Bills you know are coming

Some bills arrive on their own every month or quarter: the yard rent, the insurance, the phone contract, a van on long hire. The workspace knows they are coming and roughly what they say. A schedule records that arrangement once, and Maliru raises an ordinary draft bill a few days before each one falls due — so the office meets the bill coming rather than hearing about it from the supplier's chase.

A schedule is not a bill. It raises a draft each time, because nobody has seen the paper yet and the amount is your own estimate: whoever opens the post corrects it against the supplier's invoice and files it like any other.

Recurring bills are on Commercial › Bills › Recurring. They need Manage bills & expenses and a Team plan or above.

Setting one up

Choose Add schedule. The Add recurring bill form has four parts.

What it is

• Supplier — required.
• What it is — how it should read on the bill, e.g. Yard rent.
• Category.
• Notes — carried onto every bill it raises.

What it usually comes to

• Expected amount — before tax. "An estimate — the draft says so, and the real figure comes off the paper."
• Currency, Tax treatment and, for standard rate, Tax rate %.

When it comes round

• How often — Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly or Annually, and Every — how many of those between one bill and the next, from 1 to 52. Every 2 weeks, every 6 months.
• Next one due.
• Ends on — leave it empty for an open-ended arrangement.
• Raise the draft this many days early — from 0 to 90. The form spells out the result: The draft appears 7 days before the bill is due — on 24 Sep 2026 for the one due 1 Oct 2026.

Where it belongs

• Put the bill against — Nothing specific, A job, A vehicle, An asset, A site or A contract. "Every bill it raises inherits this, so a van on long hire reaches that van's running costs in Fleet without anyone filing it there."
• Active — switch it off to pause the schedule without deleting it: "for a seasonal arrangement, or one paused while the contract is renegotiated."

What it raises

Each night Maliru raises a draft for every active schedule whose bill is due within its lead time. The draft lands on the Bills register like any other, and its Raised by line says:

A recurring bill raised this draft before it fell due. The amount is the workspace's own estimate — correct it against the supplier's invoice when it arrives.

Check it against the paper, correct the amount and reference, and save it on. A period is never raised twice, however the nightly run goes.

A schedule stops raising bills when it is paused, when it passes its Ends on date, or when its supplier is archived.

The Recurring tab

The register lists each schedule with its Supplier, What it is, How often, Next due, Expected amount and how many bills it has Raised. Paused schedules show as Paused, and one past its end date reads Ended — nothing further will be raised.

Deleting a schedule stops any further bills. The bills it has already raised stay on the register.

Being told

Everyone with Manage bills & expenses is told when a schedule raises a draft: BILL-0042 was raised from a schedule, or one notice such as 3 bills were raised from schedules when several are raised together.

Alert rules can react to A bill is raised from a schedule, so whoever opens the post knows a draft is waiting.