> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.mercora.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Trade financials > Settle a trade's invoices, record payments, net AR against AP, and plan its costs. The **Financials** tab on a trade holds the money for one deal: its invoices, the payments against them, and its AR (money owed to you) and AP (money you owe). Use it to settle invoices and follow the margin as they arrive. > [!NOTE] > > Needs the **Trade financials** module (on by default) and Financials access in your role. The cost and income plan also needs the **Cost & income plan** module. Ask your workspace admin. Invoices appear here once they're approved in the [Inbox](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/inbox.md) and matched to the trade. ## Read the summary The **Invoice Summary** shows **AR**, **AP** and **Net** (AR − AP) in your reporting currency, each split into **Received** (cash so far), **Outstanding** (left after payments, adjustments and linked earlier invoices) and **Total** (everything invoiced). On the sugar trade VCS-S-2026-0714 before any payment, AR outstanding is $15,255.00 (the sale to Meridian Foodstuffs), AP outstanding is $14,256.00 (Kanchana Siam Sugar's invoice), and Net is +\$999.00. A line underneath lists what isn't counted yet: invoices still processing, invoices whose type you need to pick, and invoices with no exchange rate. Received converts each payment at the rate captured when it was recorded. Outstanding converts at the trade's [FX override](https://docs.mercora.io/trades/overview.md#fx-overrides), otherwise today's ECB (European Central Bank) rate. The rates used are listed under the summary. ## Invoice statuses **Invoices** lists every invoice on the trade, with its type, category, due date, amounts and status. The colored edge shows its side, AR or AP. | Status | Meaning | | - | - | | **Processing** | Still being read. | | **Awaiting review** / **Rejected** | Not yet approved, or rejected, in the Inbox. | | **Unpaid** / **Partial** | Nothing or part settled, not past due. | | **Overdue** | An unpaid amount is past due. With a payment schedule, only installments already due count. | | **Paid** | Fully settled (within one cent), including when overpaid. | | **Closed** | Closed by your team. Hover for the reason. | | **Superseded** | Replaced by a later invoice it's linked to. | ## Work an invoice Click a row to open the invoice panel. Set the **Type** (each option says what it will do to AR/AP; a credit note counts negative), the **Direction** (AR or AP, if Mercora got it wrong) and the **Category**, and correct any other field in place. An invoice with no direction shows as **Unclassified** and isn't counted. ### Record payments and adjustments 1. Open **Add a line**. 2. Choose **Payment**, or an adjustment such as **Bank charge**, **FX difference**, **Withholding tax** or **Deduction**. 3. Enter the amount and date, or click **Remaining** to fill in the open balance. A negative payment is a refund. 4. If the invoice and trade currencies differ, check the **FX rate**. Mercora suggests today's ECB rate; type your bank's rate to override it. 5. Click **Add payment** (or the adjustment's add button). Only payments count as cash. Adjustments reduce what's outstanding and can close an invoice, but never count as money received or paid. ### Link an earlier invoice When a final invoice replaces a proforma, open the final, click **Link earlier invoice** under **Linked invoices**, and pick the proforma. The proforma becomes **Superseded** and drops out of the totals, and its payments carry over to the final as **Applied**. Both must be on the same side, in the same currency and, if both have one, the same category. ### Payment schedules For an invoice paid in installments, such as 80% against documents and 20% after outturn, click **Add payment schedule** and enter each installment's due date and amount. They must add up to the invoice amount. If the payment terms describe the split, Mercora offers it: click **Apply split** to use it. Settled amounts go to the oldest installment first, and only the unpaid part of installments already past due counts as overdue. ### Close or delete an invoice Click **Close invoice** to lock it. If a balance remains, give a reason, such as **Write-off (bad debt)**. A closed invoice counts at what actually settled it, so a written-off remainder never becomes revenue or cost. **Reopen** unlocks it; messages that ask you to "unbook" an invoice mean the same. **Delete** removes the invoice from the trade and all reports. Reopen it and undo any netting first. ## Net AR against AP Netting offsets what a counterparty owes you against what you owe them, so only the difference changes hands. 1. Tick at least one receivable and one payable in the same currency. 2. Click **Collect →** and check the preview. 3. Enter a **Reference** and click **Collect**. Each invoice gets a payment marked **Netting**, and the group shows together in the table. **Undo** on the group removes those payments. ## Cost & income plan Mid-flight, a trade can look like a loss: freight and inspection are billed long before the sale. A plan lists the costs and income you expect, so you see a provisional margin from day one. Nothing is planned for you; a trade with no plan uses its contracts and invoices. 1. Click **Suggest from contract** to add the cargo sale as income and the cargo purchase as a cost, or **Plan a cost or income** to add a line yourself. 2. As invoices arrive, link them in each line's **Actual** cell. Matching invoices are suggested first, but nothing is linked until you click. | Line status | Meaning | Value used | | - | - | - | | **Planned** | No amount yet. | Nothing | | **Booked** | Planned amount, no invoices linked. | Planned amount | | **Partial** | Invoices linked, up to 1% over plan. | The larger of planned and invoiced | | **Over plan** | More than 1% over plan. | Invoiced total | | **Closed** | Settled. | Invoiced total | A line closes by itself when its invoices land within 1% of plan in the same currency. To accept a bigger variance, use **Close line — accept variance**. **Provisional** at the bottom is planned income minus planned costs. It stays blank until the plan has both sides. While it does and at least one line is open, it's the deal's margin on the [P\&L](https://docs.mercora.io/finance/pnl.md). Once every line is closed, or the trade is complete, the invoices take over. ## Next steps * [P\&L](https://docs.mercora.io/finance/pnl.md): see each deal's margin across the book. * [Overdue payments](https://docs.mercora.io/finance/reports.md#overdue-payments): chase what's late, oldest first. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.