Invoice Template

An invoice is a document, resembling a receipt, although a bit more detailed and commercial. It is given to the buyer by the seller, indicating the details of the transaction and hence is important in bookkeeping and accounting. As far as retail industry is concerned, the invoice from the perspective of the seller is the sales invoice. Likewise, for the one who is the buyer, it is a purchase invoice. There are various types of invoices, from the self billing invoice to a commercial invoice. However, there are a few basic things which are common to all types of invoices, be it the USA, UK, Australia (where incidentally this word originated) or India. In case you are in a business or the retail industry, I am sure you wouldn't mind an introduction to financial accounting which would assist you keep track of your business transaction, which is exactly what an invoice does, right!

Invoice Format

A typical invoice has the following components -

Company Specifications: This will include the name, address, contact details, registration number and Vat registration number, if at all, of the company.

Invoice Number: If you might have seen an invoice, there is a certain number on that invoice. This number is very important. It may also have alphabets, and many companies do add prefixes to the number indicating the company name. Three placements for numbers make it easy and are good to make sure that they are in order, according to the date.

Dates: Two dates are extremely crucial in an invoice. The first is the date of raise of the invoice and the second is the payment due date.

Client Details: The name of the client if contracting directly or the name of the agency has to be there on the invoice.

Charges and Payment: This section includes description of the services provided by the XYZ company, with gross amount due. There has to be a vat amount (in case of vat registration) and finally the total amount of payment. After that come the terms of payment, as to when and how would you like to receive the money. For instance, checks should be made payable in the name of XYZ. Or payment should be made within 45 days only by cash.

These things are mandatory in an invoice. Now after you are done with the invoice, the agency or the client will communicate to you about how they would like to receive the invoice. Some may ask for a hard copy of the invoice through post, while some others may ask for an invoice via email. For an email it is better to have a PDF file as an attachment so that it cannot be altered. In addition to all this many times agencies want a timesheet signed by the clients and a copy attached with the invoice. Here is a template.

Invoice Sample

The following is a typical template of an invoice.

Company Name - INVOICE
Company Address

Company Telephone Number
Company Email
Company Number: Company number; VAT #: (VAT number)

Invoice No: (Invoice number here)
Date: (Invoice date)
Due date: (Due date)
To: (Client name)

Fees:
(Description of Services) - $XXX

VAT @ 17.5% - $XXX

Total - $XXX.

Payment Terms

Payment within 30 days via money transfer only to the following account:
(Your company name)
Sort Code: (Sort code)
Account No: (Account number)

This is a very basic form of invoice format. There might be variations and specifications as per the number of products or the services provided. Thus, it may get a bit more complicated than this, but don't worry, just remember the services or products you provided and the amount including taxes for that.

This is where I sign off!