Milestone accounting

When your organisation is connected to Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks Online, each milestone creates a bill in that accounting system at the sync point you chose: when the milestone is approved, or when its contract is executed. The milestone's page shows how that bill is going in its Accounting section, under the milestone's key facts.

The section appears only while an accounting system is connected, and only to administrators. Applicants never see it, in the portal or anywhere else. Labels that name Milestone and Contract use your organisation's own term if you've renamed it.

What each status means

Status	What it means
Not synced	No bill has been created yet. The milestone hasn't reached its sync point, or the sync is still running.
Bill created in <provider>	The bill exists in your accounting system. Select View in <provider> to open it in a new tab.
Sync failed	Your accounting system refused the bill. The error it gave is shown underneath, with Retry sync.
Exempt from accounting sync	The milestone is exempt, so no bill is created for it and no sync error email is sent.
Paid in <provider>	The bill has been paid in your accounting system.

If your sync point is when the contract is executed and the contract isn't executed yet, the section says "Waiting for the Contract to be executed."

Open the bill

Once a bill exists, select View in Xero, View in MYOB or View in QuickBooks. The bill opens in your accounting system in a new browser tab. You need to be signed in to that system to see it.

Retry a failed sync

Retry sync is offered on every failed milestone, whichever accounting system you use. You need the Can access Manage Milestones permission with Full Access.

1. Fix the cause in your accounting system first. The error text says what it refused.
2. Select Retry sync.
3. Check the Bill date. It starts on the date the bill would normally carry. If the first attempt failed because the date is in a locked period, choose a date after the lock date.
4. Select Retry sync in the dialog.

The retry is queued and the status changes once it finishes. See Accounting sync errors for the common errors and how to resolve them.

Check for a payment now (MYOB)

Each night Backed reads the payments recorded in MYOB against its bills. When a bill has just been paid in MYOB and you don't want to wait for that, select Force payment sync on the milestone.

The button appears only when your organisation is connected to MYOB, the milestone's bill has been created, and nothing is already syncing for it. You need the Can access Manage Milestones permission with Full Access.

While Backed asks MYOB, the section says "Checking MYOB…". Then it shows one of these:

Result	What it means
"Payment recorded"	MYOB has a payment for the bill. Backed records it on the milestone at once, marks it paid and sends the usual payment notification.
"No new payments found"	MYOB has no payment that Backed hasn't already recorded. Nothing is added, so selecting the button again never records the same payment twice.
"The check with MYOB did not finish."	MYOB couldn't be reached or refused the request. Try again, or see Integration logs for what went wrong.

The result stays on the milestone until the next check. The nightly payment check still runs as usual whether or not you use the button.

Exempt a milestone

To stop a milestone from ever creating a bill, tick Exempt from Xero syncing (or Exempt from accounting sync under MYOB and QuickBooks Online). An exempt milestone is never billed and sends no sync error email.

The checkbox is shown only while an accounting system is connected and before a bill exists. Once a bill has been created, the exemption can't change: void or adjust the bill in your accounting system instead.

Undoing an approval

If you select Undo Approval on a milestone that already has a bill, the bill isn't changed. The section says "The bill in <provider> was not changed. Void or adjust it there if needed." If the milestone is approved again, the same bill is updated rather than a second one created.