Invoice data entry for bookkeepers: set up the client workflow
Give each client a clear document intake route and assign a bookkeeper to maintain its coding rules. Capture the invoice detail, apply saved decisions and review exceptions before export. If the client needs to approve purchases, give that decision its own workflow rather than treating it as the bookkeeper’s coding check.
Who should maintain the rules?
Choose a person who understands the client’s accounts and tax treatment. Assistants need a clear way to raise exceptions rather than saving a new default whenever something looks different.
Agree who does what for one client
Before changing software, choose one client and write down the handoffs. A business owner may know whether goods arrived. An assistant may prepare the invoice. A senior bookkeeper may decide its accounting treatment. Those are different responsibilities, even when one person holds more than one role.
| Responsibility | Decision to make |
|---|---|
| Document collection | Who asks for missing invoices and checks stopped emails? |
| Preparation | Who checks supplier, date, number, amounts and source pages? |
| Coding rules | Who decides which account, tax code and tracking fields should repeat? |
| Purchase approval | Who confirms that the business accepts the bill? |
| Export review | Who checks exceptions and the resulting accounting record? |
This table is a suggested team process, not a list of Datamolino permission roles. Configure access to match the responsibilities you agree.
Set up a route the client will actually use
Ask suppliers to copy the client's Datamolino folder address, or have the client forward invoices. The email import guide explains the dedicated Purchases and Sales addresses. A new sender may be held in Stopped Emails, so somebody must monitor that queue.
Keep original digital PDFs when available. For paper, agree how to scan or photograph the complete document. If the client sends a batch containing several invoices, set the splitting mode and check the first batch together. A two-page bill should remain one bill.
Save the decisions that should repeat
Use a recurring supplier as the first example. A supplier default can provide the usual account and tax treatment. Detailed invoices can use saved line-description coding. Datamolino repeats the last exported coding when the same full description appears for the same supplier.
Suppose a client receives a monthly invoice with a line called Monthly support. Once reviewed and exported, the same description can reuse its coding. A line called Onsite support September has a changing description. If the accounting treatment should stay the same, a configured keyword rule can match the stable wording. See how line automation works.
Use the client's actual chart of accounts. A rule that works for one client may be wrong for another client buying the same service. Saved rules repeat decisions; they do not decide whether the business circumstances still justify them.
Make an exception routine
Agree which cases the assistant escalates: a new supplier, a changed purchase type, an unexpected tax amount or a line whose description no longer matches. Keep a short explanation with the team's decision so the next reviewer does not have to reconstruct it.
For long invoices, Fullscreen lets a reviewer select several lines and apply common coding together. The line-total check compares the coded lines with the captured invoice summary. With validation enabled, a mismatch blocks export until it is resolved. See the line editor instructions for editable states and validation settings.
Separate client approval from accounting review
The client may be able to confirm that a subcontractor completed the work without knowing the correct ledger account. The bookkeeper may know the accounting treatment without knowing whether the work was delivered. Use invoice approvals when the client needs to make that purchase decision.
During setup, agree what evidence the approver needs, who handles a rejected bill and when the bookkeeper can change coding. Do not use the word “approved” as a substitute for all of those checks.
Test the result in the client's ledger
Export a small representative set and open the records in the connected accounting system. Check the document number, dates, tax treatment, line grouping, accounts and any required tracking. Confirm that the source document is available with the exported record. Review the specific Xero, QuickBooks Online or FreeAgent connection; fields and document paths are not identical across them.
Keep line-item plan eligibility separate from user access. A plan must include line-item extraction for those rows and their automation to be available.
Roll out after the team handles an exception
Choose the next client when the first client's routine invoices and exceptions both have an owner. Keep a brief setup record covering intake address, required detail, recurring rules, approval responsibilities and export checks. Use the cost worksheet to compare the work before and after setup without turning every released hour into a cash-saving claim.
Should every client use the same settings?
No. Set the level of invoice detail, coding rules and approval responsibilities for the work each client needs. Test the destination accounting record before repeating the setup.
