27 Items to Include on Your Invoices
Your Invoices Should Include All the Information Your Customers Need
Putting yourself in the shoes of the Accounts Payable Clerk who will review the invoice and match it to the original P.O. and receiving document is a great way to ensure your invoices are easy to handle. Invoices should include all the information that the AP Clerk and any additional Approving Authority (if required) may need. The invoice must be clear, easy to read, highlight the most important information, and convey a message of what action you expect (i.e. payment in full by the due date at your remittance address).
Here’s 27 items to include on your invoices:
Bill to address: customer company name, address
Attention of: your customer’s employee or department that will be sent the invoice, typically the bill to approval authority (if applicable) or department (e.g. Accounts Payable)
Ship to address
Invoice number and date
Date product shipped or service delivered
Payment terms
Due date
Customer account number
Customer purchase order (PO) number
Vendor Federal Tax I.D. number
Vendor internal sales order number
Quantity: number of items for each product/service delivered
Description of products or services delivered. This must appear in layman’s terms and not use engineering jargon or abbreviations. Remember an Accounts Payable clerk is going to determine if the invoice is for the product/service ordered on the P.O.
Unit price(s)
Extended amount(s) due (quantity times unit price).
Discounts (price only, not prompt payment discounts).
Freight and sales tax if applicable
Total amount due
Remittance address (post office box of lockbox for regular mail, street address of lockbox for courier deliveries, and bank information for wire transfers and other electronic payments).
The phrase, “Questions about this invoice should be directed to [Phone number (and/or name) of person to call]”
Tear off remittance portion, with instructions for paying with a credit or procurement card, a change of address section, and any Optical Character Readable (OCR) number or bar code for scanning. Also include a request to return the remittance portion with their payment, or the information (remittance advice) to be listed on their check or sent with their electronic payment (e.g. invoice number, amount paid for each invoice, customer account number, etc.)
Boldface message in large font, stating, “Please pay $______ by [due date]”
Offer of prompt payment discount (if any), phrased, “Save $______ if payment received by [discount date].”
Late payment fee/finance charge statement.
Listing of attachments as required by customer
Invoice should have a header similar to the vendor company’s letterhead, showing name, address, contact numbers, logo, etc.
The phrase, “Original Invoice” should appear on the invoice.
About The Author
John Salek is President of Revenue Management Associates, LLC, an accounts receivable & order-to-cash consultancy, besides being co-founder of Your Virtual Credit Manager. He is also the author of “Accounts Receivable Management Best Practices” (J. Wiley & Sons, 2005)