Loading Profile...
Invoice Numbering
I was wondering how the invoice numbering currently works... it seems to be related to a particular client at present?
Is there the way to set an invoice number scheme at all?
At present I just have a year number followed by incrementing number each year for all clients i.e. my invoices are currently 070001, 070002 etc.
I've seen that you can overwrite the invoice number on an invoice-by-invoice basis but it would be nice if you could setup your own scheme too - maybe you could create a series of tags to define what an invoice number looks like - some examples:
i.e.
{year}{globalid} would give 070001
{client}{clientid} would give something like CLI0001 (which seems to be the default at present)
INV{globalid}-{client} would give INV0001-CLI
One for the roadmap maybe!! :)
Not a big deal but would just make integrating into people's existing numbering systems easier...?
Is there the way to set an invoice number scheme at all?
At present I just have a year number followed by incrementing number each year for all clients i.e. my invoices are currently 070001, 070002 etc.
I've seen that you can overwrite the invoice number on an invoice-by-invoice basis but it would be nice if you could setup your own scheme too - maybe you could create a series of tags to define what an invoice number looks like - some examples:
i.e.
{year}{globalid} would give 070001
{client}{clientid} would give something like CLI0001 (which seems to be the default at present)
INV{globalid}-{client} would give INV0001-CLI
One for the roadmap maybe!! :)
Not a big deal but would just make integrating into people's existing numbering systems easier...?
I’m excited
3
people like this idea
I like this idea!
Tell me when this idea gets some attention.
The more people who like this idea, the more it gets noticed.
The more people who like this idea, the more it gets noticed.
The company implemented this idea.
The best point from the company
-
MarkF, Eric, aswl -
We don't constrain you to operate any particular numbering scheme, we only prevent re-use of any given number.
We're still wanting to make changes here to allow the multiplicity of schemes that people use to be made easy. I'm sure a solution that works for nearly everyone can be found.
I’m optimistic
The company thinks
this is one of the best points
-
Inappropriate?Thanks for the suggestion djwhisky.
I'm a huge fan of being able to adopt you're own scheme rather than have one foisted upon you.
One thing we need to be careful about though is changing numbering systems. It *might* cause some confusion with accountants who don't like change.
I'll leave Ed and the lads to let you know about adoption. (Hint: gets my vote)
I’m confident
-
Inappropriate?Well, we do automatic increment of the last invoice reference you entered for each project, and if there isn't one yet we look at the latest one issued for that client. Etc.
We had a lot of discussion about how to 'cleverly' infer the correct next reference based on all kinds of rules. I agree we could do better, but it's surprisingly hard.
Creating a new macro language for invoice references seems a touch of overkill - still, we have a looong roadmap we could add it to the end of...;-> I just wonder if it would be too complex for non-geeks.
Maybe if we just display the most recently used references across the project, client and company, you could be able to choose the next one without checking back at the list. -
-
Inappropriate?That would probably be an easy way to do it - as I use global invoice numbers across all clients/projects, the system is currently guessing at the wrong number - I just tried to create three invoices:
Invoice 1 for Client A I gave invoice number 070001
Invoice 2 for Client B the system tried to use ProjectName 001, which I changed to 070002
Invoice 3 for Client A again - the system tried to use 070002 when it should have been 070003 (should it even have tried 070002 as it would have been a duplicate invoice number?)
The Blinksale way of doing it seems nice, although you would need to show, as Ed has said, the last invoice number issued by the company, for the client and for the project just so you could pick up what scheme you're using... hmmm
I’m undecided
-
Inappropriate?We'll do a bit more head-scratching here this week.
It may well be that, assuming you're totally consistent, we can deduce what's going on with your numbering scheme after a few invoices have been created, such that we can make a good guess.
Until then (and after as well), maybe we should just show those last references. That's what you would be going back to find if you couldn't remember at the point you're creating the invoice.
I’m thinking hard
-
Inappropriate?After trying various systems i am most a fan of the system used by Billings (www.billings2.com) - simple sequential numbering, regardless of project + numbered automatically.
i hope that is not too difficult -
-
Inappropriate?Hi,
I'm used to running a nnn/YY type sequence across all clients, e.g. 001/08 for the first invoice of 2008.
Would this work okay now in FAC?
Rgds
Mark :)
-
Inappropriate?MarkF, Eric, aswl -
We don't constrain you to operate any particular numbering scheme, we only prevent re-use of any given number.
We're still wanting to make changes here to allow the multiplicity of schemes that people use to be made easy. I'm sure a solution that works for nearly everyone can be found.
I’m optimistic
The company thinks
this is one of the best points
-
Inappropriate?I will reiterate my vote for a billings-style system
- the core numbering system is simply sequential regardless of project
- you can decide what number it starts at
- you can specify any prefix or suffix leaving the sequential numbering untouched
- the prefix/suffix can be any text you write or a string automatically putting in a year, month, day, client name, project name or project code or more than one of each in either the prefix or suffix
eg. bargain invoice 138 PEPSI WEBSITE
I just use the simple numbers without any prefix or suffix. This makes it very easy to track invoices -
ie. 136 is older than 137
136 is more overdue than 137 etc (of course we try not to have too many overdue) -
Inappropriate?@aswl
That sounds great, and obviously works for you.
But some users want to start renumbering each year, using a year in the suffix, like MarkF. Some want to have sequential numbering by client, or sequences within projects. The more we research this the more kinds of things we find people wanting to do!
Reconciling all these wishes without introducing extra complexity, or macro-languages which only geeks like us can understand, is tough.
-
Inappropriate?I like this idea and also I think using the foisted-upon FreeAgent numbering system has somewhat confused me! I'd ideally like to be able to stipulate a process (i.e. a macro or function) for generating invoice numbers.
I’m hoping this makes the feature list. But NOT before the API :)
-
Inappropriate?Would really like a sequential numbering system for all invoices irrespective of client or project.
I’m hoping for change
1 person thinks
this is one of the best points
1 Comment Add a comment
This is one of the best points
-
Agreed with Richallum - a global invoice numbering system is much preferred! -
Inappropriate?Rich,
OK, we'll see if we can improve our invoice numbering mechanism to make that easier (maybe a way of specifying per-client and per-project numbering, and if you don't do that you get the global sequence by default).
I’m confident we can get this the way you need it
1 Comment Add a comment
This is one of the best points
-
many thanks
-
Inappropriate?Isn't it important for VAT that your invoice numbers are entirely sequential?
I'm also using a simple global sequence for my invoice references, will any recurring invoices I set up (say for monthly hosting fees) not end up with a reference clash if other invoices have been generated in the mean time? -
Inappropriate?@Tekin,
Depends what you mean by "entirely". By default, FAC takes the name of your project and uses this as the base for a sequence, so each invoice will be:
Project Name + Unique Sequential Number
Wheras a few of us would prefer just to have globally sequential numbers which are unique across all projects :)
You won't have a reference clash within FAC, but your invoice numbering might be a little tricky to follow if you previously used global numbering.
I’m doing a whole software project in 30 days...
1 Comment Add a comment
This is one of the best points
-
Hmmm...HMRC get sniffy about not seeing things in direct sequence. They don't specify the numbering method but they won't like stuff such as ABC1001....1003 + BCD1001...1003. Their argument is you could eqasily have missed an entire sequence. Enforcing a sequence gives them comfort. One way to overcome is to have invoice numbering with either a prefix or suffix that allows you to track projects when the invoice is printed out (g-d forbid)
-
Inappropriate?Ah, OK.
Add me to the list of people that want globally sequential numbers then!!
I’m waiting with bated breath
-
Inappropriate?When you set up a recurring invoice, you have to give it a reference. When this invoice recurs, the new invoice will increment the reference of the old one to the next available reference. This ensures the new reference is unique across all your invoices.
So, if you create a recurring invoice with reference COMPANY_001, then create two more invoices called COMPANY_002 and COMPANY_003, when the invoice recurs, the new invoice will have the reference COMPANY_004. However, if the two invoices you created were called PROJECT_002 and PROJECT_003, the new recurring invoice will be called COMPANY_002, not COMPANY_004.
As Ed mentioned above, we are looking into how best to support a global invoice referencing system, and we'll be sure to keep you updated with progress.
I’m happy
-
Inappropriate?A global invoicing number system would make a big difference, but until then what I've got in FreeAgentCentral is a list of all the invoices for this tax year, out of my previous global sequence, but still legal and stored in an easily accessible way.
So, it's more of a feature request; but there's a lot of customers here wanting it :)
I’m happy
-
Inappropriate?In fairness to the lads, numbering systems are not the easiest thing in the world to get right and once you've settled on one, you're pretty much stuuck with it.
Trouble is there is no mandated method otherwise everyone's life would be simple, if less plesurable.
One way (sorry to add more ideas) is to have a strict sequential method but with tags added. Blinksale does that and it works effectively
I’m hopeful
-
Inappropriate?@Olly - Riiiiight, ok, but does this work if you use a global scheme? my invoices are in the format 0000001, 0000002, etc. Will the recurring invoices still get incremented correctly without a company or project prepended to it?
-
Inappropriate?@Tekin,
LOL, and mine are {ClientName}/{UniqueGlobalID}.
I don't think a solution will please everyone precisely (although a scripting engine would be wonderful if you can provide it), but I would have thought a global ID is more intuitive than client or project or invoice reference based numbering schemes. -
Inappropriate?I use Freshbooks for another business and they allow you to specify an invoice start number (in case you are part way through a sequential system) and then it increments each new invoice created. That'll work for me.
I’m confident
-
Inappropriate?Just wondering if there's been any movement on invoice numbering and allowing a wee bit more flexibility - Even if it was just adding a suffix field that always got appended on the end of the global sequence?
-
Inappropriate?Whisky, I've replied on the other thread
EMPLOYEE
EMPLOYEE
