Research About Invoices

Daniel suggested that, along with our proposal document, we also create an example invoice.

Before I do this, it’s important that I conduct some quick research to understand invoices, what to include in them, and how to lay them out.

 

Research

As I’ve never made an invoice before, I wasn’t entirely sure of what is included in them, or how to lay them out. Because of this, I took to the glorious Google to find out what I needed to know.

 

What is an invoice? How do I Make one?

An invoice is a bill that a business sends to customers or clients, requesting payment for goods or services. They usually include a description of the service/item that you’re charging for, as well as other information such as contact details and a possible breakdown of the cost.

Invoices are different to receipts as they are asking for payment – rather than being given to the customer/client after a payment is received.

 

The website I’ve found to be the most helpful so far has been Simply Business.

This site included a step-by-step process for creating an invoice:

  1.  Make your invoice look professional
  2.  Clearly mark your invoice
  3.  Add company name and information
  4.  Write a description of the goods or services you’re charging for
  5.  Don’t forget the dates
  6.  Add up the money owed
  7.  Mention payment terms

The best way to send an invoice is by attaching an un-editable PDF to an e-mail including a brief description of your business and invoice in the subject line and body of the e-mail.

 

Simply Business also included their Youtube video about invoices within this article, and I also found that to be very useful.

 

Looking at Example Invoices

I went to a few different sites looking for examples of invoices.

Here are a few I found:

 

Found on The Write Life website.

 

Found on the Square website.

 

Taken from the Bench website.

 

Now that I have found out everything I need to know about invoices, I can confidently start making my own. I will likely do this using Adobe InDesign.