What is a running account (RA) bill?
A Running Account Bill is the periodic bill a contractor raises for work completed to date on a running contract. It shows cumulative quantities up to date, subtracts what was already paid in earlier bills, and arrives at the amount due for the current period after statutory and contractual deductions.
Labour-only contract? Use the labour bill format.
What is in the RA bill workbook?
- Contract Details — project, agreement and bill particulars, Running or Final bill, the GST rate and every deduction percentage used elsewhere in the workbook.
- Previous Bills — what each earlier bill billed, held back as retention and paid, for the totals to date.
- RA Bill Working — item-wise quantities and value, with the Measurement Book page for each item. The present-bill columns are calculated.
- Deductions & Summary — pulls the totals and percentages from the sheets above and works out GST, every deduction, retention released, the net amount payable and the totals to date.
- Filled Sample — a worked example for an RCC framed building, RA Bill No. 3, with two previous bills.
How does the RA bill sheet calculate?
- Quantity for present bill = quantity up to date − quantity up to previous bill.
- Amount up to date and amount up to previous bill = the respective quantity × agreement rate. The value of work done in this bill is the difference between them.
- Gross amount of this bill = value of work done in this bill + any escalation or other addition payable.
- GST, where the contractor charges it, is added on the gross amount of this bill.
- Every deduction — security deposit, income-tax TDS, GST TDS, labour welfare cess, advance recoveries, water and electricity — is the gross amount of this bill × its percentage from the Contract Details sheet. Earlier bills' work is never deducted twice.
- Net amount payable = gross amount of this bill + GST − total deductions + any retention released.
- Retention held = retention in previous bills + retention on this bill − retention released. A final bill releases retention only when you enter an amount, because it is often held until the defect liability period ends.
Worked example from the sample RA Bill No. 3 (illustrative rates): work done up to date is ₹59,70,250 and up to the previous bill ₹41,46,950, so this bill's value is ₹18,23,300. Security deposit at 5% (₹91,165), income-tax TDS at 2% (₹36,466) and labour cess at 1% (₹18,233) leave a net amount payable of ₹16,77,436.
How do you use the RA bill template?
- Open the Contract Details sheet and fill in the project, agreement and bill particulars. Choose Running or Final, enter the GST rate if the contractor charges GST, and set the deduction percentages to match your agreement.
- On Previous Bills, add a row for each bill already paid. For RA Bill No. 1 leave it empty.
- Go to RA Bill Working. Enter each item, its unit, agreement quantity and rate.
- In "Qty up to Previous Bill", enter the cumulative quantity certified in your last RA bill. For RA Bill No. 1 this column stays zero.
- In "Qty up to Date", enter the total cumulative quantity executed as measured in the Measurement Book. The present-bill quantity and all amounts calculate themselves.
- Open Deductions & Summary. It is already linked — check the figures and enter any escalation or other recovery.
- Print or export to PDF and route for signature. Carry the "Qty up to Date" column forward into the next bill.
What should you check before relying on the RA bill?
- This is a general-purpose format. Government departments and PSUs each prescribe their own bill proforma — check which applies to your contract.
- Quantities entered here must match the Measurement Book. The MB is the primary record; this bill is a summary of it.
- Deduction percentages are set on the Contract Details sheet only. The summary sheet reads them from there, so change them in one place.
- Add rows inside the existing table rather than below the total row, so the total keeps picking them up.
- Rates are not supplied with this template. Enter rates from your own schedule of rates or market quotations; any figures on the sample sheet are illustrative only and must not be used for real estimating or billing.
What does each column mean?
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| S. No. | Item number, matching the agreement schedule. |
| Description of Item | The item as worded in the agreement. |
| Unit | As in the agreement. |
| Contract Qty | The quantity in the contract or work order, so work beyond it is flagged. |
| Rate (Rs.) | The agreement rate for the item. |
| Qty up to Previous Bill | Cumulative quantity certified in your last RA bill. Zero for RA Bill No. 1. |
| Qty up to Date | Total cumulative quantity executed to date, as measured in the Measurement Book. |
| Qty for Present Bill | Auto-calculated. Quantity up to date minus quantity up to the previous bill. |
| Amount up to Previous Bill (Rs.) | Auto-calculated. Previous cumulative quantity x rate. |
| Amount up to Date (Rs.) | Auto-calculated. Quantity up to date x rate. |
| Amount for Present Bill (Rs.) | Auto-calculated. The value of work done this period, before deductions. |
| MB No. / Page | Where the measurement for the item is recorded in the Measurement Book. |
| Check | NOT PRICED when a quantity has no rate (left out of the totals, never counted as zero), OVER CONTRACT QTY, LESS THAN PREVIOUS. |
A bill for payment is only as sound as the take-off behind it. The detailed measurement sheet format is where the quantities on this bill are measured and abstracted, item by item.
Where the quantities executed depart from the agreement, record the difference in the deviation statement format.
Get the quantities from your drawings
The arithmetic in this workbook is the quick part. Reading dimensions off a full drawing set, item by item, is what takes days. Upload your drawings and InstaBOQ measures them for you and abstracts the quantities into this same structure.