In environments where high volumes of invoices are produced, an organization periodically generates bills to send to their customers.

The bills contain a consolidation of invoices, credit notes, and payments that have occurred since the previous billing. You can print a bill in summary form with one line per invoice or in full with item line details. The bill also contains a balance carried forward (opening balance from previous bill, activity current period, new closing balance to be carried forward to the next bill). Customers make payments with reference to bills, rather than to individual invoices.

Bills also have their own due date, based on the billing date and specific terms for bills. Bills do not replace normal invoicing, which still takes place as usual. Sales revenue and tax postings are posted during the invoice posting. However, billing enables you to group these invoices on a periodic basis in a formal bill document and send them to the customer. The bill document is an invitation to pay and its credit terms override those of the originating invoices. The original invoices remain open; the billing document is not a replacement AR. However, the billing document is to be paid as a single payment with a single payment reference.

The billing solution requirements exist formally in Japan and Thailand but billing is useful in any situation where regular customer statements with a balance carried forward are needed.