Invoice Details

It’s not easy owning a business. As a sole trader, partnership, any small to medium sized business for that matter, we all need to be able to do many different roles. And none of these roles can wait, you need to have so much in place before you leave the starting blocks. Even when you think every box is ticked there is always something else that needs to be done.

Time and cash is key, spend both wisely. Often you will find that there won’t be enough hours in the day, and more often than not you will want and need more of both.

Get your invoicing process set to a high standard, no matter what size your company.  If you send out your invoice right the first time it is sent, this helps enormously with avoiding delays in payments.  Get all the information that you need for invoicing. This may sound obvious but I see many, many invoices on systems that have insufficient details on. I don’t like to leave straggly ends, data that I send out represents me and my brand. I need to be ‘bothered’ about how this invoice is presented.  I am an extension to your business and I will make sure what is sent out is as high a standard as I would send to my own clients.   

If you can get all the elements of your invoice correct, when you contact your client you are already starting on the right foot. When you have quoted on work, you need to ensure you have the correct spelling and formats of all the following.  This is not a definitive list of what is required, but the more fields and information you complete, the better;

Client title (Mr, Miss, Mrs, Ms, Rev, Dr etc)

Client First Name

Client Surname

Client Address including postcode

Client Contact Tel: Mobile & Landline

Client email

Be clear on payment terms e,g as per date of INV, 7 days. 

B2B Invoicing has the above plus:

PO included if applicable.

Full correct name of person in charge of payments (Accounts Payable):

Email Address of person in charge of payments (Accounts Payable):

DDI of person in charge of payments (Accounts Payable):

Be clear on payment terms e,g as date of INV, 7 days. You need to obtain payment date runs. They need to confirm that any PO’s required for payments to be made are issued in a timely manner and in conjunction with your payment terms.

If you are VAT registered, ALWAYS quote and invoice with the total including VAT.

Description on Invoice of works carried out.

If it’s a collection for a delivery to an end customer, as well as the collection contact data you need the persons data that you are delivering to included on the invoice as well. 

Payments details included on all your invoices so BACS payment can be made.  Request that all clients quote your invoice number when making a payment. 

When you raise an invoice, its approved and all the data is there send it straight out. There is no reason to not. You have done your work, get paid for it. If you send it out straight away its more likely to get paid quicker as the work you have done is more fresh in your clients mind.