Understanding Billing Recipients - Who is the "Client"?
Concept Article – Learn why JGID separates your customer relationship from your billing relationship, and how this helps you manage complex projects without compromising your CRM.
One of the Biggest Differences in JGID
One of the biggest differences between JGID and traditional accounting software is that your Client is not always the organisation that receives the invoice.
This reflects the way many industries operate in the real world.
For businesses working in property maintenance, rope access, height safety, facilities management, cleaning, construction and many other service industries, the organisation managing the work is often different from the organisation that is legally responsible for paying the invoice.
Rather than forcing these to be the same record, JGID allows you to keep your customer relationships accurate while choosing the most appropriate billing recipient for each project.
Your Client Represents the Relationship
In JGID, the Client represents the customer relationship.
This is the organisation or individual that:
- Requests work
- Manages projects
- Approves quotations
- Coordinates access
- Communicates with your team
- Continues the long-term business relationship
The Client is your customer from a CRM perspective.
Over time, a Client may have:
- Multiple Contacts
- Multiple Locations
- Hundreds of Projects
- Many years of project history
Keeping this relationship intact provides valuable reporting and customer intelligence.
The Billing Recipient Represents Who Pays
The organisation or person who pays the invoice is known as the Billing Recipient.
Depending on the project, you can choose to invoice the:
- Client
- Contact
- Location
This flexibility allows your invoices to reflect the real-world billing arrangements without changing your CRM structure.
A Real-World Example
Imagine your customer is ABC Building Management.
They manage multiple residential apartment buildings on behalf of different Owners Corporations.
Your relationship is with ABC Building Management.
They organise inspections, approve quotations and coordinate access.
However, each building has its own Owners Corporation that is legally responsible for paying for work completed at that building.
In JGID you would typically have:
Client
ABC Building Management
Contact
John Smith – Facilities Manager
Location
Sunrise Apartments
When creating the Invoice, you can choose:
Bill To: Location
The invoice will then appear as:
To: Sunrise Apartments (or the Owners Corporation associated with that Location)
Care Of: ABC Building Management
Attention: John Smith
This keeps your CRM relationship with ABC Building Management intact while ensuring the invoice is correctly addressed to the party responsible for payment.
Why This Matters
Many accounting systems only have a single "Customer" record.
This forces businesses to create a separate customer for every building, site or Owners Corporation simply because that is who receives the invoice.
The result is often:
- Duplicate customer records
- Fragmented project history
- Lost relationships
- Difficult reporting
- No easy way to see the total business generated from a management company
For example, if ABC Building Management manages 80 buildings, a traditional accounting system may require 80 separate customer records.
In JGID, they remain one Client with many Locations.
Working with Accounting Software
When invoices are exported to accounting software such as Xero, the billing recipient becomes the customer record used by the accounting system.
For example, if you select Bill To: Location, the Location becomes the customer in Xero because that is the entity responsible for payment.
Inside JGID, however, nothing changes.
Your Client remains your Client.
Your Contacts remain linked to the Client.
Your Locations remain organised beneath the Client.
The CRM structure stays accurate while the accounting system receives the billing information it needs.
Better Reporting
Separating customer relationships from billing relationships provides much more meaningful reporting.
For example, you can easily answer questions such as:
- How much revenue did we generate from ABC Building Management this year?
- Which Locations does this Client manage?
- How many projects have we completed for this Client?
- Which Contacts work across multiple Locations?
Without separating the CRM relationship from the billing relationship, this information is often difficult—or impossible—to report accurately.
Best Practice
Always create your Client based on who you have the business relationship with, not simply who receives the invoice.
Then choose the most appropriate Billing Recipient when invoicing each project.
This preserves a clean CRM, reduces duplicate records and gives you much more meaningful reporting across your customer base.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why doesn't the invoice always go to the Client?
Because the organisation managing the work is not always the organisation legally responsible for paying for it.
JGID allows these two roles to be treated separately.
Can I invoice the Location?
Yes.
This is common for managed buildings where the Owners Corporation or property associated with the Location is responsible for payment.
Can I invoice a Contact?
Yes.
If an individual Contact is paying for the work, you can select Bill To: Contact.
For example, a resident may request additional private work, such as internal window cleaning or lifting furniture into an apartment, even though the main project is managed through the building manager.
Will this affect my Client record?
No.
Changing the Billing Recipient does not change your Client, Contacts or Locations.
Your CRM relationships remain exactly as they were.
What happens when I export the invoice to Xero?
The selected Billing Recipient becomes the customer record used by Xero because that is who the invoice is addressed to.
Inside JGID, your CRM structure remains unchanged.
Summary
JGID separates customer relationships from billing relationships because they are not always the same.
Your Client represents the organisation you work with.
Your Billing Recipient represents the organisation or person responsible for paying the invoice.
By allowing you to invoice the Client, Contact or Location independently, JGID mirrors the way businesses operate in the real world while preserving a clean CRM, meaningful reporting and complete customer history.