What is bill certification in construction?
Bill certification is the client's formal check and approval of a contractor's running bill, and no invoice can be raised and no payment made until it is done.
Also called certification of bill, bill passing, bill approval.
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Bill certification in plain words
The client's engineer checks quantities against the measurement book, rates against the contract and deductions against the conditions. If everything agrees, the bill is certified for a stated amount. If it does not, the bill is returned with comments and the contractor resubmits.
Why does bill certification matter?
Certification is where most of an EPC contractor's own waiting happens. The clock runs while the bill sits in a queue, and nothing has been invoiced, so no ageing report shows it.
Where does bill certification mislead?
A certified amount is often lower than the amount claimed, because items are cut or held. The difference is a dispute that sits outside every receivables report, so compare claimed against certified on each bill.
What do people get wrong about bill certification?
- Chasing the payment before the certificate exists
- Calling the accounts team about a bill that has not been certified gets nowhere. The delay is in the engineer's queue, not in the payment run.
- Accepting a cut without recording the reason
- An item reduced at certification and never queried is lost for good. Record each cut and its stated reason while the bill is still open.
How does Crestline measure bill certification?
Crestline follows each bill from submission to certification, keeps every returned pass in the trail, and shows how much was claimed against how much was certified.
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