This guide explains a practical way to manage subcontractor bills in SprintSuite while keeping job costs visible and supplier bills flowing cleanly into Xero.
Best Suited For
• Subcontractors who work with your business regularly.
• Subcontractors who need their labour costs tracked accurately against jobs.
• Businesses that want supplier invoices reconciled against Purchase Orders while still capturing subcontractor labour costs in job financials.
Recommended Approach
For regular subcontractors, we recommend setting them up in SprintSuite as both:
• A supplier
Used for Purchase Orders, bills, and Xero bill flow.
• A staff profile with a pay rate template
Used for timesheets and job costing.
This allows the subcontractor invoice to be managed through procurement while their labour cost still appears correctly against the job.
Subcontractor Bill Workflow
• Step 1 — Set up the supplier and link it to Xero
Create supplier records for all subcontracting companies.
Make sure each supplier is linked to Xero before processing bills.
• Step 2 — Set up regular subcontractors as staff
If the subcontractor works with you regularly, create a staff profile for them in SprintSuite.
Train them to use the app and enter timesheets the same way an employee would.
This allows their labour to be captured against the correct jobs.
• Step 3 — Create a subcontractor pay rate template
Set up a pay rate template based on what the subcontractor actually charges you.
This ensures the labour cost shown against the job is accurate.
• Step 4 — Create a Purchase Order for the subcontractor
Go to Purchase Requests.
Click New PR.
Select the supplier.
Complete the mandatory fields.
Select the relevant department and purchase type.
In the line item description, enter something simple such as subcontractor labour.
• Step 5 — Enter a PO value
A common method is to raise a monthly PO for each subcontractor.
Enter a value slightly higher than the expected invoice total if you want the PO to act as a monthly budget cap.
As invoices are approved, SprintSuite will draw down against the remaining PO value.
This avoids needing a new approval every time an invoice comes in, provided the total stays within the approved amount.
• Step 6 — Approve the PO
Click Save.
Click Send to Approval.
Approve the PO.
• Step 7 — Share the PO number with the subcontractor
Once approved, provide the PO number to the subcontractor.
This helps SprintScan pick up the invoice and improves the chance of it matching to the correct PO.
• Step 8 — Review invoices in Pending Bills
When the subcontractor sends an invoice, it will appear in Pending Bills.
Use Staff Times to reconcile and verify the hours they are claiming.
• Step 9 — Approve or reject the invoice
If the invoice is correct, approve it.
If something does not look right, reject the invoice and go back to the subcontractor with the reason.
Approving the invoice reduces the remaining balance on the PO.
• Step 10 — Approve and pay the bill in Xero
Once approved in SprintSuite, the bill will flow through to Xero drafts.
Finance can then approve and pay the bill in Xero as per the normal process.
• Step 11 — Close and clone the PO for the next month
Once all bills for the month are processed, close the PO.
This balances any unused value.
You can then clone the PO to create the next month’s PO without re-entering the same details.
• Step 12 — Use reporting to track subcontractor spend
Use SprintSuite reporting to review:
• Purchase Orders raised
• Who they were raised to
• Approved PO values
• Amounts consumed
• Remaining PO balances
• Subcontractor labour costs against jobs
This gives clearer job costing while keeping supplier billing clean and manageable.