5.3Invoices

The invoice is the formal request for payment and the document that drives your accounts receivable.

#The Invoices list

Sales → Invoices shows status tabs — All · Unpaid · Overdue · Paid · Draft — each with a count, a summary of total invoiced and total outstanding, and a table with Invoice #, Reference #, Customer, Date, Due, Subtotal, Total, Paid, Balance due, Currency, Status, Created and Updated (choose which to show). Filter by customer and date (presets This month, This year, Last 30 days, Last year), or switch to the Board view to see invoices as cards in columns by status.

Status meanings:

#Creating an invoice

1. Click New invoice (or + Create → New invoice, ⌘K → New invoice, or convert a sales order). The form is laid out like the printed invoice.
2. Fill in the header:
   • Customer * — start typing to pick one. The customer's currency, payment terms, addresses and email come with it.
   • Invoice no. — leave blank and the next number is assigned on save (Settings → Accounting → Transaction Numbering); or type your own.
   • Reference — the customer's PO number or any free text.
   • Invoice date * — defaults to today.
   • Payment terms — choosing a term (Net 15, Net 30…) sets the due date.
   • Due date * — editing it by hand detaches the payment term.
   • Currency — the customer's currency. When it differs from your base currency an exchange rate is required; the daily rate feed prefills it (the bank's buying rate for the invoice date, named under the field — Chapter 22.6) and you can change it; line amounts are entered in the document currency and posted to the ledger at that rate.
   • Optional Warehouse (which stock the goods leave) and Business unit (a reporting segment). To book the sale to a project, pick the project under a line's Dimensions (Chapter 15, Project as a dimension).
3. Add line items. The Rate fills in from the customer's price list or a pricing rule when one applies (Chapter 22, Price Lists) — the origin shows under the rate — and from the item's own sell price otherwise; a rate you type sticks. For each row:
   • Product/service — picking an item fills the description, rate, income account, tax and unit from the item record. Leave it blank for an ad-hoc line and choose the Account yourself.
   • Description, Qty, Unit (UoM), Rate, Discount %, Tax and the calculated Amount.
   • Dimensions — analytic dimensions (class, location, department…) for this line, if your organisation uses them.
   • More — per-line tax treatment (acquisition VAT, reverse-charge VAT, tax exemption code, product type).
   • Add line adds a row; the bin icon removes one. Show / hide columns hides columns you never use.
4. Add billable expense / Add billable bill items pull in costs you recorded against this customer (Chapters 6 and 7) so they can be re-billed — each becomes a line on the invoice and is marked invoiced at the source.
5. The totals box shows Subtotal, Discount, Tax, Adjustment (a manual rounding or goodwill amount), Shipping, Deposit and Total.
6. Below the lines: Customer message (printed on the invoice — "Thanks for your business!") and Terms & conditions. Both pre-fill from Settings → Sales → Invoices.
7. Drop files on the Attachments pin to attach supporting documents.
8. Save:
   • Save as draft — stores the invoice without posting it.
   • Save & deliver — saves and marks it delivered in one step, which posts the accounting entries.
   • When editing an existing invoice there is a single Save changes.

Lots. An item tracked by batch or serial shows a Lots cell on its line. Leave it on Auto-pick and the nearest-expiry (or oldest) stock in the warehouse is taken when the invoice posts, or open it and choose the lots or units yourself; a reopened invoice shows what it shipped. See 10.11 Batches, serials and expiry.

#Manage invoice

The Manage invoice button opens a side panel that controls how this invoice looks and behaves:

• Customization — switches for the header fields (Ship to, Customer email, Customer contact info, Reference, Invoice no., Invoice date, Due date, Terms) and the table columns (#, Product/service, SKU, Description, Service date, Qty, Unit, Rate, Discount, Tax, Amount). The form and the PDF follow the same choices.
• Payment options — Charge for shipping / handling (with optional tax on shipping), an invoice-level Discount as a percentage or amount with Apply discount after tax, and a Requested deposit (percentage or amount) that reduces the Balance due shown on the PDF.
• Design — the PDF template this invoice prints with (Chapter 22, Templates), overriding the customer's or organisation's default.
• Scheduling — Send later: pick a date and time and the invoice is emailed automatically then. It also holds the Payment schedule editor (below).
• Custom fields — values for the invoice custom fields your organisation defined.

#Payment schedules (instalments)

If the customer pays in instalments rather than by one due date:

1. In Manage invoice → Scheduling, click a preset — 50 / 50, Equal thirds or 30 / 40 / 30 — or Add installment to build rows by hand.
2. Each row has a Description (On delivery), a Due date, and either a % or an Amount. Entering one calculates the other.
3. The summary shows the schedule total against the invoice total and whether they match. The invoice cannot be saved while they differ.
4. Clear removes the schedule and returns to a single due date.

On the invoice page the Payment schedule tab then shows each instalment with amount, paid, balance and Paid / Partial / Overdue / Pending.

#The invoice page

Open an invoice to see the header (customer, invoice and due dates, reference, source order), the Invoice Summary (Subtotal, Paid, Due Amount), and tabs: Overview (lines and totals), Journal Entries (the postings, once delivered), Payment schedule (if any), Payment transactions (every payment applied — date, number, reference, deposit account, amount) and Approvals (when an approval rule applies).

Buttons change with the status:

The ⋯ menu holds: Submit for approval (when a rule requires it), Send Mail, Share payment link, Send follow-up reminder, Write off as bad debt / Cancel writeoff, Download PDF, Un-deliver (revert to draft) and Edit invoice.

#Recording a payment against one invoice

1. On the invoice click Add Payment. The Receive Payment dialog shows the customer and invoice.
2. Receipt No. (auto when blank), Amount Received (pre-filled with the amount due — reduce it for a part payment), Receipt Date, Deposit to * (the bank or cash account), Reference # and Statement.
3. Click Save payment. The balance updates and the payment appears under Payment transactions, and in Payments Received.

If the customer paid more than the amount due, enter what they paid: the invoice takes its due and the rest is kept as credit on the customer's account (the dialog says how much). Apply it to a later invoice or refund it from the payment's page (section 5.9).

To record one payment against several invoices, use Payments Received (section 5.9).

#Sharing a payment link

⋯ → Share payment link creates a secure public link for this invoice and copies it to your clipboard. Paste it into any message. The customer sees your logo, the amount due (or Paid in full), the invoice summary, your customer message and terms, a Pay button that opens a secure card checkout, and Download invoice PDF. After paying they see Payment received and get a receipt by email; the payment is recorded on the invoice automatically.

#Follow-ups and reminders

Follow up (or ⋯ → Send follow-up reminder) emails the customer a payment reminder for this invoice immediately. Automated reminders — before and after the due date — are configured once at Settings → Communication → Follow Up and Reminders, and can be switched off per customer.

#Writing off a bad debt

1. On a delivered invoice with a balance, choose ⋯ → Write off as bad debt.
2. Pick the Bad-debt expense account and optionally a Reason.
3. Click Write off. The balance drops to zero, the invoice shows Written Off, and an entry moves the amount from receivables to the expense account.
4. ⋯ → Cancel writeoff reverses it.

#Sending the invoice

Send Mail opens the mail drawer (section 2.8) with the subject and message pre-filled from the Invoice notification template, Attach invoice PDF on, and a PDF template picker. A preview of the PDF sits beside the form.