Create a sales invoice

To help you keep track of what your customers purchase from you, how much they owe you and when payment is due, you can create a sales invoice to send to them. When they pay you, you can then record the payment against the invoice.

Before you can create an invoice, if you have not already done so, you need to create contact records for your customers. You can also specify Document Preferences such as document numbering, prefixes, and terms & conditions, and add a company logo and apply a template.

Emailing sales invoices

Accounting Start sales invoices are hosted on the web, which means that your customers receive a hyperlink to their invoice if you email it to them. After clicking the hyperlink, they can review the invoice, save it as a PDF, or print it. Optionally, you can select Include PDF attachment if you want to include a PDF of the sales invoice with the email.

To create a sales invoice

  1. Go to Sales, and then click New Invoice.
  2. Enter the following information:

    • Customer. Enter the customer's name. As you start to type, a list of customers appears and you can click the required customer. Alternatively, to add a new customer, click the arrow, click Add a customer, enter the relevant information, and then click Save.
    • Invoice Date. Enter the date of the invoice.
    • Reference. If required, enter a reference (for example, a customer order number).
    • Main Address. If there is an address in the customer's record, this appears automatically. If there is no address in their record, click Add a main address, enter the address, and then click Update. This does not update the address in the customer's record.
  3. To add an item to your invoice, enter the following information:

    • Description. Enter a description for the item you are selling.
    • Category. If you want to change the default category, click the arrow, and then click the category you want to use.
    • Price/Rate. Enter the price of the item of rate for the service.
    • Tax Rate. If available and applicable, specify the tax rate to use.
    • Total. Verify or enter the total amount for the item.
  4. If required, enter any notes and terms and conditions.

  5. If you want to attach a file such as a sales brochure, image or supporting documentation, select Attachment and then Upload files and then browse to the file.

  6. Click Save Invoice, Save as Draft, or Save and Add New.

  7. To print, email, or download it, click it to open the Sales Invoice page and then click the option you want on the right.

Reorder invoice lines

Once you added lines on your invoice, just choose the Reorder lines link to change the order they are printed on your invoice. You'll need to save the invoice as a draft first.

  1. Select the Reorder lines link.

  2. Choose to save the invoices as a draft.

  3. Use the icon in the Reorder column to drag and drop the lines to the required order.

  4. Select Apply. This takes you back to the invoice with the lines in your chosen order.

  5. To save the invoice ready to send to your customer and update your accounts, clear the Draft check box and then choose Save or Save and email.