What is invoiced
- What the customer accepted on each delivery order — never what they did not accept.
- At the contract's price, discount and VAT code, as they were copied onto the delivery order, whatever has happened to the order or the item since.
- On each item's sales account, or the one mapped under Procurement setup for goods or for services.
- Dated the delivery date — the latest one, when several delivery orders share an invoice — which keeps the VAT in the period the supply happened in.
- With the customer's LPO number as its Reference, and notes listing each delivery order, its date, the site and who received it.
Unless your company switched it off, only a delivery order the customer has signed for can be invoiced.
Prepare the invoice
- When a delivery order is signed for, the order says Prepare the invoice; it opens the Invoice and payment step, which says how your company invoices.
- Under Ready to invoice, tick the delivery orders to go on the invoice. Several can share one invoice only if they were delivered in the same calendar month — a summary tax invoice covers one customer's deliveries in one month — so the others cannot be ticked.
- Press Prepare the invoice (or Invoice these 2 together, and so on). A draft invoice appears under Invoices and in the order's list. Nothing is posted.
Issue it
Somebody with Approve sales presses Issue the invoice — on the order, or under Invoices like any other draft; either way, a cheque waiting for its delivery is earmarked for it at once. Anybody else sees that it is waiting for somebody who can approve sales invoices. Issuing gives it its number and posts it: debit Accounts Receivable with the total, credit the sales account, credit Output VAT. Discard the draft throws a draft away.
For a VAT-registered company, the draft points out what to know before issuing:
- the customer has no TRN on file, or one that is not 15 digits — their tax invoice must show it;
- the goods were supplied more than 14 days ago — a tax invoice is due within 14 days of supply, and a summary invoice for a month within 14 days of that month's end;
- the VAT return covering the delivery is already filed — ask your accountant whether the VAT needs a voluntary disclosure.
Opening the invoice, and what paid it
Press an invoice's number on the order or its delivery order. People who can read the books go to it under Invoices; everybody else who sees the order — the order desk that prepared it — opens it as it prints, from Procurement. Only invoices prepared from this company's delivery orders open that way.
Under Money received, the order lists every receipt that paid its invoices — including ones recorded under Receipts & Payments rather than from the order — with its date, how it came, its reference and how much of it went to this order. Press its number to open it the same way. A voided invoice owes nothing and is shown as voided.
Under Cheques, a cheque's number opens it in Banking › Post-dated Cheques for people who can see Banking. Everybody else sees the cheque on the order — its date, amount, status and which of this order's invoices it pays — without the bank it was paid into or the accountant's notes; what it pays on the customer's other invoices is shown as one amount.
Invoices that prepare themselves
Under Procurement setup › Invoicing, your company chooses what happens when a delivery order is signed for:
| Customer invoices | When a delivery order is signed for |
|---|---|
| Somebody prepares each invoice | Nothing happens by itself; the order says Prepare the invoice. |
| A draft invoice is prepared when a delivery is signed | The draft is prepared at once, for somebody to check and issue. |
| The invoice is prepared and issued when a delivery is signed | The draft is prepared and issued at once, on a named person's standing authority. |
- Either way, a delivery order with anything not accepted, or remarks, waits until somebody marks it reviewed.
- Issuing by itself runs on a Standing authority: a person who holds both Approve sales and the Procurement accounting permission gives it themselves with Give my standing authority — nobody can give somebody else's — and it asks for a code from their authenticator unless they are the Owner. It is checked again every time an invoice issues: if that person no longer has an active seat here or can no longer approve sales, invoices stop issuing and wait as drafts. It never issues into a locked period. Withdraw it switches invoicing back to drafts.
- If an invoice cannot be prepared or issued by itself, whatever was prepared stays, and the delivery order says The invoice needs a hand, with the reason and Try again.
Getting it wrong
| Situation | Do this |
|---|---|
| A draft invoice is wrong | Discard the draft on the order. Its delivery orders can be invoiced again. |
| An issued invoice is wrong | Void it under Invoices, with a reason, as for any invoice. Then, on each of its delivery orders, Invoice it again and Release it, and prepare a new invoice. |
| The customer should get part of it back | A credit note under Credit Notes, as for any invoice. |
Getting paid
- Once an invoice is issued, the order says Record the payment. On Invoice and payment, press Record a payment.
- Enter the Amount, when it was Received on, the bank or cash account it went Into, How it came — Bank transfer, Cash or Card — and Their payment reference if there is one.
- Before you record it, the dialog shows which invoices it will pay (below). Press Record the payment. One receipt is recorded, applied that way. It posts like any receipt: debit the bank, credit Accounts Receivable. Anything more than the invoices owe stays on the customer's account as an advance.
| Which invoices money pays | When |
|---|---|
| The ones the customer names, in that order | Tick them under The customer said which invoices this pays — their remittance, or what they told the driver |
| The invoice for the delivery it was handed over for, then the oldest | Money or a cheque taken on a delivery order. If that delivery is not invoiced yet, that much waits for its invoice and is earmarked for it the moment it is issued — it never pays an older invoice the customer did not mean |
| The oldest first, by due date | Otherwise |
Never more than an invoice still owes: the rest stays on the customer's account for the accountant. A cheque is earmarked only for what other cheques do not already cover, and a payment pays invoices no cheque covers before those one does.
A cheque is different. Any cheque — dated today or next quarter — is not a payment until the bank pays it, so it goes through Take cheques instead: into Banking › Post-dated Cheques as In hand, earmarked for the order's unpaid invoices, becoming the receipt when it clears.
Several cheques, and which invoice each pays
- On Invoice and payment, press Take cheques. Enter one row per cheque — number, date and amount — with Add the next cheque for each of a run (the next number, a month later, the same amount). Add Their bank and the Account name on them.
- What each cheque is for shows where each will be earmarked, one after another: the first fills the oldest invoice, the next carries on where it stopped, and none earmarks what another cheque already covers. Anything no invoice owes stays on the customer's account. Tick The customer said which invoices these pay to follow their instruction instead.
- Press Record the 3 cheques (or however many). They are recorded together, or — if anything is wrong with one — none of them.
Under Cheques, the order lists every cheque for it: its status, which invoice it is earmarked for and how much, what waits for a delivery's invoice, and what is not linked to any invoice yet — with what the invoices owe that no cheque covers.
- To link a cheque in hand to the order's invoices again — one taken before its invoice was issued, or earmarked for the wrong one — press Link to invoice on its row.
- Tick the invoices it pays. It is earmarked for them in the order shown, each up to what it still owes that no other cheque covers. Ticking none leaves it earmarked for none of this order's invoices.
- Press Save. Whatever it is earmarked for on the customer's other orders stays as it was. Nothing is posted: it is still a cheque until the bank clears it.