AIA Billing

Table of Contents

Overview

AIA billings are a formal type of advanced bill designed based on the standards of the American Institute of Architecture. AIA billings create an advance invoice against the project and also capture detailed information for the printing of AIA billing applications and continuation sheets. 

Troubleshooting

This section covers common issues and how to fix them.

Project Invoice in Progress, Can’t Create AIA

When you receive this error, you will need to delete the pending Invoice.

Step-by-Step

  1. Open the Project

    1. P/A>Projects>Project Entry/Edit

  2. Open the Create Invoice Screen

    1. Go under Money Tab

    2. Click “Create Invoice” button

  3. Delete the pending Invoice

    1. Hit the Delete button at the top

P/A>Projects>Project Entry/Edit

Detail

This section covers fields and functions of the screen.

AIA Billing Summary Screen

 The first step is the billing summary screen. Here you will see a listing of all open AIA billings that have not yet been processed. You can either double click one of the unprocessed AIA's to edit and/or process it or click "New AIA" to create a new application. 
Note: AIA billing is cumulative so a project should only have one AIA bill open at a time. If one is open already it should be deleted or processed.

  • Project – This is the project that you are currently working on.

  • Application Period – The application period (Accounting Period) the application is for.

  • Invoice date – The date the invoice will be created with. This date can be changed but it must be within an open accounting period.

Note: Any change orders that were entered with a date AFTER the date range of the application period will not show in the application. 

  • Application Number – Applications are sequentially numbered and cumulative in nature. Amounts billed or stored in application one will be reflected on all future applications.

  •  Roll up Invoice Line Detail – Checking this box will show one total per AQ line number, leaving it unchecked will show the material, freight, install, and tax detail for each line.

  • CMA Edition – Checking the CMA edition box does just what the name implies, checking the box adds a Construction Managers Assignment line to the application so that a construction manager can sign off with the architect.

  • Allow Negative Total – Allows AIA with a negative Total to be processed, creating a Credit

  • Retainage Percent – Here you choose to apply a global retainage amount to the line items that are being selected for billing. You can override the retainage amount by line item if needed.

  • Percentage to Bill – This is an easy way to set a global billing amount for all line items. You can override this amount by line item basis also. It provides a quick way to set a default total to start with.

  • No Decimals in Retainage – checking this box will road the retainage amounts so they are calculated in full dollar amounts.

Note: After entering a percentage to bill you should press the calculate icon to have it apply to the line items. 

Materials Tab

The line item detail section of the AIA billing screen displays consists of several fields for each AQ line item with four tabs of information; Main, Freight, Install and Taxes. Also there are instruction check boxes at the end of each row that will allow you to quickly set line item billing status.
Note: By default accessory items are consolidated with the base item. If you prefer to bill accessories separately you should uncheck the "Consolidate AIA by Master Item" checkbox that is in the "AIA Billing" tab of the Project Entry/Edit screen. 

  • Scheduled Value - This is the amount stated on the original contract, this value should only be changed through a project change order.

  • Previous Work –Since AIA billings are cumulative any amount that has been billed in a previous AIA application will be accounted for in this box.

  • Completed - This is the amount of work you wish to bill in the Application.

  • Material Stored – You can enter a value here to bill the item as being stored but not yet completed. Amounts entered here are treated the same as amounts entered in the Completed field.

  • Total Completed – Total completed is a system calculated field made up of the Previous Work, Completed and Materials Stored.

  • Balance to finish – This is the scheduled value minus the total completed.

  • Retainage - Retainage is an amount (usually a percentage) that is held back from the billing. Retainage typically is closed out following completion of the project.

  • Chg # - This stands for change order number. Every change from the original contract should be entered as a change order.

  • "Bill" Check Box – Checking this checkbox will bill the item in full.

  • "Stored" Check Box – Checking this checkbox will move the "Balance to Finish" amount for the item to the "Materials Stored" field.

  • "Frt" Check Box – Checking this checkbox will bill any freight for the item.

  • "Inst" Check Box – Checking this checkbox will bill any install for the item.

  • "OvRet" Check Box – This checkbox will lock the retainage amounts entered for the line so that if you change the global retainage percent TRX will not re-calculate the retainage for the line.

Create AIA Bill > Freight Tab

Create AIA Bill > Install Tab

Create AIA Bill > Taxes Tab

The Freight, Install and Taxes tabs have the same functionality as the main tab. 
Note: Even though we provide for taking retainage on tax it is not advisable to do so as tax is a liability that you owe and will have to come out of your pocket.