Recurring Bills

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What Recurring Bills Do

A recurring bill template tells Arcus when to create future vendor bills, who the vendor is, which GL accounts should be used, and what amount should be generated each time. Generated bills then move through the normal AP workflow.

• Templates can run weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually.
• Each template needs a vendor, next bill date, frequency, and at least one positive line item.
• Generated bills can still require approval before they are posted or paid.
• Templates can be paused, resumed, edited, manually run, or deactivated.
• Existing generated bills remain in AP even if the template is later deactivated.

Open it at Finance > Payables > Recurring Bills, or search for Recurring Bills in the command palette. A link that ends in a template’s id opens that template’s edit window directly.

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Before You Start

• You need the View Accounting permission to open the screen, see the list and read a template’s run history.
• Creating, editing, deactivating and reactivating templates needs Post Journal Entries.
• Run now and Run All Due need Run Recurring Bills. Accountants and managers have it by default; staff, warehouse and sales roles do not. The buttons are shown to everyone who can open the screen, so without the permission the request is refused when you click.
• The vendor must exist, and each line needs a GL account that accepts vendor bill expense lines.

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What You See on the List

Each row shows the template Name (with its description), Vendor, Amount, Frequency, Next Run, Last Run and Status. Filter with All, Active and Inactive, which show counts. Chips under the name tell you what is special about a template:

• Ends a date, or Ended a date once it has passed.
• Paused through a date while a pause window is in force.
• Split: n GL when the template splits each bill across several GL accounts.
• Last run failed when the latest run errored. Hover it for the reason and click it to open the run history.
• (overdue) beside Next Run when the next bill date is in the past.

When there are no templates the page offers Create First Template. When every template is inactive a banner says All recurring bill templates are currently inactive. No bills will be auto-generated until at least one template is reactivated.

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When to Use a Template

• Use a template when the vendor, amount, and accounting treatment are predictable.
• Use a normal AP bill when the charge is one time, uncertain, or needs detailed invoice review first.
• Use a PO-linked bill when the charge should be matched to received purchasing activity.
• Use vendor credits when the vendor owes you money back instead of sending a new bill.

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Create or Edit a Template

1. Open Finance > Payables > Recurring Bills.
2. Click New Recurring Bill, or use the Edit row action to change an existing template.
3. Enter a clear template name.
4. Select the vendor.
5. Add an optional description for AP review.
6. Choose the frequency and next bill date.
7. Select payment terms when the template should override the vendor default (the default option is (use vendor default)).
8. Add one or more line items with GL account, description, and amount. Add Line adds a row and the remove button deletes one, but the last line cannot be removed.
9. Click Create Template or Save Changes. Arcus confirms with Template created or Template updated.

The save button stays disabled until the template is valid, and its tooltip says what is wrong. The line items must net to more than zero:

• Add at least one line with a non-zero amount.
• Line 2: a negative (credit) line must name the GL account it credits.
• This template nets to 0.00. A document the vendor owes you is a vendor credit, not a recurring bill.

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Choose the Schedule

The next bill date is the next date Arcus considers the template due. After a successful run, Arcus advances the schedule based on the frequency.

• Weekly: use for bills that repeat every week.
• Monthly: use for rent, subscriptions, retainers, and routine monthly services.
• Quarterly: use for premiums, fees, or reporting-driven vendor charges.
• Annually: use for yearly licenses, memberships, or renewals.
• End Date: stops future generation after the final allowed date. It must be on or after the next bill date (End date must be on or after the next bill date.).

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Pause and Allocate

Pause windows let you temporarily skip generation without deleting the template. GL allocation controls whether generated lines keep their line-level GL accounts or split each run across multiple GL accounts.

• Pause Windows: add a start date, end date, and reason when a template should not run during a known period.
• Fixed allocation: uses the GL account selected on each line item.
• Percent of total: splits generated bill lines across selected GL accounts.
• 100 percent total: percent allocations must add up to 100 before the template can be saved.

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Advanced Options

Advanced scheduling controls are useful when the bill date, effective date, or notification behavior needs to differ from the next run date.

• Bill date offset: adjusts the bill date relative to the scheduled run date, by up to 60 days earlier or later.
• Effective date offset: adjusts the accounting effective date relative to the bill date, by up to 60 days earlier or later.
• Day of month: keeps monthly-style schedules tied to a chosen calendar day.
• Email on generate: sends a notice when a bill is generated. It needs at least one valid recipient (Add at least one valid email recipient.).
• Attachments: saves supporting files on the template for future generated bills.

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Which Date the Bill Posts On

A generated bill posts to the general ledger on its effective date when that date is inside your company’s posting window (Settings > System > Fiscal Year), in an open period and in an unlocked tax year. When nobody is there to answer, so a scheduled run or a Run All Due, a date outside the window or in a closed period does not stop the bill: it posts to the ledger on today’s date instead, and the bill’s activity history records the date that was asked for and why it moved. The notification email says the same in a line that starts Posted to the ledger on. Review those bills in AP Bills and re-date them if the books should show another day. Bill Dates and GL Posting explains the posting window and how to move a posted bill’s date.

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Run One Template Now

Use Run now when one template should generate a vendor bill immediately. Arcus shows the amount and the next scheduled run date before you confirm. Only active templates have the action.

1. Find the active template row.
2. Click the Run now action.
3. Review the vendor, amount, and schedule message: Next scheduled run will advance from the current date to the following one.
4. Click Run Now only when the bill should be created.
5. Arcus says Bill created from and the template’s name. Review the generated bill in AP Bills before payment.

If the bill total is above your AP approval threshold the bill is saved as pending approval instead of posted. A template whose end date has passed or whose pause window is in force creates nothing; the run history records it as expired or paused. If the run fails, the message says why, and a temporary failure offers a retry. A failure also puts a Last run failed chip on the row.

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Run All Due Templates

Run All Due starts with a preview. The preview shows how many templates are due, how many will create bills, and how many are paused or expired.

1. Click Run All Due.
2. Review the preview counts.
3. Confirm that paused and expired templates are expected to be skipped.
4. Click Run Now only when the due bills should be created.
5. Use the completion summary (Batch Run Complete) to open any generated bills. Arcus says Created and the count of bills, or No templates due today, or No bills created (all skipped).

When every due template is paused or expired the preview says Nothing to do. All due templates are either paused or expired.

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Reactivate Templates

A deactivated template can be turned back on with the Reactivate row action (Template reactivated). Reactivate All turns on every inactive template whose next bill date is in the future. Its confirmation says how many it will reactivate and how many it will skip because their next bill date has passed; update those dates first. After a bulk run Arcus shows a warning that names the number of templates skipped because their next bill date is in the past and says to update the date first, or No inactive templates to reactivate.

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View Run History

Run History shows recent scheduled, manual, and batch runs for the selected template. Use it to confirm whether a bill was created, skipped, or blocked.

• Created: a vendor bill was generated and can be opened from the history row.
• Paused: the template was due, but a pause window skipped it.
• Expired: the template reached its end date.
• Duplicate: a run was skipped to avoid creating the same bill twice for the same date.
• Error: review the message and correct the template or related setup before running again.

With no runs yet the drawer says Runs appear here after the scheduler or a manual run fires.

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Deactivate a Template

Deactivate a template when it should stop generating future bills. Deactivation does not remove vendor bills already created from that template.

1. Find the active template row.
2. Click the Deactivate action.
3. Read the confirmation message.
4. Click Deactivate when the template should stop running. Arcus confirms with the template’s name followed by deactivated.

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Common Blocks

• Create Template is disabled: add a name, vendor, frequency, next bill date, and positive line item total; the tooltip names the first problem.
• Vendor is missing: confirm the account exists as an active vendor.
• GL account cannot be selected: choose a posting account allowed for AP expense lines.
• End date is rejected: the end date must be on or after the next bill date.
• Pause window is rejected: each pause window needs a start date and end date, and the end cannot be before the start.
• Allocation is rejected: percent allocation needs selected GL accounts and a 100 percent total.
• Email notification is rejected: add at least one valid recipient when Email on generate is enabled.
• Run All Due is disabled: no due templates are available to create after paused and expired templates are skipped.
• Template is not active: Run now only works on an active template. Reactivate it first.
• Failed to save, Failed to update or Failed to deactivate: the message that follows says why, for example that a GL account is not postable or that a payment term does not exist.
• Allocations must sum to 100% before saving.: adjust the percentages until they total exactly 100.
• Failed to load recurring bills: use Retry.
• Generated bill cannot be paid: review AP approval, posting status, payment setup, credits, bank account, and accounting period locks.

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What Arcus Updates

• Each generated bill is a normal vendor bill: it posts to the general ledger (or waits for approval), moves AP aging and, where the bill is tied to stock, can reprice it.
• The template’s next bill date advances by its frequency after each run, whether the run was scheduled or manual.
• Every run, skipped or failed included, is written to the run history, and creating, editing, deactivating, reactivating and running a template are recorded in the activity history.
• When Email on generate is on, the recipients get an email for each bill generated.
• Other users on the screen see the list refresh.

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