Invoice an order
Raise a full, partial, down payment or milestone invoice from a confirmed order.
Before you begin
- The order is confirmed or delivered.
- You hold document.invoice. Posting the invoice also needs that right; recording a receipt needs payment.record.
- Know the invoicing policy: Invoice what is delivered, Invoice what is ordered or Milestones. It is set in Sales settings and can be overridden on the Commercial tab under Invoicing policy.
Raise an invoice
- Open the order and press Create invoice.
- In the dialog Bill SO-..., check Invoice date (today by default).
- Look at the columns Ordered, Delivered, Already invoiced and Left.
- In Invoice now keep the proposed quantity for each line, or type less.
- Press Raise the invoice.
A draft customer invoice opens with the order's lines. Post it with Post invoice. Posting, receipts and corrections are covered in Create and post a customer invoice.
Partial invoicing: example
An order has 10 units at AED 100.00, VAT 5%. Policy is delivered quantities and 6 are delivered.
| Step | Result |
|---|---|
| Try to invoice 8 | Refused: '<line>: only 6 can be invoiced now - 6 of 10 delivered, 0 already invoiced.' |
| Invoice 6 | Draft invoice for 600.00 + VAT 30.00 = 630.00 |
| Back order of 4 delivered, press Create invoice again | Dialog shows Already invoiced 6, Left 4 |
| Invoice 4 | Invoice 400.00 + VAT 20.00 = 420.00; Invoice status = Fully invoiced |
With the ordered policy you can invoice the full 10 straight away.
What the dialog refuses
- Nothing entered: 'Nothing selected. Put a quantity against at least one line.'
- More than is left: '<line>: only <n> of <m> is left to invoice.'
- Everything already invoiced: "Everything on this order has already been invoiced."
- With the delivered policy and nothing delivered, the dialog says nothing more can be invoiced.
Down payments
- Open the Down payments & milestones tab (confirmed or delivered orders only).
- Choose Percentage of the untaxed total or Fixed amount (untaxed).
- Enter the value and press Create down payment invoice.
On an order with an untaxed total of AED 10,000.00, a 20% down payment raises a draft invoice for AED 2,000.00 plus VAT. All down payments together cannot exceed the untaxed total: 'Down payments would come to more than the order's untaxed <net>.' The final invoice deducts the down payment ("Deducted on").
Milestone billing
Set Invoicing policy to Milestones, then on the Down payments & milestones tab:
- Add billing steps with a Step name, a Percent and Reached by (Approval or Date, with a Date for scheduled steps). Up to 50 steps; together no more than 100%.
- Press Save steps ("Billing steps saved.").
- When a step is done, enter what proves it in What proves it (sign-off) and press Mark reached ("Step reached.").
- Press Invoice this step ("Step invoiced."). A step not yet reached is refused: 'Only a reached step is invoiced.'
For example, steps of 30% on design sign-off and 70% on handover produce two invoices of AED 3,000.00 and 7,000.00 on a net of AED 10,000.00, each plus VAT.
What happens next
- Invoice status on the order follows posted invoices: To invoice, Partially invoiced, Fully invoiced.
- The Invoices smart button lists the invoices. Invoices may also be created on their own under Sales > Invoicing > Customer invoices with New invoice.
- Posting writes the journal: Dr receivable, Cr revenue, Cr output VAT.
Good to know
- The order and its invoice are separate documents. Editing the order later does not change an invoice already raised; the invoice carries the confirmed prices.
- A posted invoice cannot be edited or deleted. Use Credit this invoice or Reverse (Returns and credit notes).
- If Check credit again before invoicing is on and the customer is over the limit, posting is refused with a 'Credit check: ...' message.