Help Center

Appearance

Bills, Recurring Bills & Charges at Project Creation ​

Define a project's billing arrangement at the moment you create it, instead of coming back to set it up afterwards.

🎥 Video Tutorial ​

A walkthrough of the Billing section on project creation - adding a bill from a template, setting up a recurring bill, copying an existing charge, and what gets generated when you save.

Overview ​

When a project's billing structure is known up front - a pre-agreed retainer, a fixed fee, an upfront deposit, an annual licence fee - you no longer have to create the project first and set the billing up as a second job. The project creation screen now has a Billing section where you can define Bills, Recurring Bills, and Charges directly, and Hidma generates them all when you save the project.

This is particularly effective for fixed fee and upfront billing arrangements, where the fee is agreed before any work starts. Combined with Recurring Projects, it means a predictable engagement can be set up - project, jobs, team, budget, and billing - in a single pass.

The Billing section is available for both single client and multiple client (batch) project creation, and works whether or not the project recurs.

Where to Find It ​

Create a project as normal, fill in the project details, then scroll down to the Billing section. Beneath the existing Billing Type field you'll find three actions:

  • + Add Bill
  • + Add Recurring Bill
  • + Add Charge

Each opens a pull-out panel on the right-hand side of the screen.

Adding a Bill ​

Click + Add Bill to open the Adding a Bill panel.

Step 1 - Configure the bill:

  • Bill Template - "Optional template available to base your bill on". Selecting one pre-fills everything below it and pre-builds the entire bill preview
  • Bill Theme Template - the document theme controlling the invoice layout
  • Organisation Name - the organisation issuing the bill
  • Currency
  • Invoice Date and Due Date
  • Set the bill as - Draft or Outstanding

Click Go to Preview.

Step 2 - Review and adjust the preview:

The preview shows the bill exactly as it will be generated. If you started from a Bill Template it arrives fully populated. You can still edit any row's title, tax rate, or amount, and click Add Row to append items the template didn't cover.

Click Save changes to attach the bill to the project.

Use a template

If you issue broadly the same bill across multiple engagements, save it as a Bill Template first. The template carries the theme, organisation, currency, and every row, so the preview is pre-configured the moment you select it - which is where most of the time saving comes from.

Adding a Recurring Bill ​

Click + Add Recurring Bill to open the Adding a Recurring Bill panel. This is the same setup as a standard Recurring Bill, configured in place:

  • Recurring Bill Template - optional, and recommended for the same reason as bill templates
  • Start Date, Due Date, and Bill Period
  • Recurrence - including Custom recurrence (interval, frequency, By Days / By Dates, and an Ends condition of Never / On / After a number of occurrences)
  • When due, automatically set created bills as - including Submit To Xero and Approve In Xero if the Xero integration is connected
  • The bill preview, with Add Row and full support for smart placeholders such as [Year - 1]

Click Save changes when the setup is right.

Back-dated start dates

If you set a start date in the past, Hidma warns you: "You have chosen a start date which is in the past. This might trigger the creation of bills which are back-dated." This is the same behaviour as back-dated recurring bills.

Adding a Charge ​

Click + Add Charge to open the Adding a Charge panel.

There are no templates for charges, but you can copy an existing charge using the icon at the end of the Title field - pick any charge already set up in your tenant (a monthly retainer charge, a licence fee) and Hidma models the new charge on it. From there, adjust anything you need:

  • Title - supports placeholder and template text
  • Type - Charge, Discount, Disbursement, Deposit, and so on
  • Project - defaults to the project you're creating
  • Amount and Tax
  • Account - the revenue account used when mapping to Xero
  • Description

If you copied a recurring charge and don't want this one to repeat, simply switch the recurrence off before adding it. Click Add Charge to attach it.

The Billing List ​

Every bill, recurring bill, and charge you add appears in a table inside the Billing section, showing Name, Date, Type, Recurrence, Up-coming, Status, and Total. Recurring items display their schedule as a chip (for example "Every Month On The 9th For 1 Time").

Until you save the project, you can freely edit any item with the pencil icon, remove it with the bin icon, or keep adding more.

What Happens When You Save ​

Clicking Save Changes creates the project and everything attached to it in one action. On the resulting project dashboard you'll see:

  • Bills - the draft (or outstanding) bill you configured
  • The Recurring Bill Setup, plus the first Instance of that setup, already generated
  • Charges & Discounts - the charge you added

In other words, the entire billing arrangement is live from day one, with no follow-up setup required.

Editing Preset Billing Later ​

When you edit a project that was created with preset bills or charges, you can still work with those items from the project's Billing section - but what you can change depends on what the item has become:

ItemCan you still change it?
A draft billYes - open and edit it as normal
A Recurring Bill SetupYes - the entry is a shortcut through to the setup, and changes apply to future instances
An already-generated billNo - generated bills are real bills and follow the normal bill editing rules
A chargeYes - until it has been allocated to a bill

Common Scenarios ​

Scenario: Pre-Agreed Annual Retainer ​

Situation: A client has signed a €12,000 annual retainer billed monthly, starting next month.

Solution: Create the project, and in the Billing section click + Add Recurring Bill. Apply your "Monthly Retainer" recurring bill template, set the recurrence to monthly starting the 1st of next month with Ends: Never, target status Outstanding, and a €1,000 row. Save. The retainer bills itself from then on.

Scenario: Fixed Fee with an Upfront Deposit ​

Situation: A fixed-fee engagement where 50% is invoiced on engagement and the balance on completion.

Solution: On project creation, + Add Bill for the 50% deposit set as Outstanding with today's invoice date. Leave the balance to be billed manually when the work completes. The deposit invoice exists the moment the project does.

Scenario: Standard Disbursement on Every New Engagement ​

Situation: Every new engagement of a certain type carries a €500 licence fee disbursement.

Solution: On project creation, + Add Charge, copy your existing "Licence fee" charge, confirm the amount and account, and add it. The disbursement is sitting on the project ready to be pulled onto the first bill.

Need Help?

If the Billing section doesn't appear when you create a project, ask your administrator to review your billing permissions.

Hidma Help Center

Copyright © 2025 Hidma