Finance Settings

Summary

The Finance settings area lets you configure how Torqueflow handles invoicing, labour charging, nominal codes, payment methods, and disposal fees. All finance settings live under Settings > Finance and are organised into tabs: Nominal Codes, Payment Methods, Invoice Settings, Invoice Template, Labour & Time, and Disposal Fees. (Quoting settings appear as a section within Invoice Settings.)

Prerequisites

• You are signed in as a user with the settings.access, finance.codes.manage, finance.methods.manage, or finance.settings.manage capability (typically the Owner role).
• Your organisation has been set up in Torqueflow.

Steps

Navigating to Finance Settings

1. Click Settings in the main navigation.
2. Click Finance. You land on the Nominal Codes tab by default.
3. Use the tab bar at the top to switch between: Nominal Codes, Payment Methods, Invoice Settings, Invoice Template, and Labour & Time.

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A. Nominal Codes

Nominal codes are your chart of accounts for financial tracking. Each code has a numeric code, name, category, and active/inactive status.

Viewing codes

1. The table shows all nominal codes grouped by category.
2. Columns displayed: Code, Name, Category, Status, Actions.
3. Use the Filter by category dropdown to filter by: Sales, Cost of Sales, Overheads, Staff Costs, or Other.
4. Toggle Show inactive to reveal deactivated codes.
5. System codes display a lock icon and cannot be deleted.

Adding a code

1. Click Add Code (top right of the table toolbar).
2. Fill in the code details in the dialog that appears.
3. Click Save.

Editing or deactivating a code

1. Click the … menu on the code row.
2. Select Edit to modify the code, Deactivate to hide it from selections, or Activate to restore it.
3. Select Delete to permanently remove a non-system code.

Importing codes from CSV

1. Click Import in the toolbar.
2. Upload a CSV file following the required format.
3. Confirm the import.

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B. Payment Methods

Payment methods define how customers pay you (sales) and how you pay suppliers (purchases). They are split into two tabs.

Viewing methods

1. Click the Payment Methods tab.
2. Two sub-tabs appear: Sales Methods and Purchase Methods. Each shows a count of active methods.
3. Toggle Show inactive to reveal deactivated methods.
4. Methods can be reordered by dragging them up or down.

Adding a method

1. Click Add Method.
2. Enter the method name and details in the dialog.
3. Click Save.

Setting a default method

1. A badge marks the current default method.
2. To change the default, use the action menu on the desired method and select the appropriate option.

Editing, deactivating, or deleting a method

1. Use the action menu on each method row.
2. System methods show a lock icon and cannot be deleted.

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C. Invoice Settings

Invoice settings control default values applied to new invoices.

1. Click the Invoice Settings tab.
2. Configure the following fields:

Field	Description	Default
Default Payment Terms (Days)	Days until invoice is due. Set to 0 for “Due on Receipt”. Common values: 0, 7, 14, 30.	0
Default VAT Rate (%)	UK standard rate is 20%. Use 0 for VAT-exempt items.	20
Sales Invoice Prefix	Prefix for sales invoice numbers (e.g. INV-, SI).	INV-
Purchase Invoice Prefix	Prefix for the auto-assigned internal purchase invoice reference (e.g. PI-, PO).	PI-
Next Sales Invoice Number	The number used for the next sales invoice. A preview shows the full formatted number.	1
Next Purchase Invoice Number	The number used for the next auto-assigned internal PI reference. A preview shows the full formatted number (e.g. PI-00001).	1

3. Click Save Settings.

Invoice PDF Copies (dual-copy toggle)

Beneath the numbering fields, a section called Invoice PDF Copies controls whether staff downloads of invoice PDFs produce one or two copies.

Field	Description	Default
Generate dual copies when staff download an invoice PDF	When on, staff Download PDF and Print actions produce a two-page PDF with one copy badged “CUSTOMER COPY” and one badged “OFFICE COPY”.	Off
Customer copy label	Wording on the customer copy badge. Up to 40 characters.	”CUSTOMER COPY”
Office copy label	Wording on the office copy badge. Up to 40 characters.	”OFFICE COPY”

A live preview shows what the badge will look like.

When the toggle is off, the labels stay editable but greyed out, so you can re-enable later without re-typing.

Customer-facing PDF paths (the customer portal, the email-an-invoice button) always send a single-copy PDF regardless of this toggle. The dual copy is staff-side only.

Quoting

Below the dual-copy section, configure standalone-quote defaults:

Field	Description	Default
Quote prefix	Prefix for standalone quote numbers (e.g. Q-, QT-).	Q-
Next quote number	The number used for the next standalone quote.	1
Default expiry days	How many days from issue a new standalone quote expires by default.	30

See Building and sending standalone quotes.

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D. Invoice Template

The invoice template controls the content printed on invoice PDFs.

1. Click the Invoice Template tab.
2. Three card sections appear:

Company Address

• Address Line 1 - your trading address (e.g. 123 High Street).
• Address Line 2 - optional second line (e.g. Industrial Estate).
• City - your city or town.
• Postcode - your postcode.

Bank Details

• Account Name - the name on your bank account (e.g. Smith Motors Ltd).
• Sort Code - your bank sort code (e.g. 12-34-56).
• Account Number - your bank account number (e.g. 12345678).

Footer and Payment Terms

• Payment Instructions - text that appears above the bank details section on the invoice (e.g. “Payment is due within 30 days of invoice date. Please reference the invoice number when making payment.”).
• Footer Message - a short message at the very bottom of the invoice (e.g. “Thank you for your business”).

1. Click Save Template when done.

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E. Labour & Time

The Labour & Time tab consolidates three areas into sub-tabs: Labour Rates, Charging, and Labour Codes.

Labour Rates tab

1. Click the Labour Rates sub-tab.
2. Configure your hourly/unit labour rates. Each rate can be linked to a labour code.
3. Each rate also has an optional VAT Rate Override (%) field. Use this to force a specific VAT rate on quotes that use this rate — for example, set to 0 for a zero-rated MOT labour rate. Leave blank to inherit from the linked labour code, or fall back to the organisation’s default VAT rate if no code is linked.
4. The Labour Rates table now shows a VAT % column with the effective rate. An “Override” badge appears on rates where the override is set.
5. Rates of £0/hr are permitted (useful for goodwill or warranty work).
6. Rates are sorted alphabetically.

The VAT cascade when a quote is converted to an invoice is:

7. The rate’s VAT Rate Override, if set (including 0).
8. Else the linked Labour Code’s taxable and vat_rate.
9. Else the organisation’s default VAT rate.

A manual edit on the invoice line takes precedence after the line is created.

Charging tab

Configure how labour time is measured and billed.

1. Click the Charging sub-tab.
2. Set the following:

Field	Options	Description
Charge Method	Units / Minutes	How time appears on invoices. Units is typical for UK garages.
Minutes per Unit	1-480 (default 60)	Only shown when charge method is Units. How many minutes equal 1 unit.
Minimum Increment	Units: 0.25, 0.5, 1.0. Minutes: 6, 12, 15, 30, 60.	Smallest billable time increment.
Rounding Behaviour	Round Up (garage-friendly) / Round Down (customer-friendly) / Round to Nearest	How partial increments are handled.

3. The form shows a live example calculation (e.g. “If a technician logs 35 minutes… the billable time would be X units”).
4. The current Default Labour Rate per Unit is displayed for reference.
5. Click Save Settings.

Labour Codes tab

Labour codes categorise work on invoices (e.g. LAB for general labour, DIAG for diagnostics).

1. Click the Labour Codes sub-tab.
2. The table shows columns: Order, Code, Name, Default, Actions.
3. Active and inactive codes are listed in separate sections.

Adding a code: 4. Click Add Labour Code. 5. Enter:

• Code abbreviation (e.g. MOT4).
• Name (e.g. MOT Class 4).
• Rate type — toggle between Hourly and Fixed. The price label changes between “Rate per Hour” and “Selling Price” accordingly.
• Price — the hourly rate (e.g. £85) or the flat selling price (e.g. £129).
• Duration hours — informational only, used for scheduling estimates.
• Taxable toggle — turn off for VAT-exempt labour (e.g. statutory MOT testing).
• VAT rate % — used when Taxable is on. Set to 0 for zero-rated.
• Sales nominal code — pick from your nominal codes (e.g. labour income).

6. Click Save.

Reordering codes: 7. Drag and drop a row to reorder. Saves automatically.

Setting a default code: 8. Click Set Default next to the desired code. The default code is pre-selected when adding labour to work orders.

Deactivating a code: 9. Click the delete icon on the code row. 10. Confirm in the dialog. The code is hidden from selection but preserved for audit. 11. You cannot deactivate the default code. Change the default first.

Editing or reactivating a code: 12. Click the edit (pencil) icon. Inactive codes can be reactivated through the edit dialog.

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F. Disposal Fees

Configure disposal fees and environmental levies (tyre, oil, battery, refrigerant) that you add to invoices, optionally automatically when triggering parts are present on the work order.

1. Click the Disposal Fees tab.
2. The list shows existing fees with label, amount, tax rate, tax category, nominal code, auto-apply rules count, status, and actions.
3. Click Add Disposal Fee to create one. Fields include the customer-facing description, default amount, tax rate, optional nominal code, and zero or more auto-apply rules tied to part categories.
4. Toggle Show archived to reveal soft-deleted fees.

For full setup and the auto-apply behaviour, see Disposal fees and environmental levies.

Expected Outcome

All finance settings are saved and take effect immediately. Invoice defaults apply to new invoices. Labour charging rules apply when technicians log time. Nominal codes and payment methods appear in relevant dropdowns throughout the system.

Troubleshooting

Problem: You cannot access the Finance settings page. Cause: Your user role does not have the required capability (settings.access, finance.codes.manage, finance.methods.manage, or finance.settings.manage). Fix: Ask your administrator to assign you a role with the appropriate permissions. See the Roles and Permissions guide.

Problem: A nominal code or payment method cannot be deleted. Cause: System codes and methods are protected and show a lock icon. Fix: You can deactivate system items to hide them from selections, but they cannot be deleted.

Problem: Invoice number preview does not update. Cause: The prefix or next number field may be empty. Fix: Enter a valid prefix and a number of 1 or greater. The preview updates automatically.

Problem: Cannot deactivate a labour code. Cause: The code is set as the default. Fix: Set a different code as the default first, then deactivate the original.

Notes

• The Labour Charging and Labour Codes pages at their old URLs (/settings/finance/labour-charging and /settings/finance/labour-codes) automatically redirect to the consolidated Labour & Time page.
• Changes to the invoice template affect all future invoice PDFs. Existing PDFs are not changed.
• The country field on invoices is currently fixed to United Kingdom.

Permissions

Action	Required Capability
Access finance settings	settings.access
Manage nominal codes	finance.codes.manage
Manage payment methods	finance.methods.manage
Manage labour and time settings	finance.settings.manage
Manage invoice template	settings.access