Introduction to Invoices in Standard products

This section describes the Invoice register in Standard Invoicing and Standard Contracts. If you are using Standard Accounts or Standard Stock, please click here.

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The Invoice register is a record of your company's sales. Each time you make a sale, you should enter an Invoice, print it and send it to the Customer. You will therefore use the Invoice register for a number of tasks:

You can record three types of sales transaction in the Invoice register:
  1. You will issue standard Invoices, or demands for payment, when you have delivered goods or carried out work before you have received payment. You should record payments against such Invoices in the Receipt register.

  2. You will issue a Cash Note when you receive payment at the same time as carrying out the work. When you enter a Cash Note in the Invoice register, Standard Invoicing will treat it as having being paid, so there will be no need to enter a separate payment record in the Receipt register.

  3. You should use Credit Notes to correct mistakes in Invoices, or to cancel Invoices that have been raised in error. They are, in effect, negative Invoices that reduce your debtor figures.
The use of the Invoice register, including each of these types of sales transaction, is now described in detail. Before working with Invoices, you should look at the following settings and registers:
To open the Invoice register, click the [Invoices] button in the Master Control panel or using the relevant keyboard shortcut (for example, ⌘-1 in Standard Invoicing, ⌘-2 in Standard Contracts, depending on the position of the icon in the Master Control panel). The 'Invoices: Browse' window is opened, showing Invoices already entered.

In this window, the Invoice Number is shown first, followed by a check mark (if the Invoice is approved), by the Invoice Date, Customer Number and Name and the total amount of the Invoice. Credit Notes have the letter "C" in the value column, after the Total.

As in all browse windows you can change the sort order by clicking on the column headings. To reverse any sort, simply click once again on the column heading. You can scroll the list using the scroll bars or the trackpad. Finally, you can search for a record by entering a keyword in the field at the top right-hand corner. When you press the Return or Enter key, the first record with a match for the keyword in the current sort column will be hightlighted. You can also change the order of the columns by dragging the column headings, and remove columns altogether using the check boxes in the drawer.

Invoices are shown colour-coded in the 'Invoices: Browse' window, as shown in the illustration above and as follows:

(no colour)Invoices not yet due for payment
redInvoices that are overdue for payment
greenInvoices that are fully paid or credited

There are three things you can do in the Invoice register:

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Entering an Invoice

There are several shortcuts that you can use to simplify your work when entering Invoices. You can for example bring a date into a date field using the 'Paste Special' function. You can also use this function to simplify the entering of Item Numbers, Customer Numbers, Payment Terms etc.

To enter a new Invoice, first open the 'Invoices: Browse' window as described here. Then click [New] in the Button Bar or use the ⌘-N keyboard shortcut. Alternatively, select an Invoice similar to the one you want to enter and click [Duplicate] on the Button Bar.

The 'Invoice: New' window is opened, empty if you clicked [New] or containing a duplicate of the highlighted Invoice. In the case of the duplicate, the Invoice and Transaction Dates of the new Invoice will be the current date, not the date of the duplicated Invoice, and the Due Date will be recalculated accordingly. Complete the Invoice record as described below, then save it using the [Save] button and close the window by clicking the close box. Then, close the browse window using the close box again.

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You are not bound by the values suggested as defaults. In most fields you can change the pre-set values to something that suits you better. Such changes are valid only for the Invoice in question.

Since the amount of information stored about each Invoice will not fit on a single screen, the Invoice window has been divided into three cards. At the top of each is the header. This contains the Invoice Number, the Customer Number and Name, and the OK check box. At the bottom of the screen is the footer, which contains various totals. There are three named buttons ('tabs') in the header.

By clicking the tabs you can navigate between cards. The header is always visible, as a reminder of the Customer whose Invoice you are working with.

When you have added every Item to the Invoice, you may want to check the Invoice. Click the [Save] button to save it and then click the Printer icon in the Button Bar to print a sample Invoice document. If you want to print to screen, click the Preview icon.

You will still be able to make changes until you approve the Invoice by checking the OK check box and saving. Approving the Invoice will cause it to be entered to your Sales Ledger, and it will no longer be modifiable.

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Entering an Invoice - Header

No.
The Invoice Number of a new Invoice is provided automatically.

The Invoice Number sequence will start at 1 and continue consecutively. If you want the sequence to start from another number, change the Invoice Number of an Invoice before saving it for the first time. The sequence will continue from that point.

Customer
Paste Special    Customers in Contact register
Enter the Customer Number or use the 'Paste Special' function. When you press Return, the Customer's name, address and other information will be entered into the appropriate fields.

Name
The Customer Name is brought in after you have entered the Customer Number.

OK
You can approve the Invoice by checking this box and saving. This will cause the Invoice to be posted to your Sales Ledger. Because of this consequence, you will no longer be able to make changes to the Invoice.

References in these web pages to approved Invoices are to Invoices whose OK box has been checked (i.e. an approved Invoice is one that is no longer a Draft).
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Entering an Invoice - Terms Card

Invoice Date
Paste Special    Choose date
The current date according to the computer's clock is entered as a default. This must be the same as the Transaction Date (below) and cannot be changed independently.

Our Reference
Use this field if you need to identify the Invoice by means other than the Invoice Number. A default will be taken from the Our Reference field of the Person record of the current user.

Payment Terms
Paste Special    Payment Terms setting
Default taken from    Contact record for the Customer
Payment Terms entered here will be used to calculate the Due Date (below), in addition simply to ensuring that the correct Payment Terms appear on the printed Invoice document.

Specifying Payment Terms for each Invoice provides the basis for the debt-chasing reports provided in Standard products.

Payment Terms are also the means by which Cash Notes and Credit Notes are distinguished from ordinary Invoices. Using 'Paste Special', select a Payment Term record of the "Cash" or "Credit Note" Type respectively.

Cash Notes are immediately treated as paid and so will not appear in your debtor reports. There is no need to enter a payment against them. If you need to reverse a Cash Note, use a negative Cash Note, not a Credit Note.

When you enter a Payment Term of the "Credit Note" type, a crediting message will be entered in the first row of the grid area. Enter the number of the Invoice to be credited, using 'Paste Special' if necessary to bring up a list of open (unpaid) Invoices.

If an Invoice has a "Cash" or "Credit Note" Payment Term, the Invoice will not use the standard Invoice document when it is printed. Instead, the Cash Note or Credit Note (respectively) document will be used. Please refer to the Printing Invoices page for more details.

Attention
Paste Special    Contact Persons in Contact register
Default taken from    Contact record for the Customer
Record here the person for whose attention the Invoice is to be marked. 'Paste Special' will list the Contact Persons belonging to the Customer.

Due Date
Paste Special    Choose date
This is the date on which the Invoice becomes due for payment. It is calculated using the Invoice Date and the Payment Term.

You can change the Due Date after you have approved the Invoice. This will be useful if you agree with the Customer that they will pay the Invoice on a particular date.

Service Del. Date
Paste Special    Choose date
Use this field to record the date when you delivered the goods or services listed in the Invoice. The Invoice Date will be placed here when you save the Invoice for the first time. You can change the date if necessary.

Transaction Date
This must be the same as the Invoice Date and cannot be changed independently.
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Entering an Invoice - Items Card

Use the grid on the 'Items' card to list the invoiced Items. To add rows to an Invoice, click in any field in the first blank row and enter appropriate text. To remove a row, click on the row number on the left of the row and press the Backspace key. To insert a row, click on the row number where the insertion is to be made and press Return.

You can also bring Items into an Invoice by opening the 'Items: Browse' or 'Paste Special' windows, selecting a range of Items by clicking while holding down the Shift key, and then dragging them to the Item field in the first empty Invoice row. You can also copy a list of Item Numbers from a spreadsheet or word processor and paste them in the Item field in the first empty row.

Item
Paste Special    Item register
With the insertion point in this field, enter the Item Number for each Item sold. Pricing, descriptive and other information will be brought in from the Item record. If you leave this field blank, you can enter any text in the Description field, perhaps using the row for additional comments to be printed on Invoice documentation.

Qty.
Enter the number of units sold. If you leave the field by pressing the Return or Enter key, the insertion point will move to the Item field in the next row.

Description
Default taken from    Item
This field shows the name of the Item, brought in from the Item register. If you want to add an extra description, you can do so: there is room for up to 100 characters of text. You can also use the next line if necessary.

Unit Price
The Unit Price according to the Customer's Price List is brought in. If the Customer does not have a Price List, or the Item is not on the Price List in question, the Price from the Item record is brought in. This figure will include VAT if the Price List is one that is Inclusive of VAT or if you have specified in the Invoice Settings setting that Prices include VAT.

%
Discount percentage.

Sum
The total for the row: Quantity multiplied by Unit Price less Discount. Changing this figure will cause the Discount Percentage to be recalculated. This figure will include VAT if the Price List specified is one that is Inclusive of VAT or if you have specified in the Invoice Settings setting that Prices include VAT.

V-Cd
Paste Special    VAT Codes setting
The VAT Code entered here determines the rate at which VAT will be charged on the Item.

The default offered in each row will be chosen as follows:
  1. It will be taken from the Item record.

  2. The VAT Code in the Invoice Settings setting will be used.
You can change this default in a particular Invoice row if necessary.
Footer

The Invoice Footer contains various running totals as described below. Whenever you add or change an Invoice row, these totals will be updated automatically.
VAT
The VAT total for the Invoice.

Subtotal
The total for the Invoice, excluding VAT (including VAT if the Price List specified is one that is Inclusive of VAT or if you have specified in the Invoice Settings setting that Prices include VAT).

TOTAL
The total for the Invoice, including VAT.
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Entering an Invoice - Address Card

Invoice To Address
Default taken from    Contact record for the Customer
The Customer's address, as entered in the Customer's record in the Contact register. You can change the Address in a particular Invoice, but permanent changes should be made in the Contact register.
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Entering an Invoice - Examples

We shall now show how to use the various fields on the Invoice screen with the help of a few examples.

To open the Invoice register, click the [Invoices] button in the Master Control panel or use the relevant keyboard shortcut for the Standard product you are using (for example, ⌘-1 in Standard Invoicing or ⌘-2 in Standard Contracts, depending on the position of the icon in the Master Control panel). The 'Invoices: Browse' window opens, listing the Invoices that are already in the system. Start entering a new Invoice by clicking the [New] button or using the ⌘-N keyboard shortcut. The 'Invoice: New' window opens, containing a new, empty, Invoice with only the Invoice Number and Date entered. The insertion point will be in the Customer Number field. Press ⌘-Return to activate the 'Paste Special' feature. This brings up the 'Paste Customer' window.

Select a Customer from the list by double-clicking on its name (or by using the cursor keys and pressing Return). Press Return again and Customer information such as Name, Address and Payment Terms will be placed in the appropriate fields on the Invoice screen.

Press Return again to move the insertion point to the Item field, the left-hand field in the first Invoice row. Again, you can use 'Paste Special' to select an Item. Use the trackpad to scroll through the Items or use the Search feature until you find the one you want. Select an Item by double-clicking. Press Return to bring in information such as the Item Name, Price and VAT Code.

Then, enter the Quantity sold and press Return. The Amount, VAT, Sum and Totals are calculated automatically, and the insertion point moves to the next line. Repeat this procedure for each Item on the Invoice.

If the Invoice needs altering, edit the fields in the normal way. As you have not yet saved the Invoice, you can also cancel it entirely by clicking [Cancel] or the close box. In the latter case you will be asked to confirm the cancellation:

After saving the Invoice, you can still cancel it completely by using 'Delete' on the Record menu, providing you have not approved it.

When you have added all the Items, you may want to check the Invoice. Click the [Save] button to save it and then click the Printer icon in the Button Bar to print a sample copy. If you want to print to screen, click the Preview icon.

Until you have approved the Invoice by checking the OK box and saving, you can still change it.

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Inspecting and Approving Invoices

Before you send an Invoice to a Customer, you should check and approve it, to ensure that the Customer is charged for the correct things. Approving an Invoice causes it to be inserted into your Sales Ledger. Incoming payments can only be registered against approved Invoices.

There are two ways to approve an Invoice:

  1. With the Invoice on screen, click the OK check box and then [Save].

  2. Select an Invoice by clicking on it in the 'Invoices: Browse' window, and select 'OK' from the Operations drop-down menu. By holding down the Shift key while clicking, you can highlight a batch of Invoices to approve at a single stroke using this method.

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After approving an Invoice, you will no longer be able to change it.


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Printing Invoices

There are several occasions when you may want to print an Invoice: to view a test print-out to check the Invoice before you finally approve it; to produce a copy for your own files, or to send the original Invoice to the Customer.

To produce a test print-out, save the Invoice and then click on the Printer icon in the Button Bar before you approve the Invoice. The Invoice will then be printed. The text "Test Printout" will be printed diagonally printed across the page as a watermark. This is to avoid the test being confused with the final version. As you have not yet approved the Invoice by checking the OK box and saving, you can go back and correct any errors you may find in the printout. This is also true for Credit Notes.

If you want to print a range of final Invoices, follow the instructions below:

  1. Click the [Documents] button in the Master Control panel or use the ⌘-D keyboard shortcut. Then, double-click 'Invoices' in the 'Documents' list.

    The 'Specify Invoices' window is shown.

  2. Enter the Invoice Number for a single Invoice, or the highest and lowest Invoice Numbers of a range of Invoices separated by a colon (:). Use the Status options to specify which Invoices are to be printed:
    Unprinted Only
    This option ignores any Invoices in the range that have already been printed.

    All
    Prints all Invoices in the range. If you are not using the No Test Printout option, any previously printed approved Invoices will have the word "Copy" printed diagonally across the page as a watermark, while any unapproved Invoices will be printed with a "Test Printout" watermark.

    Original
    This option also prints all Invoices in range. Previously printed approved Invoices will be printed again as though they were original copies, without the "Copy" watermark. Unapproved Invoices will carry the "Test Printout" watermark.
    Use the Invoice Type check boxes to limit your selection to specific kinds of Invoice, as described in step 6 below.

  3. Press the [Run] button in the Button Bar to start the printing, or cancel by closing the window.
You can also print a single Invoice by opening it in a record window and clicking the Printer icon. If you want to print to screen, click the Preview icon.

If you specified in the Invoice Form that several copies are to be printed, perhaps on different printers, these copies will only be printed the first time you print an Invoice after approving it. If you print the Invoice again, or print it before you have approved it, only one copy will be printed. If you need to print all copies again, you must print the Invoice starting from the [Documents] button, and you should choose the Original option.

Whichever method you use to print an Invoice, the Form (i.e. the stationery) used will be determined as follows:

  1. Using the Form register, design the invoice Form. Use the 'Properties' function on the Operations menu to name the Form (in this description, we have used the name "INVOICE") and to assign it a Document Type of "Invoice". A sample Invoice Form is supplied with Standard Invoicing: you can modify this to suit your requirements.

  2. Click the [Documents] button in the Master Control panel or use the ⌘-D keyboard shortcut. The 'Documents' list window is opened: highlight 'Invoices'.

  3. Select 'Define Document' from the Operations drop-down menu.

  4. In the subsequent window, enter "INVOICE" in the Form field of the first row (you can use 'Paste Special' to ensure the spelling is correct).

    If you only want to be able to print Invoices that have been approved, enter "OKed" in the Status field. This will prevent the printing of Invoices that have not yet been approved.

    You can also use this feature to use a different Form when printing unapproved Invoices, as shown below:

    Use the Seq. column if you want to print more than one document from each Invoice (for example, a Delivery Note and an Invoice). The Seq. column determines the order in which the Forms will be printed. If, for example, you need the Delivery Note to be printed first, on the first line enter "1" as the Sequence Number and and choose the Delivery Note Form using 'Paste Special'. On the second line, enter "2" as the Sequence Number and specify the Invoice:

  5. Click [Save] to save the Invoice Form definition. From now on, the invoice form that you have designed will be used from the 'Documents' function and from the Printer icon, except as described in step 6 below.

  6. Repeat the previous five steps in turn for the Cash Note and Credit Note documents. These will be used from the 'Documents' function and the Printer and Preview icons instead of the standard Invoice document in the following circumstances:
    Cash Note
    If the Invoice has Payment Terms of the "Cash" type, the Cash Note document will always be used instead of the Invoice document.

    Credit Note
    If the Invoice has Payment Terms of the "Credit Note" type, the Credit Note document will always be used instead of the Invoice document.
    In each of the two cases described above, if the document does not have an associated Form (steps 2-5 above), Standard Invoicing will give the warning "Can't find document" when you try to print an Invoice. If you get this warning, check the type of the Invoice before looking to see which document is missing its Form.
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Cash Notes

A Cash Note is an Invoice that is to be treated as being paid. It differs from a normal Invoice in that it does not appear in any of your debt-chasing reports, because it is immediately treated as paid.

To enter a Cash Note, follow the procedure described here for entering Invoices, with just one exception: change the Payment Terms (using the 'Paste Special' function if necessary) to refer to a Payment Term record of Type "Cash". You can register such a Payment Term in the Contact records for Customers that are always issued with Cash Notes (using the Pay. Terms field), so you don't have to make this change every time.

Click the OK check box when you are sure the Cash Note is correct. As with ordinary Invoices, you must approve Cash Notes by checking the OK check box and saving, for them to be posted to your Sales Ledger and for item sales statistics to be updated.

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Credit Notes (Credit Memos)

If you want to credit an Invoice that you have issued, follow these steps:
  1. Click the [Invoices] button in the Master Control panel. The 'Invoices: Browse' window is opened, showing all registered Invoices.

  2. Find the Invoice to be credited in the list, open it and select 'Create Credit Note' from the Operations menu. You can also duplicate the Invoice to be credited or, if you don't want to connect the Credit Note to a particular Invoice, click the [New] button to open an empty new record.

  3. The 'Invoice: New' window is opened. Enter the Invoice in the normal way, but change the Payment Term to refer to a Payment Term record of Type "Credit Note". The phrase "Credit of Invoice" will be placed in the first row of the grid on the 'Items' card, pushing any existing rows down. In the field to the right of this phrase, enter the number of the Invoice to be credited, using 'Paste Special' if necessary to bring up a list of open (unpaid) Invoices.

    If you used the 'Create Credit Note' function to create the Credit Note, the Payment Term and number of the Invoice to be credited will be placed in the new Credit Note automatically.

  4. On the remaining lines you can enter the items to credit, and by what amount.

  5. Click the OK check box when you are sure the Credit Note is correct. As with ordinary Invoices, you must approve Credit Notes using the OK check box for them to be entered in your Sales Ledger.
If you are using Standard Contracts and the Invoice you are crediting was created from a Contract, you may need to issue a new Invoice in its place. You can do this using one of two methods:
  1. Duplicate the original Invoice and make the necessary changes. You must use this method if you created the original Invoice using the 'Create Invoice' Operations menu function, and you may find it more convenient if you used the 'Create Contract Invoices' Maintenance function.

  2. Change the Last Inv. Date in the Contract back to what it was before you created the original Invoice, and then run the 'Create Contract Invoices' Maintenance function again, perhaps only for the Contract in question. To change the Last Inv. Date in the Contract, you will need to remove the check from the OK box, save the Contract, change the date, and then mark the Contract as OK again.
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Credit Notes - Crediting Part of an Invoice

To credit part of an Invoice, start by opening the original Invoice and choosing the 'Create Credit Note' function from the Operations menu. Alternatively, duplicate the original Invoice and enter a Payment Term of Type "Credit Note". Then proceed as follows:
  1. Simply remove all the rows you do not want to credit. Click on the row number to the left to highlight the whole row, and press the backspace key. You will then be left with the rows to credit.

  2. In the case of individual rows requiring a partial credit, simply alter the Quantity field to show the number to be credited.

  3. Click the OK check box when you are sure the Credit Note is correct and [Save] to save it.
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Credit Notes - and Cash Notes

If you need to reverse a Cash Note, you cannot follow the standard crediting procedure. Instead you should enter a new Cash Note (i.e. with a Payment Term of Type "Cash") with a negative value.

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Credit Notes - Invalidating Invoices

In some circumstances it can be appropriate to invalidate an Invoice using the 'Invalidate' command on the Record menu. This function will remove the Invoice from your Sales Ledger. An invalidated Invoice is easily distinguished because all fields have red lines drawn through them. These red lines are also shown in the 'Invoices: Browse' window.

You cannot invalidate an Invoice if it has been at least partially paid or credited or if it has not been approved.

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Operations Menu

The Operations menus for Invoices are shown above. On the left is the Operations menu for the 'Invoices: Browse' window: highlight an Invoice in the list before selecting the function that you need. You can also apply the function to a group of Invoices: highlight the first Invoice in the group and then click on the last while holding down the Shift key. Then select the function. On the right is the Operations menu for the 'Invoice: New' and 'Invoice: Inspect' windows.

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Operations Menu - OK

This command is only available on the Operations menu for the 'Invoices: Browse' window. It allows you to approve an Invoice and is therefore the equivalent of checking the OK box in an Invoice record and saving it. You can also select several Invoices (hold down the Shift key to select a range of Invoices in the list) and approve them all at once. Remember that once this action has been carried out you will no longer be able to modify those Invoices.

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Operations Menu - Invoice Status

This command prints a report to screen summarising all aspects of the Invoice, including Items and payment history. In the illustration below, the Invoice in question has been paid with a Receipt.

In the Invoice History section, you can click on a transaction number (Invoice Number or Receipt Number in the example above) to view that Invoice or Receipt. You can also click on the Customer Number to open the Contact record for the Customer.

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Operations Menu - Create Credit Note

Use this function to create a Credit Note from the Invoice. Please refer here for details.

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