Client AP Automation

Client AP Automation adds a Bill Approvals page to the portal (when your firm turns on AP Automation) where clients upload bills, submit expenses, Approve drafts, and read AI Payment Guidance, using the same payables records the firm works in.

Key capabilities

• Bill Approvals page in the Money section, shown only when the firm enables AP Automation
• Two views: All Bills and Payment Guidance
• Summary cards: Outstanding, Overdue, Needs Review, and Due This Week
• Status filter: All Bills, Needs Review, Approved, Overdue, Paid, plus search by vendor, bill number, description, or amount
• Upload Bill (PDF, PNG, JPG) and Submit Expense intake for AI extraction into draft bills
• Approve on draft bills (with a confirmation showing the amount and due date), moving them to Approved
• Bill Details slide-over with vendor, amount, balance, due date, status, bill number, description, and the source document
• View or download the attached document for any bill that has one
• AI Payment Guidance that buckets bills into Pay Immediately, Pay Soon, Schedule, and Can Defer with plain-English reasoning
• Contract-match flags (Over Contract / Needs Review) on guidance items
• Overdue rows highlighted

How it works

A bill enters the queue by upload, expense submission, or a forwarded invoice email, and AI extracts the vendor, amounts, and line items into a draft. The client (or firm) reviews and approves it; the approved bill continues through the firm's AP process toward payment.

flowchart TD
  intake["Upload / Submit Expense / forwarded email"] --> ai["AI extraction"]
  ai --> draft["Draft bill (Needs Review)"]
  draft --> approve{"Approve?"}
  approve -->|"Yes"| approved["Approved"]
  approve -->|"Not yet"| draft
  approved --> pay["Firm AP process -> payment"]
  guidance["Payment Guidance"] --> draft

How to use it

1. Open Bill Approvals in the portal sidebar (Money section). It appears only if your firm enabled AP Automation.
2. On All Bills, scan the summary cards and use the status filter (Needs Review, Approved, Overdue, Paid) to focus the list.
3. Click Upload Bill to add a PDF, PNG, or JPG, or Submit Expense to use the guided expense form. AI drafts the bill and your advisor reviews it.
4. For a bill marked Needs Review, click Approve and confirm. Your advisor then schedules the payment. Click any row to see details and the source document.
5. Switch to Payment Guidance to see bills grouped by urgency with reasoning and contract-match flags.

Pro tips

• Firm-side: turn on the Client Bills Page switch under AP Automation in Settings > Client Access for clients who receive lots of vendor invoices; it offloads intake and first-pass approval while you keep final control.
• Firm-side: keep vendor contracts current so the Over Contract and Needs Review flags are meaningful rather than noise.
• Client-side: you do not need accounting knowledge. Uploading an invoice is enough; AI does the data entry.
• Client-side: work Needs Review first; those drafts are waiting on a person before they can move toward payment.
• Client-side: use Payment Guidance to decide what to pay now versus defer.

In-depth guide

What the client can see vs. do

Bill statuses

A row is also tagged Overdue when its due date has passed and it is not paid or cancelled. The Approved filter includes Approved and Awaiting Payment; the Paid filter shows only Paid, not Paid (Manual).

Payment Guidance buckets

Each item shows the balance, due date, a reasoning line, and a badge when the bill is Over Contract or Needs Review. The guidance view has its own cards: Outstanding, Overdue, Due This Week, and Total Bills.

Access control

• Sidebar: the Bill Approvals entry appears only when the firm turns on AP Automation. When it is off, clients see bills read-only on the Payables tab of Invoices & Bills.
• Edit access: uploading, submitting, and approving change records, so they need more than the view-only access a standard client portal account has. Without it the portal shows a permission error; ask your firm to adjust your access.
• Firm oversight: client approvals appear in the firm's AP workspace immediately; tiered routing and thresholds stay with the firm's AP Approval Workflow.

Edge cases

• No business selected: the page shows "No business selected."
• No bills: the list shows "No bills yet."
• Many bills: the list loads 100 at a time with a load-more control and a count of bills shown.
• No guidance: Payment Guidance shows "No recommendations available."