Complete the Billing Setup Guide

What this does: Work through the in-app Billing Setup Guide so your chart of accounts, fee items, payment gateway, invoice terms and taxes are ready before you send your first real invoice.

Applies to: GrowthZone AMS, for organizations setting up billing for the first time. Requires permission to edit billing settings.

Before you start: agree on the business decisions in the checklist below, and have your payment gateway credentials ready.

Time needed: plan on a few working sessions, plus time for your Project Manager to review your setup.

Getting billing configured correctly the first time prevents downstream invoice errors, accounting-reconciliation pain, and member-facing billing surprises. The Billing Setup Guide is your one-pass checklist to confirm every piece — chart of accounts, fee items, payment gateway, invoice terms, taxes — is ready before you send your first real invoice.

Strategy Checklist (Before you click):

Before working through the Billing Setup Guide, gather your team and align on the following business decisions:

• What is our chart of accounts structure, and who owns it going forward — the finance team or the executive director?
• Which fee item types do we actually bill, and which of them are voluntary?
• Which payment gateway are we using, and do we have the provider credentials in hand?
• Do we collect tax? If so, in which regions, and on which products?
• Is our policy to generate recurring invoices automatically, or to review each batch manually first?
• Who clicks Billing Setup is complete — and who is their backup?

Phase 1: Configure the Financial Foundation

Lock in the structural pieces every invoice and payment depends on. Skipping these creates expensive rework later.

• → Set Up and Manage Your Chart of Accounts
• → Import Chart of Accounts
• → Set up fee items
• → Set up taxes

Phase 2: Configure Payments and Invoice Delivery

Set up how money comes in and how invoices reach your members. Confirm each piece before you bill anyone for real.

• → Set Up GrowthZone Pay
• → Setup your Invoice Payment Terms
• → Set Up Your Invoice Template(s)
• → General Billing Settings: every setting explained
• → Configure System to Automatically Email Invoices for Scheduled Billing

Phase 3: Validate and Hand Off to Your Project Manager

Walk the full checklist, click Billing Setup is complete to notify GrowthZone, and let your Project Manager validate the configuration before you process real invoices.

• → Billing overview: pages, dashboard and common questions
• → Billing Video Tutorials
• → Association Guide to Running Dues Billing

Common Pitfalls

• Clicking “Billing Setup is complete” too early: That button emails GrowthZone so your Project Manager can validate your setup. Click it only once every section has been checked off, or your setup gets reviewed before it is ready.

Consultant Pro-Tip: Do a real-data dry run before you mark it complete

Run a small batch of test invoices against actual member records and reconcile them end to end — invoice, payment, accounting export — before you submit the guide. The checklist will look complete as soon as every field is filled in, but only real data surfaces tax mis-mappings, gateway delays and invoice template mismatches. An hour of dry-run testing saves a week of post-launch cleanup.