We see a lot of invoices. At least few hundred each week. Most are templates from accounting software like Xero and MYOB. Some are handwritten. And almost every single one will have been issued with the assumption that the money will follow soon after. But have you ever thought about how much importance your invoice has on getting you paid? We’re here to tell you- a LOT. You would be shocked at how little information some invoices we see have. There was the one simply addressed to “Andrew P” for “work done”. And it was for $11,000! Another one was for “The owner of 22 Queen Street”. If you want to be paid, your invoice MUST be detailed and MUST have these 5 things:
1. Your bank account details. Surely no one would forget to include these right? Wrong. We see plenty. Ideally your bank details would be in bold, with your account name, BSB number and account number in larger font than the rest of the invoice. If you can use a red font, even better. You want them to stand out.
2. The due date. Don’t just have “Terms 7 days” and trust them to work out from the invoice date when it’s due. Give them the actual due date.
3. Their full business name or personal name. You probably don’t need to go to all the trouble of adding the Pty Ltd as per ASIC’s website if they’re a business but ideally you want the full and correct entity. Not only does it look professional but it also helps to avoid any disputes down the track about responsibility for paying. The best time to get this information is at the start, before you’ve even done the work or provided the product- just ask them-“who do I make the invoice out to?”.
4. Their address. We simply cannot stress this enough. If you have their address, include it on the invoice, including State and postcode.
5. A detailed description. “Supplied glass” is just too vague. “Supply and delivery of 4 x ‘Silverwood’ panes of glass to 55 Smith Street on 17th June 2023” is not. The more information you can include the better.
Cheers guys. The more thorough and detailed your invoices are, the more chance you are of being paid.
Top 5 things your invoice MUST have