Setting up contractor billing schedules and payment reminders

Paying contractors on time depends on three dates lining up: when the work period ends, when you stop accepting changes for it, and when payment is due. When those dates live in someone's head or a calendar reminder, payments slip and contractors chase.

This guide explains how to set a billing schedule, how to handle contractors who are paid differently, and how JN Tempo uses schedules to prepare billing and remind your admins.

The three dates in a schedule

• Work period. The weeks or months the work is grouped into. Weekly periods start on the same day each week; monthly periods are usually calendar months.
• Cutoff. The point after the period ends when billing for it closes, such as two days after the period ends at 5pm. It gives contractors time to submit and managers time to approve.
• Payment due date. When the contractor should be paid, either a number of days after the cutoff or a fixed day of the following month.

Write the schedule down and share it with contractors and managers. A schedule only works if everyone knows the dates.

A worked example: weekly

Say the work week runs Monday to Sunday, the cutoff is 2 days after the period ends at 17:00, and payment is due 5 days after the cutoff.

• Work period: Monday 5 October to Sunday 11 October.
• Cutoff: Tuesday 13 October at 17:00.
• Payment due: Sunday 18 October.

Contractors submit by Monday, managers approve by Tuesday afternoon, and finance prepares the billing run on Wednesday.

A worked example: monthly

For a calendar-month schedule with a cutoff 3 days after the month ends and payment on the 15th of the following month:

• Work period: 1 to 30 September.
• Cutoff: 3 October.
• Payment due: 15 October.

If you choose a day that some months don't have, such as the 31st, use the last day of shorter months.

Handling exceptions

Most organisations have a default schedule and a few exceptions: a contractor paid monthly while everyone else is weekly, or a client whose placements close earlier. Rather than running a separate process for each, set a default and override it only where needed. Keep the number of exceptions small; every override is another set of dates to remember.

Timezones

A cutoff of "Tuesday at 17:00" means different moments in different places. Set the schedule in the timezone your finance team works in, and say which timezone it is when you share the dates.

How it works in JN Tempo

In JN Tempo, admins set schedules on the Schedules tab of Finance → Contractor billing:

1. Set your organisation's default schedule: weekly (choosing the day the week starts) or monthly, the cutoff in days after the period ends and the cutoff time, the due-date rule and the timezone.
2. Add a contractor override or a placement override where someone is paid differently. A placement override wins over a contractor override, which wins over the default.
3. Turn reminders on and choose how many days before the due date, and at what time, they're sent.

When a reminder is due, every active admin in your organisation gets one email for that period. It contains counts and totals only: the work period, cutoff and due date, how many approved timesheets aren't yet in a billing run and their totals by currency, how many are already in a run, and how many are still waiting for approval. A reminder is never sent twice for the same period.

Preparing the billing run

After the cutoff, choose Generate billing and pick the period. JN Tempo previews every approved timesheet whose work period starts in those dates and that isn't already in a current billing run, valued at the rate recorded when it was approved. Draft, submitted and rejected timesheets are listed separately as not included, with the reason. Nothing is saved until you confirm.

Once saved, the run can be exported to Excel, PDF or a Xero bill import file. See preparing exports for which file to use when. Work in a current run can't be billed again; to change a run, adjust it, and JN Tempo keeps the previous version.

Recording payments

After your organisation has paid, an admin can record the payment status and a reference against each line. JN Tempo records who entered it and when. It doesn't check payments with a bank.

What JN Tempo doesn't do

JN Tempo doesn't add VAT or other taxes, convert currencies or decide anyone's IR35 or employment status. Amounts in different currencies are always totalled separately.

Contractor billing preparation is included in every JN Tempo plan. See pricing for details.