AP Processing Workflow

This workflow covers the complete accounts payable process from invoice receipt through approval and payment. All invoices flow through the Python preprocessor and land in the REA Invoices folder. REA (our third-party accounting firm) posts the invoices into MRI and AppFolio, where they are then approved in AppFolio’s Smart Bill Entry.

Workflow change

Monday.com is no longer used for AP tracking. Invoices now route through the REA Invoices folder and are approved directly in AppFolio.

Roles & Responsibilities

Role	Person	Responsibility
Office Manager / Data Manager	Lily / Joe	Scan hard copies, run invoices through preprocessor, retain stubs/envelopes
Accounting Firm	REA	Post invoices to MRI and AppFolio, move processed files to Posted folder
Approvers	Anna, Mike, Rachana	Approve invoices in AppFolio Smart Bill Entry on Tuesday and Thursday
Payment Authorization	Rachana	Provide weekly payment report to Odeirre and Dee on Thursday morning
Payment Processing	Odeirre, Dee	Process approved payments

Invoice Intake

1. Digital invoices
   All vendor invoices route to EMA accounting email. The mailbox is monitored automatically. Attached PDFs are pulled from the email and dropped into the REA Invoices folder in a dated subfolder by the day received.

2. Invoices sent as links
   When a vendor sends an invoice as a link (QuickBooks, vendor portal, etc.) the attachment cannot be auto-pulled. Lily or Joe download the PDF and either:

   • Email it to EMA accounting email so it routes automatically, or
   • Run it through the Document Preprocessor directly.

3. Hard copies
   Mail received at the office is scanned by Lily or Joe and run through the Document Preprocessor. Stubs and envelopes are retained at the front desk in case a vendor address or remittance detail is needed later.

Turnaround rule

Every invoice must land in the REA Invoices folder and be processed on the day it is received. REA must post each invoice to MRI and AppFolio by the next day. This keeps the approval and payment cycle on schedule.

REA Invoices Folder

All invoices land in the REA Invoices folder at:

Z:\Shared\BBT Asset Management Inc\Accounting\REA_Invoices\

The folder is organized into dated subfolders in mm-dd-yyyy format for new invoices, plus a Posted folder for completed items and an OTS folder for items with open questions.

• DirectoryREA_Invoices/

  • REAEntities.xlsv Entity list
  • Directory05-20-2026/

    • DirectoryPosted/

      • …
    • DirectoryOTS/

      • …
  • Directory05-21-2026/

    • DirectoryPosted/

      • …
    • DirectoryOTS/

      • …

Item	Purpose
REAEntities.xlsv	Entity list reference file shared with REA
mm-dd-yyyy/	Daily folder containing all invoices received that day
Posted/	Invoices REA has posted to both MRI and AppFolio
OTS/	Invoices with open questions that REA cannot post without clarification

Invoice Preprocessing How to process invoices through the Python dashboard and save to the REA Invoices folder.

REA Posting

REA pulls invoices from the dated subfolders and posts each to both MRI and AppFolio by the next day.

1. REA posts the invoice to MRI and AppFolio. AppFolio receives the PDF through Smart Bill Entry (see How Smart Bill Entry Works below).

2. Move to Posted folder
   Once posted on both platforms, REA moves the invoice into the Posted\ subfolder.

3. Move to OTS folder if there are open questions
   If REA needs clarification before posting (missing property, unclear vendor, GL question), the invoice moves to the OTS\ subfolder. EMA staff reviews OTS items and responds to REA so they can post.

How Smart Bill Entry Works

Smart Bill Entry is AppFolio’s automated bill intake feature. REA submits invoices through it, and the system uses OCR and pattern recognition to pre-fill bill fields before approval.

What Smart Bill Entry Pre-Fills

Smart Bill Entry attempts to predict and pre-fill the following fields on each bill:

• Vendor
• Property
• Reference number (invoice number)
• Account number (utility bills only)
• Due date
• Invoice date
• Service dates (utility bills only)
• GL account
• Work order (if listed on the invoice)
• Amount

Accuracy improves over time

AppFolio’s predictions become more accurate as more invoices are reviewed and corrected. Early on, expect to verify and adjust most fields manually.

Two Submission Paths into Smart Bill Entry

Email Submission

Invoices can be emailed directly into Smart Bill Entry using AppFolio’s unique invoices email address. This is the primary path for vendor-submitted invoices.

Find the email address:

1. In AppFolio, go to Accounting > Payables > Smart Bill Entry.

2. The unique address is listed in the Upload Invoices block. The format is:

   [your-database-name]@invoices.appfolio.com

3. Vendors send each invoice as a separate PDF attachment. Up to 50 attachments per email are accepted.

First page only

Smart Bill Entry only reads the first page of a PDF for pre-fill. Multi-invoice PDFs must be split (either before upload via our preprocessor, or in AppFolio using Split PDF — see below).

Manual Upload

REA can also upload PDFs directly into Smart Bill Entry from the AppFolio interface.

1. Go to Accounting > Payables > Smart Bill Entry.

2. Drag PDFs into the Attachments field, or click Choose Files to Add.

3. Click Process Invoices. Each invoice takes roughly 30 seconds to process.

Splitting Multi-Page Invoices in AppFolio

If a PDF contains multiple invoices stacked together, use AppFolio’s Split PDF feature on the review screen. By default each page is treated as a separate invoice. Use the plus icon to combine pages that belong together, or the scissor icon to separate them again.

Click Split PDF above the PDF preview.

In the Adjust Invoice PDF view, combine pages with the plus icon and separate them with the scissor icon. The Save button shows how many files will be created.

Split before uploading when possible

Our preprocessor handles splitting before files reach AppFolio. Use AppFolio’s split feature only as a fallback for batches that slipped through unsplit.

Reviewing and Saving a Bill

1. On the Smart Bill Entry page, click Ready to Review next to an invoice.

   

2. AppFolio opens the New Bill page with predicted fields pre-filled. Click Full Screen View to enlarge the PDF preview.

3. Verify and correct each field: Payee, Total Amount, Bill Date, Due Date, Reference Number, Property, GL Account, Work Order (if applicable).

   

4. Click Save & Review Next to save and move to the next invoice, or Save to save and return to the bill index.

   

Property code is required

Every bill must have a property code before it can be saved. If the property is unclear, the invoice should go to the OTS folder for review.

Duplicate Detection

Smart Bill Entry uses the same duplicate detection as the regular Enter Bill page. If a vendor and reference number match a prior bill, AppFolio shows a warning before save.

Approval Workflow

Once REA has posted invoices into AppFolio, approvers review them in Smart Bill Entry.

1. Tuesday and Thursday review
   Anna, Mike, and Rachana approve invoices in AppFolio on Tuesday and Thursday.

2. Thursday payment report
   Rachana provides Odeirre and Dee with the weekly payment report on Thursday morning, listing approved invoices ready for payment.

3. Payment processing
   Odeirre and Dee process the approved payments through AppFolio’s Pay Bills workflow.

Open question — carryover invoices

Approved invoices from prior pay periods that have not yet been paid still sit in the approval queue. The exact handoff for how those flow into the weekly payment report is being finalized. For now, Rachana flags carryover items directly on the Thursday report.

Utility Invoices

Utility invoices follow the same posting and approval flow, but EMA pulls them from vendor portals on a fixed schedule rather than waiting for vendor emails.

1. Provide REA with the list of online accounts
   EMA shares the full list of utility vendor portal accounts with REA.

2. Share credentials in Keeper
   Online account logins are shared with REA through Keeper.

   Keeper Password Manager How to share folders and credentials securely through Keeper.

3. REA downloads invoices on the 1st and 15th
   REA logs into each utility portal twice a month and pulls down current invoices, then routes them through the same Smart Bill Entry posting flow.

Vendor Setup

For the email submission path to work cleanly, vendors need a brief one-time setup.

1. Send the vendor notification letter
   The letter explains the new submission process and includes the unique Smart Bill Entry email address.

2. Vendor adds two contacts to their email

   • Our Smart Bill Entry address: [database-name]@invoices.appfolio.com
   • AppFolio DoNotReply: donotreply@appfolio.com — this prevents AppFolio’s auto-reply confirmations from being filtered as spam on the vendor’s side.

3. Vendor sends each invoice as a separate PDF
   One invoice per PDF is required since Smart Bill Entry only reads the first page of each file.

Auto-reply to vendor

When a vendor emails an invoice, AppFolio sends an automatic confirmation back to the sender indicating the invoice was received (or that there was an issue processing it).

Email Notifications

Each EMA user can opt in to receive a notification whenever a new invoice is received by Smart Bill Entry.

1. In AppFolio, click your name in the upper right and select My Settings.

2. Scroll to the Payments and Accounting section under Email Notifications.

3. Check the box for New Smart Bill Entry emailed invoices are received.

4. Scroll down and click Save.

Troubleshooting

Vendor receives “No valid attached PDF files were found”

This reply email comes back when:

• The PDF is encrypted
• The email was forwarded without the attachment
• The PDF is corrupted
• The file is actually an image renamed with a .pdf extension

Ask the vendor to re-send as a clean PDF attachment.

Bill uploaded but not visible in Smart Bill Entry

Visibility depends on two things:

1. User role permissions — the user needs Smart Bill Entry access.
2. Property access — once a property is assigned to the bill, only users with access to that property (via Property Groups) can see it.

Bills not yet associated with a property are visible to all users with Smart Bill permissions. Once a property is assigned, visibility narrows. Corporate bills follow the same rule against the Corporate Accounting permission.

Cannot block a sender from emailing the Smart Bill Entry address

The address cannot be changed and senders cannot be blocked. If irrelevant emails come in (statements, notices, marketing), delete them directly from the Smart Bill Entry queue.

Key Workflow Principles

Same-day intake, next-day posting: every invoice lands in the REA Invoices folder and is processed the day it is received; REA posts it to MRI and AppFolio by the next day.

Clean handoff to REA: dated subfolders show REA exactly what is new. The Posted\ and OTS\ folders show what is done and what is pending clarification.

Single source of truth in AppFolio: once REA posts a bill, AppFolio Smart Bill Entry is where review, approval, and payment all happen.

Tuesday/Thursday approval rhythm: predictable approval days keep the weekly payment report on schedule.

Utility cadence: 1st and 15th portal pulls keep utility invoices from being missed.

Quick Reference

Invoice Preprocessing Run invoices through the Python preprocessor and save to the REA Invoices folder.

Server Directory REA Invoices folder location and broader server structure.

Naming Convention Filename format for invoices saved to the REA folder.

Keeper Password Manager Sharing utility portal credentials with REA.