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Create Menu - Sales Orders - Invoice

This page describes the 'Invoice' function on the Create menus in the Sales Order browse and record windows. If you are using iOS or Android, the 'Invoice' function is on the + menu.

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You can raise an Invoice from a Sales Order using the following methods:

  • Highlight the Order in the 'Orders: Browse' window and select 'Invoice' from the Create menu (Windows/Mac OS X) or + menu (iOS/Android). If you are using iOS or Android, you can highlight an Order by searching for it. The new Invoice will be opened automatically for checking and approval.

  • Open the Order in a record window and again select 'Invoice' from the Create or + menu. Save any changes you have made to the Sales Order before selecting the function. Again, the new Invoice will be opened automatically for checking and approval.

    If you have many Sales Orders, it may be difficult to find uninvoiced Sales Orders in the 'Sales Orders: Browse' window. You may find it easier to work from the Invoiceable Orders report. You can drill down from this report to individual Sales Orders, from which you can create Invoices.

  • You can also create Invoices from Deliveries. Open a Delivery in a record window and select 'Invoice' from the Create or + menu.

  • If you are using the Create Invoice when OKing Delivery option in the Order Settings setting, an Invoice will be created automatically whenever you mark a Delivery as OK and save. The new Invoice will be marked as OK immediately and automatically.

  • If you are using Windows or Mac OS X, you can create an Invoice by dragging a Sales Order from the 'Orders: Browse' window to the 'Invoices: Browse' window. In this case, the new Invoice will not be opened automatically for checking and approval.

  • To create Invoices from Orders in batches, use the 'Invoice Delivered Orders' Maintenance function. This function will create separate Invoices for each Order. An alternative is to use the 'Group Invoicing' function. This function which will create a single Invoice for each Customer (several Orders may be gathered together in a single Invoice).
Usually you must have issued at least one Delivery that you have marked as OK from an Order before you can issue an Invoice. The exceptions to this are described later on this page.

When you create a Invoice from an Order, a new record will be created in the Invoice register (in the Sales Ledger). If you created the Invoice by selecting 'Invoice' from the Create or + menu, the new Invoice will be opened in a new window, entitled 'Invoice: Inspect'. This means that it has been created and saved and is being opened for checking, amendment and approval.

The Invoice takes its information from the Order, and, as a default, assumes that every delivered Item is to be invoiced. If you have made and marked as OK a partial Delivery, the Invoice will be for the quantities in that Delivery. If you have made and marked as OK two partial Deliveries, the quantities in the Invoice will be the aggregate from both Deliveries. If you have created a Delivery that you have not yet marked as OK, it will not be included in the Invoice.

If the Order contains an Item that requires Serial Numbers, it will usually be in a single Order row with the correct Quantity. When you create the Delivery, it will contain the appropriate number of rows each with a Quantity of one. The Invoice can mirror the Order (i.e. with a single row for the Serial Numbered Item with the Quantity from the Order) or it can mirror the Delivery (i.e. with a number of rows each with a Quantity of one). If you wish to use the latter option, select the Invoice Based on Delivery option in the Order Settings setting. This will be useful if you need to have the Serial Numbers printed on Invoices as well as on Delivery Notes.

Usually, you must have issued at least one Delivery before you can raise an Invoice, so you cannot invoice an Item until it has been delivered. There are two exceptions to this:

  1. If you are using the Automatic delivery for Service and Plain Items option in the Stock Settings setting, Deliveries will not be created for Service and Plain Items because the Del. and Del. OK quantities for these Items will be changed to the Order Quantity when you save the Order. As a result, you will be able to invoice these Items immediately. If you are using this feature, take care not to create premature Invoices accidentally for services such as delivery and labour from Orders that also include Stocked Items. You must still deliver Stocked Items before you can invoice them.

  2. If you have selected the Invoice Before Delivery option on the 'Del. Terms' card of the Order, you will be able to raise an Invoice for the whole Order before you issue a Delivery providing that you have determined that cost of sales postings are to be made on the point of delivery. As cost of sales postings will be made when you mark the Delivery as OK and save, using the Invoices before Delivery option will not affect cost of sales postings in any way. However, if you have determined that cost of sales transactions are to be made from Invoices or from Invoices with Accruals from Deliveries, you won't be able to create an Invoice before issuing a Delivery, even if you have selected the Invoice before Delivery option. This is because cost of sales values won't yet be known as there is no Delivery. The Invoice Before Delivery option in an Order will be selected by default if you are using the Invoices Before Delivery option in the Stock Settings setting.
Subject to access rights, you can change the Quantity of one or more rows on the Invoice screen as appropriate, but not to a Quantity that is greater than was delivered. If you need to use Access Groups to prevent certain users from changing the quantity in Invoice rows, deny them access to the 'Disallow Changing quantity on an Invoice created from an Order' Action.

You can also remove entire rows from the Invoice, by clicking on the row number to the left and pressing the Backspace key (Windows/Mac OS X). If you are using iOS or Android, long tap on the row number on the left of the row and select 'Delete Row' from the resulting menu. You can also add new rows. If you need to invoice a greater Quantity than was delivered, you must do so by adding a new row to the Invoice. Ensure that the Update Stock box on the 'Delivery' card of the Invoice is ticked so that stock levels are updated accordingly and, if appropriate, to cause cost of sales postings to be made in the Nominal Ledger for the extra quantity. The Update Stock box will only apply to Invoice rows that are not related to the Order.

Two check boxes on the 'Debtors' card of the Account Usage S/L setting, Update Base Currency when Invoicing and Update Foreign Currency when Invoicing, control the Base and Exchange Rates on the 'Currency' card of the Invoice. If you are not using these options and you have selected "From Order" as the Invoice Rate option in the Sales Invoice Settings setting, the rates will be copied from the Order. Otherwise, the latest Base and Exchange Rates will be used in the Invoice. In the latter case, the prices in Currency of the Items in the Invoice will not be changed. This means the Customer will still be charged the agreed price, but the value of the Invoice in your home Currency (and therefore in the Nominal Ledger) will be different to that of the Order. If you want to update the pricing in the Invoice to reflect new Base and Exchange Rates (i.e. to change the price charged to the Customer but to maintain the original value in your home Currency and in the Nominal Ledger), enter the correct rates and then select 'Update Currency Price List Items' from the Operations menu.

If you have assigned a Default Item record to the Customer (on the 'Pricing' card of their Contact record), every Item in that record will be added to the Invoice automatically (they will not be shown in the Order or the Delivery). Note that these Items will not have a Quantity, so be sure to enter one before marking the Invoice as OK or printing it.

If an open Prepayment (i.e. one that has not yet been allocated to an Invoice) exists in the Customer's name, a message will appear when the Invoice opens. This will remind you to allocate the Prepayment to the Invoice. You can do this by selecting 'Connect to Prepayment' from the Operations menu and then choosing the Prepayment using 'Paste Special'. If you would like to have the Invoice connected to any relevant Prepayments automatically, select the Connect to Prepayments when Invoicing option in the Order Settings setting. A relevant Prepayment is one created from the Order (i.e. with the Order Number on flip D of the Receipt row). Please refer here for more details about Prepayments.

To print an Invoice, click the Printer icon (Windows/Mac OS X) or select 'Print' from the File menu (all platforms). If you have not yet marked the Invoice as OK and if you are not using the No Test Printout option in the Optional Features setting in the System module, the printed Invoice will be marked as a test print, so that you cannot confuse it with the final version of the Invoice.

When the Invoice is complete, tick the OK check box and save. This signifies that the Invoice has been approved. Associated transactions in the Nominal Ledger (including cost of sales postings if you are using this option) will be created if you have so determined using the Sub Systems setting in the Nominal Ledger and in the Number Series - Invoices setting. You will no longer be able to modify the Invoice. If you are raising part Invoices from an Order, you will be able to raise further Invoices even if you have not marked the previous one as OK.

Please refer here for a full description of the Invoice window, including detailed information about marking Invoices as OK, printing them and generating Nominal Ledger Transactions.

To close the window and return to the Order, click the close box (Windows/Mac OS X) or tap < (iOS/Android). You will be asked if you want to save any changes. The Invoiced figure in each row of the Order (visible on flip D) will be updated automatically (you will need to close the Order and re-open it to see this).

The Order and the Invoice will be connected to each other through the Link Manager facility. This allows you to open the Order quickly and easily when reviewing the Invoice, or to open the Invoice from the Order.

If the function does not create an Invoice, the probable causes are:

  1. There are no Items on the Order awaiting invoicing.

  2. The Order has a Project Number quoted on the 'Del Terms' card. If this is the case, you must raise the Invoice from the Job Costing module, using the 'Create Project Invoices' Maintenance function.

  3. You have selected the Group Invoicing Only option in the Contact record for the Customer ('Terms' card).

  4. There is no valid record in the Number Series - Invoices setting (in the Sales Ledger). This might be a fault in the setting itself, or it might be because the default Invoice Number on the 'Number Series' card of the current user's Person record or in the Number Series Defaults setting (in the System module) is not in a valid Number Series. This problem will usually occur at the beginning of a new year. If you make a change to the 'Number Series' card of the Person record, you will need to quit Standard ERP and restart for it to take effect.
If you create an Invoice by mistake using this function, you can delete it using this procedure, providing you haven't marked it as OK:
  1. Set the value of the Invoice to zero. Do this by removing every row from the Invoice or by changing all quantities to zero.

  2. Save the Invoice.

  3. Delete the Invoice using the 'Delete' command on the Record menu (which has a 'cog' icon if you are using iOS or Android).
If you want to prevent the raising of an Invoice from a delivered Order, use the 'Set Order to Invoiced' Operations menu function.

  • You can use Access Groups to prevent certain users from creating Invoices from Orders. To do this, deny access to the 'Invoice from Order' Action.

    If you need Orders to pass through an approval process before you can create Deliveries and Invoices from them, you can configure such a process using the Approval Rules register in the Business Alerts module. Please refer to the description of the Approval Status options on the 'Inv. Address' card for brief details about the approval process and here for full details..

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    The Sales Order register in Standard ERP:

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