Invoice formatting best practices

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Formatting an invoice on a document is straightforward, much like a business letterhead. The main structure of the invoice should clearly indicate who is billing whom, how the recipient can contact you for questions or payment submissions, and how to identify this bill from others if they regularly do business with you.

Indicate document purpose

Clearly specify that this is an invoice for the collection of an outstanding balance for services rendered. To get money as quickly as possible, ensure the recipient knows this isn’t for recordkeeping and requires immediate payment.

Your company information

Include your logo and company information at the top to clearly signify who is sending the invoice, along with relevant information needed to contact you should the recipient have questions. This includes phone number, website address, physical address and email.

Buyer information

Specify the billing information of the buyer to indicate who is expected to pay the invoice amount.

Invoice reference

Include additional reference information for proper bill tracking, such as an invoice number and date of billing.

Bill amount

Indicate the full amount of the bill, along with tax and additional line item information.

Payment options

Tell buyers what methods they can use to pay outstanding balances and whether you’ll accept partial payments. Indicate when full payment is expected, such as 30 days after the original billing date.

Specifying payment total & terms

The entire purpose of the invoice is to identify the cost of services and how the recipient can pay the balance. Invoices should break down the entire cost of a bill into line items, or the individual services or product purchases that make up the final cost. Each line item indicates the service performed or product purchased and then lists the cost associated with it. At the bottom of the invoice is the payment total, which sums up the costs of each individual line item, along with tax.

In addition to indicating the service rendered and the cost associated, some invoices also include additional information, such as the date services were performed, hours spent on the job, and hourly or per item cost influencing the total line item cost.

If you charge for services by the hour, indicate the hourly rate and then multiply it against the total hours spent performing the service. Selling items would work in a similar fashion, though with a per item cost.

For example, a lawn care company would invoice a commercial property for the cost of ongoing lawn care. Instead of simply stating the flat fee of $250 per visit, they’d also break down that cost to indicate that mowing took eight hours of work at $20 an hour, for a total of $200. In addition, five pounds of fertilizer was applied to the lawn at a cost of $10 per pound for a total of $50. The final total then equals $250.

Invoices also include a statement above or below the payment total indicating what forms of payment are acceptable. Identify the acceptable forms of payment and provide information on how to pay for each method. Some invoices include a removable section at the bottom or top of the document where credit card information can be written on the paper and mailed back to the vendor for charge.

Invoice templates

Creating an invoice from scratch is time consuming and may not look as professional as you’d like. Rather than creating your own invoice, many templates exist online for free download. After obtaining a template, enter data where specified to create a fully finished invoice. Microsoft Office’s website contains many free invoice templates with a wide range of layouts and designs to appeal to most any company. Templates can also be found on Google Docs and Open Office.

Invoicing software

If working off a template is still too time consuming or your company processes numerous invoices in a given day, billing and invoicing software proves a more cost- and time-efficient solution. These applications create professional invoices in large quantities and also allow for email invoicing, automatic billing, partial payments, recurring transactions and credit card processing. Software that supports each of these functionalities includes BillQuick, kBilling and Quicken Home and Business.

Vocabulary

independent con’tractor - вольнонаёмный работник, независимая договаривающаяся сторона, независимый контрагент

odds – вероятность, шансы

outline – кратко изложить

rendered – оказанный

instill – внушать

breakdown – деление на категории, разбивка на части

straightforward - простой

letterhead - печатный фирменный бланк

submission - предоставление документации

outstanding balance - непогашенное сальдо задолженности

Specify – указывать, устанавливать

Lawn care - содержание газонов

flat fee – фиксированная комиссия, абонентская плата

mowing – покос травы

fertilizer – удобрение

vendor – фирма-поставщик, торговец

template – шаблон

layout – схема, план

recurring transaction - операция оплаты по постоянному платежному поручению

Exercise 1. Find English equivalents of these words and phrases in the text. Learn them by heart

независимый контрагент, владелец, счет на оплату, срок совершения платежа, покупатель, закупать, назначать цену, получатель/адресат, ведение учетной документации, фактический адрес, информация о счете, дата выставления счета (2), частичный платеж, полный платеж, суммировать, стоимость, умножить на, стоимость за одну штуку товара, быть равным/равняться (в расчетах), фирма-поставщик/торговец, получать

Exercise 2. Fill in the gaps with the words and word combinations from the box

Vendor, owner, partial payments, sum up, obtained, independent contractor, equal, recordkeeping, equals, independent contractors

1) The exact numbers will never be known due to poor___________.

2) The painting has been returned to its rightful___________.

3) Now you can travel more and farther with__________. Splitting your payment into two instalments is possible if the cost of your itinerary (программа визита) exceeds 100 EUR and you have at least one month until departure.

4) Further details can be __________by writing to the above address.

5) She glanced around quickly, and her eyes caught a street __________who was selling ice cream.

6) Four plus six divided by two___________ five.

7) An ____________is someone who runs his or her own business. ___________ are sometimes called consultants, freelancers, self-employed, and even entrepreneurs or business owners.

8) " In three words I can ___________ everything I've learned about life: it goes on." - Robert Frost quotes from BrainyQuote.com.

9) The total debits should ___________the total credits.

Exercise 3. Correct the mistakes if necessary.

Sam up, obtein, pashial paymant, ouner, independent contractor, peyments dju, iqual, recodkeepin, vender, date billing, invoise, ricepient, multiply opposite

Exercise 4. Answer the questions

1) What is an invoice?

2) What point should be included into your invoice?

3) How can we save time when creating an invoice?

4) What does each line item indicate?

Text 6

Assets vs. Liabilities & Revenue vs. Expenses

Anyone going into business needs to be familiar with the concepts of assets and liabilities, revenue and expenses. If your business were a living organism, these would be its vital signs. Assets and liabilities are the fundamental elements of your company's financial position. Revenue and expenses represent the flow of money through your company's operations.

Assets vs. Liabilities

Accounting standards define an asset as something your company owns that can provide future economic benefits. Cash, inventory ([‘invə ntri]), accounts receivable, land, buildings, equipment - these are all assets. Liabilities are your company's obligations -either money that must be paid or services that must be performed. A successful company has more assets than liabilities, meaning it has the resources to fulfill its obligations. On the other hand, a company whose liabilities exceed its assets is probably in trouble.

Balance Sheet

Your company's assets and liabilities are reported on its balance sheet. Assets go on one side of the sheet, liabilities on the other. The difference between them is the owners' equity in the company - what the owners would take away if they sold all those assets and paid off all those debts. The " balance" is the fact that the total value of the company's assets always equals the total value of its liabilities plus the total owners' equity.

Revenue vs. Expenses

Revenue is money your company earns from conducting business. If you owned an ice-cream stand, for instance, revenue is what you get from customers who buy ice cream. Expenses are the costs you incur to generate that revenue. The ingredients you buy to make the ice cream, the wages you pay your employees, the rent and utilities you pay for your stand - these are all expenses. To remain viable, a company's revenue must exceed its expenses.

Income Statement

Revenue and expenses appear on your company's income statement. Revenue minus expenses equals your operating profit - the profit your company made in its business. Revenue and expenses are distinct from " gains" and " losses, " which represent money made or lost on the sale of company assets or other activities outside the day-to-day operations of the company. When an ice-cream shop sells an ice-cream cone, for example, the money it gets is revenue. But when that shop sells, say, a piece of equipment it no longer needs, any profit it makes from the sale is a gain. That's because the company is in business to sell ice cream, not equipment. Gains and losses appear on the income statement separate from revenue and expenses.

Vocabulary

asset – [‘æ sə t] – актив, имущество, запас

liability - долговое обязательство, задолженность

vital signs - жизненно важные функции, основные показатели жизнедеятельности

accounts receivable - дебиторская задолженность

owners' equity - доля собственников, собственный капитал, акционерный капитал, уставный фонд

conduct business - заниматься предпринимательской деятельностью

stand – киоск, ларек, стенд

incur – нести (costs расходы)

income statement - отчёт о прибылях и убытках

day-to-day operations – повседневная/текущая деятельность

cone - рожок

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