment
When your workspace uses valuations, Applications for payment shows what was Applied, Certified and Paid in the period, how many valuations are still awaiting certification, and the Retention held, with the next amount due back. Valuations opens the tab. See Valuations, retention, variations and dayworks.
Needs action
Every queue that is waiting on somebody, worst first, with how many, how much and how long the oldest has waited, and one button for each:
- Money in: Invoices overdue (Chase), Ready to invoice (Create invoice), Measures awaiting approval (Review), Finished jobs not measured (Measure), Draft invoices not issued (Open drafts), Variations awaiting approval (Review) and Quotes awaiting an answer (Follow up).
- Money out: Bills to approve (Approve), Bills overdue (Pay), bills due soon (Payment run), Purchase orders to approve (Review) and Expenses to approve (Review).
A queue with nothing in it is left off. When nothing is waiting at all, the card says so.
Who owes you
The bar splits what you are owed by how late it is: Not yet due, then 1–30 days, 31–60 days, 61–90 days and 90+ days overdue. Below it are the five clients who owe you most, each with what they owe, how much of it is overdue, how late their oldest overdue invoice is, and how quickly they usually pay. The rest are added up on one line.
Click a client to open a panel of their money: what they owe now and how much is overdue, what is ready to invoice for them, what they paid this month, how quickly they pay, and their open invoices with due dates. Statement opens their client statement, and Their unpaid invoices opens Invoices filtered to them. See Client statements and exports and Emailing a document and chasing overdue invoices.
Invoiced and collected
The last twelve months side by side, this month to date included: what you invoiced and what was collected. Above the chart are the twelve months' totals and the Collection rate, collected as a share of invoiced. Chart and Table switch between bars and figures.
Invoiced is counted before tax, less credit notes. Collected is the payments recorded.
Money out
Money out shows what you owe suppliers by when it falls due: Overdue, Due soon, The week after and Later. Due soon matches the Due soon list on Bills, so it follows the Due soon window in Bill settings. See Bills and suppliers.
Under it are what is Committed on open orders (ordered and not billed yet, if you use purchase orders), Expenses to repay to your people, what was paid out in the period, and the period's spend by category.
Cash forecast
The next eight weeks, Monday to Sunday, starting with this one:
- Expected in: each open invoice and application on its due date, moved by how late that client usually pays. A client who paid 12 days after the due date on average over the last year is expected 12 days late, never earlier than the due date and never more than 60 days late. Anything expected before today counts in this week.
- Due out: approved bills on their due dates, recurring bills on the dates they fall due, and purchase orders on their expected dates. Bills already overdue count in this week.
When more falls due out than is expected in, the worst week is called out as the Tightest week. Chart and Table switch the view. The forecast is worked out from your own records, so a bill nobody has entered yet isn't in it. See Bills you know are coming and Purchase orders.
Top clients
The five clients you have invoiced most this calendar year, each with their share of the year and Pays in: the average days from invoice to payment. It turns amber once that runs past their payment terms, and red at two weeks past. Click a client for the same panel as in Who owes you.
Retention and contract value
- Retention held: the retention your clients hold across your contracts, from each contract's latest certified valuation, and the next three amounts due back. Maliru expects retention back on the contract's end date; a contract with no end date says so.
- Nearest their value: the three active contracts that have earned the largest share of their value, red once past it. All contracts opens the Contracts tab.
- Recurring contract fees: what your service contracts bring in each month, and when the next fee invoices will be drafted. See The contract fee.
Each part shows only when there is something in it.
Margin by contract
For each contract, what it earned in the period against what it cost:
- Revenue: what you invoiced under the contract in the period, before tax and less credit notes. An invoice on no contract is in no row, so the total can be less than Invoiced.
- Cost: supplier bills that landed on the contract or one of its jobs, approved expenses on its jobs and, if you may see it, labour on its jobs.
- Margin: revenue less cost, as a bar either side of zero and a percentage. It is green above 10%, amber below 10% and red below zero. Hover over a row for the split.
The eight contracts with the most revenue are listed, the rest share one line, and All contracts totals them. Cost on no contract, such as a bill for the office or an expense on no job, is added up under the table rather than spread across contracts. Click a contract to narrow the overview to it.
Labour is the time your people clocked on the contract's jobs, at each person's own rate in force that day. A salary is priced at its hourly equivalent. Overtime and premiums are not added, and time by someone paid by the day, or with no rate, adds no labour. Labour is shown to owners and to people who hold both Manage commercial and Manage payroll; everyone else sees Margin by contract, before labour.
Recent money activity
The last ten things that happened to money you can see, newest first: payments received and refunds paid, invoices, applications and credit notes issued, bills approved, bills paid and payment runs recorded. Click one to open it. Lines about money coming in need Manage commercial; lines about money going out need Manage bills & expenses.
Invoicing target
Set a monthly target in Overview settings, in the currency the overview is showing. Invoiced and collected then shows what you invoiced in the period against the target for that period:
- This month: one month's target.
- Quarter: three months' targets.
- Year to date: one for each month begun this year.
- 12 months: twelve months' targets.
- Custom dates: the number of days divided by 30.44.
Without Manage bills & expenses, the Invoiced figure at the top shows it too. Leave the target empty to remove it. The target applies to everyone in the workspace, and changing it needs Manage commercial.
Your accounting connection
When your workspace sends bills to its accounting system and something there needs a person, a note at the top of the overview says so, such as Xero: 2 not sent · 1 to check. It counts bills whose last send failed and bills to check, and says when the connection needs reconnecting. Click it to open Integrations. It appears only when there is something to do, for people with Manage bills & expenses or Manage settings. See Sending bills to Xero.
Make it yours
Customise, at the top of Commercial, lists the overview's parts. Untick one to hide it, and use the arrows to move it up or down. Two half-width parts next to each other sit side by side on a wide screen. Reset puts back the standard layout. Your layout is yours alone and follows you to any device. A part added to the overview later appears in its usual place.
Export
Export, beside Customise, saves the overview as a Spreadsheet (.xlsx), with a sheet for each part, or as a PDF pack of every table. Both carry the period, client, contract and currency you chose. Each export counts as one of your plan's monthly exports.
Ask Marie about it
Ask Marie, at the top of Commercial, opens Marie with a question about what the overview is showing: the period, client, contract and currency you chose, what changed against the stretch before, why, and what to do first. She reads the same figures, with your permissions. To read your workspace she needs switching on. See Marie, your assistant and Switching Marie on.
The money-out overview
With Manage bills & expenses and not Manage commercial, the overview covers the money going out:
- At the top: Owed by you, what falls due in your due-soon window (such as Due in 7 days), Committed on open orders (or Paid out, if you don't use purchase orders) and Billed to you in the period.
- From bill received to paid: Received, not approved, Approved, not due yet, Due now or overdue and Paid this month.
- Needs action and Money out, as above.
- Bills received and paid over twelve months, and the Suppliers you owe most.
- The Cash forecast, with what falls due out, and Recent money activity for bills and payment runs.
Your first day
Until your first invoice is issued, someone with Manage commercial sees Get paid for the work you do on the overview: five steps, each with a button where there is somewhere to go. They are your business and bank details (Document settings), your first client, a contract or a rate card, your first measure, and your first invoice. Steps already done show Done. The figures fill in as you go, and the steps give way to the full overview once your first invoice is issued.
Overview settings
Overview settings (the gear at the top of the overview) lists your workstreams. Untick one whose work isn't billed by measure, such as maintenance under a fixed fee, and its jobs no longer count as Finished, not measured, here or in Needs action. A workstream that has never recorded a measure says Nothing measured here yet, so not counted. It also holds the Invoicing target. The settings apply to everyone in the workspace. Changing them needs Manage commercial.
Every figure opens its list
Click a figure, a step or a row and Maliru opens the list behind it, filtered to exactly what was counted. Invoice ready work opens Measures on the measures ready to invoice, Chase overdue opens Invoices on the overdue ones, and Measure under Finished, not measured opens Jobs on those jobs. The list you land on has the same count as the figure you clicked.
On the Dashboard
Three Dashboard cards carry the overview's figures: Owed to you, Work not yet invoiced and Cash in. They are worked out the same way as the overview, so the two agree, and each opens it. Owed to you and Work not yet invoiced stand now; Cash in follows the Dashboard's own period. They need Manage commercial. See Reading your dashboard.
Weekly money summary
Anyone with Manage commercial or Manage bills & expenses can have the overview's main figures emailed once a week. Turn on Weekly money summary under Reports in Notification settings and choose the days it comes on; it starts on the first day of your workweek. It arrives at 07:00 in your workspace's timezone with:
- what you are owed and what you owe, as they stand that morning;
- the cash that came in over the seven days before, against the seven days before those;
- the three biggest things waiting on somebody, such as invoices overdue or work ready to invoice.
You see only the half of the money your permissions show on the overview. When you hold money in more than one currency, it gives your most-used currency and names the others. See Notification preferences.
Money alerts
Two alert rules watch the overview's money:
- Overdue owed to you passes an amount: fires when what clients owe you overdue goes past the amount you set, in your most-used currency.
- A client's oldest overdue invoice passes a number of days: fires for a client once their oldest overdue invoice or application is more days late than you set.
Each fires once when it goes past its line, and again only after it has been back under. They reach only people who hold Manage commercial. Someone with Manage settings sets them up under Alerts, like any other rule. See Admin alert rules.