Creating and sending an invoice
Building an invoice that gets paid: dates, terms, line detail, sales tax, delivery, and what posts to the ledger when you send it.
How-toFor Business owners, Bookkeepers, Firm staff
The statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Not yet issued. Nothing has posted to the ledger. |
| Open | Issued and unpaid. Revenue and the receivable are recorded. |
| Partial | Partly paid. A balance remains outstanding. |
| Paid | Fully settled. |
| Void | Cancelled. Its ledger effect has been reversed and the record kept. |
Building the invoice
- 1
Choose the customer.
Terms and billing contact populate from their record.
- 2
Set the invoice date and check the due date.
The invoice date drives revenue recognition; the due date drives aging and collections. Dating an invoice earlier than the work was done to get it into a period is a revenue recognition problem, not a shortcut.
- 3
Add line items with real descriptions.
"Professional services" invites a question. "Site survey and drainage report, Anderson project, July 14–22" gets approved. The description is the cheapest collections tool you have.
- 4
Apply sales tax if it is due.
Based on the customer's taxability and your registration in the relevant jurisdiction. If in doubt, check before issuing — correcting tax after the fact is unpleasant.
- 5
Add the purchase order number if they require one.
- 6
Review, then issue and send.
Delivery is recorded on the invoice, so you can see whether it went out and when.
Accounts receivable · Northwind Trading
Invoices
| Customer | Date | Due | Status | Source | Total | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anderson Group | Jul 14 | Aug 13 | open | Manual | $18,400.00 | $18,400.00 |
| Calder Foods | Jul 2 | Aug 1 | partial | Document | $26,000.00 | $8,000.00 |
| Harbor Freight Co | Jun 28 | Jul 28 | open | API | $12,740.00 | $12,740.00 |
| Meridian Labs | Jun 20 | Jul 20 | paid | Manual | $9,300.00 | $0.00 |
The invoice list. The Source column shows provenance — whether an invoice was entered by hand, extracted from a document, or created through the API.
- 1New invoice
- 2Status
- 3Source / provenance
- 4Outstanding balance
Illustration of the screen layout
Getting paid faster
- Send to the accounts-payable address, not to your day-to-day contact.
- Include the PO number when one is required — its absence is a silent rejection.
- Invoice promptly. An invoice sent three weeks after the work is an invoice that gets questioned.
- Offer an electronic payment option. Friction at the payment step is a real cause of delay.
- Make the due date explicit on the document rather than only stating terms.
Common questions
An issued invoice has posted, so changes go through a credit memo or a void-and-reissue rather than an edit. If it was never sent and has just been issued, voiding and reissuing is clean.
A deposit received before work is done is a liability, not revenue. Invoice it to a customer deposit or deferred revenue account, then recognize revenue as the work is delivered.
Yes, for anything billed on a fixed schedule. Recurring invoices generate on their schedule and can be reviewed before issue, which is the right setting when quantities vary.
See alsoRecurring journal entries
The invoice record shows delivery. If it was delivered and they still cannot find it, resend to the accounts-payable address specifically — the usual cause is that it landed with someone who does not process payments.
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