Bills Held Above the Contract Price

Muin holds a vendor bill that charges more than the vendor’s confirmed contract price. The bill cannot be approved or paid until someone decides.

When you’d use this

• A bill shows Above contract price.
• A payment was refused because a bill charges more than the contract.
• You want to see every bill held right now.

Holding bills above the contract price needs Muin for Spend.

Why a bill is held

Muin checks each bill line against the contract in force on the bill date. A line is held when all of these are true:

• The vendor has an active contract with confirmed terms.
• The contract covers the bill date. An auto-renewing contract also covers its next term, until the renewal is recorded or the contract is ended.
• The contract and the bill use the same currency.
• The line names an item the contract prices.
• The line costs more than the contract price, past your match tolerance.

A line that names no item the contract prices is not held. The Order and delivery card marks it “This item has no contract price” and states how many lines name no priced item, with their amount, so you can check them before you approve the bill.

The tolerance is the one your bill match uses. It is a percent of the expected amount. If you also set an amount, the smaller of the two applies.

Terms nobody confirmed never hold a bill. See Confirm contract terms.

See held bills

• Muin for Spend > Contracts > Contracts overview: Bills held above contract price lists each held bill, the amount over and the date it was held.
• On a contract’s detail page, the same section lists that contract’s held bills.
• On the bill, the Order and delivery card marks each line with “[amount] above the contract price”.

Release a held bill

Releasing a bill above the contract always needs a reason.

From the bill:

1. Go to Smart Payments > Vendor Bills and open the bill.
2. On the Order and delivery card, click Accept difference.
3. Write the reason. It needs at least 10 characters.
4. Submit.

From the Inbox:

1. Open the bill’s match review task. It shows Above contract price.
2. Click Accept difference.
3. The dialog reads “Accept a price above the contract”. Write the reason, at least 10 characters.
4. Submit.

The bill is then released. The card reads “Accepted by [name] on [date]: [reason]”. The release is recorded in the audit log.

If the bill changes after you accept it, and the amounts over the contract change, it is held again.

Reject the bill instead

If the vendor charged too much, click Reject bill on its match review in the Inbox. Ask the vendor for a corrected bill.

What a held bill blocks

• It cannot be approved.
• It cannot be paid, alone or in a payment run.
• The refusal reads “[bill] cannot be paid: it charges more than the vendor’s contract price. Resolve the bill’s match review: accept the difference with a reason, or reject the bill.”

Bills already paid

A bill paid above the contract before it could be held becomes a Money Back Scan finding. It shows under Charged above contract price on the Contracts overview and under Money Back Scan findings on the contract.

When it goes wrong

• “A price above the contract is released only with a reason.”: the task was accepted without a reason. Accept it again with a reason.
• “The difference could not be accepted.”: the save failed. Try again.
• No Accept difference button: you need permission to manage vendor bills, or the bill is no longer editable.

Next step

Keep your contract terms confirmed so new bills are checked.