If you own a small accounting business, it means numbers are very important for you - which is why an accountant invoice template is necessary. As a professional accountant, you need to behave and appear professionally in front of your clients.
Invoices hold a critical role, but you must also learn how to use them properly. The financial transactions may depend on the type of invoice used, the information added, and many more.
If you are offering your bookkeeping services to anyone, this guide should help you more in handling those financial documents.
What Is the Accounting Invoice Used For
An accounting invoice is used for collecting payment when you are providing accounting services. In simple terms, it's a document informing someone that they have to pay you money.
An accounting invoice template may be used by a variety of individuals, such as accountants, bookkeepers, and accountant clerks. It will contain all the pricing structures that are relevant for any project of yours.
Why Use Accounting Invoice Templates
As a business owner, you will likely have a lot of clients, all of which will receive at least one invoice from you. Writing down all your invoices from scratch can be very troublesome, which is why you may want to use a free accounting invoice template.
There are plenty of places where you may get a free invoice template. For instance, if you have a Bonsai account, you can get a free invoice whenever you need one.
Types of Invoices for Accountants
If you are providing accounting services to different companies, there are several types of accounting invoices that you may use. As a tax accountant, you will likely go through the following for your professional tax invoice template:
Standard Invoice
This is one of the most common types of financial statements. You may use it for all your clients, no matter if you go for an hourly rate or a fixed fee proposal.
Automatic Invoice
If you are doing monthly accounting services, then you may want to go for automatic invoices. You may use accounting software such as Hello Bonsai to send out the invoices in a timely manner.
Pro Forma Invoice
Business accounting can't always be completely exact, and in the beginning, you might need to offer an estimate. This type of invoicing process is called "pro forma," where you are creating more of an estimate rather than a bill.
Debit Invoice
Debit invoices are used when you are charging extra services rendered. For instance, you may have used a standard accounting invoice template for the main payment, but later work led to an extra charge. This is where the debit invoice comes in.
Credit Invoice
Credit invoices are used when you are issuing a discount or an invoice. Such an invoice template can also be used to address a billing dispute.
Prepaying Invoice
If you are billing a client for future work, a prepaying invoice may be used to make that charge.
Mixed Invoices
If you have multiple operations to make, such as both billing a customer and giving them a discount, a mixed invoice template may be used in this case.
What Should Be Included in an Accountant Invoice Template?
When putting down information in a free invoice template, there are certain details that you shouldn't skip. These are:
- Contact information, such as your company name, email address, actual company address, and more.
- Company logo
- The contact information of your client or business partner
- Unique invoice number, due date, and date of the invoice
- Prices for services, such as the flat rate or hourly rate
- Sales tax amount, among with total amount
- Terms of payment
The more detailed you are with the information on the invoice template, the fewer issues you will have with the payments.
How to Create Accounting Invoices
When filling out invoice templates as the owner of an accounting or bookkeeping business, you must make sure that you add all the necessary information, in the correct order. Here is what you should do when dealing with professional invoices:
Add the Invoice Number, Due Date, and Invoice Date
These details may seem like they are small and insignificant, but they are overall very important - especially for you as the business owner. Depending on the size of your company, you may have a significant number of invoices to send out. If there are too many of them, keeping track may be difficult.
By adding an invoice number, an invoice date, and a due date on the accounting invoice, it will be much easier to keep track of who owes you money. Make sure that every invoice has a unique invoice number, to avoid potential confusion.
Write Down Information on Both Business Partners
When you fill out accounting invoice templates, the next step after the invoice number and due date should be to write down the information for both parties. This can include the name of the partners, their address, their contact number, and all the other relevant information.
By adding the buyer's information, you will be able to contact them for payments, especially if said payment is issued for a later date. There are also cases when the client may need to contact you as well, which is why your information has to be on the accounting invoice.
Add a Description of the Goods
When filing an accounting invoice template, you also need to write down information on the purchased goods. This includes brand, quantity, quality, and many more. This would help explain the price and avoid legal complications in the future.
Put Down Payment Terms
Last, but not least, the invoice template has to include the terms of payment. How will the client make their payment to you? Will they pay cash, or will they make a bank transfer later?
Will they pay upfront, or will they make the payment at a later date? How often should they make this payment? Even a basic invoice should have this kind of information.
The Bottom Line
An invoice template can help make your life as an accountant much easier. You just need to find the right invoicing software that can help you handle this business. Once you automate the process, it will help speed up the finances of your business.