No matter how big or small, every business needs a way to send, track, and organize its billing process. This isn’t just for tax purposes, it’s also to ensure that your business gets paid and can continue to develop and grow.
The first step toward organizing billing processes should be to create an invoicing system. You can start with a spreadsheet and an invoice template. This doesn’t have to cost you a cent either, as there are plenty of free templates available to choose from. Once you have a professional invoice template set up, you can create an efficient invoicing system.
Here are some tips for getting organized:
Create A Naming or Numbering Convention for Invoices and Quotes
It’s so important to have a way of referencing a specific invoice. In many cases, the name of the client just isn’t enough. What if that client makes many purchases throughout the month for the same amount? What if they pay an amount and it doesn’t equate to any one invoice?
With a proper referencing system, you can attribute amounts owed and payments received to specific invoices. This is a massive help for staying organized and monitoring your cash flow. You’ll know what’s due and what funds you should have available at any time.
The best way to reference your invoices is to use an alpha-numerical system. Use part of the client’s name or the project’s name plus a number to signify which invoice is which in an entire series of invoices.
Group Your Invoices into Spreadsheets
Spreadsheets aren’t just useful for creating your invoices, they’re also great for tracking them. Depending on the size of your business, how many invoices you send, and how many different clients you have, you’ll set your tracking sheets up differently.
You may want to have a sheet per month, or per client per month. The most important factor is to include the unique code for each invoice, the client name, the amount, and the due date. This will give you a snapshot of what you’re owed and what your sales are looking like.
However you do it, you should always make sure that you input your invoice data into this tracking sheet as you create the invoice.
Save Copies of Each Invoice Sent in Specific Folders
The next step is to set up how and where you save your actual invoices. Your spreadsheet tracking system and your invoice template can be saved in a folder on your computer. Within this folder, you can start creating sub-folders.
One way to do this is to create folders for each of your regular clients, and one for once-off clients. Within those folders, divide the invoices up according to years or months, depending on how often you bill them. Alternatively, you can simply use folders divided up by year and month if you don’t want to sort them into different clients.
Once you have your filing system sorted out, be sure to create regular backups of the folder structure and the invoices themselves. A simple way to do this is to use a system like Dropbox, OneDrive, or Google Drive, which automatically backs up your changes to the cloud.
Record All Due Dates and Payments
Part of a truly organized system for invoices has to be tracking payments. It’s all very well ensuring that your invoices go out on time, but you need to ensure that the money gets paid timeously too. If you don’t do this, you won’t be able to predict your cash flow. This makes it difficult to know what money you’re likely to have in the bank when you need to pay your employees, suppliers, or other bills at the end of the month.
In your spreadsheets for tracking, make sure that you record when the due date for each invoice is. You also need to ensure that you put that due date very clearly on your invoice.
As part of your paperwork schedule (see next point), you need to include time for checking on payments in your bank account. If your clients use the unique reference code you put on your invoices as a payment reference, you’ll easily be able to assign payments to invoices.
Another thing you’ll be able to track is if there are repeat offenders with late payments, and which clients pay on time, or ahead of time. You can reward the second group of clients with discounts, or talk to the first group of clients about the possibility of late payment penalties.
Create a Schedule for Paperwork That Suits Your Business
A major key to getting organized is to have a system and a routine for doing things. Reports show that small business owners often work over 60 hours a week to stay on top of their administration. This is far too much time and strain.
If you have a schedule where you carve out specific time for doing your paperwork—invoicing, checking payments, and all other related tasks—you will find you don’t have to spend extra hours on admin. Give yourself a set hour or two every week, every two weeks, or once a month to get the work done.
Just make sure that the schedule suits your business and the amount of paperwork that you generate. If you have over 20 invoices to generate or clients to check on every month, you may need to break down your schedule into weekly chunks to avoid doing too much in one go.
Getting Organized Is the Only Way for a Business to Thrive
With a simple spreadsheet to track your invoices and a clear and concise invoice template, you can boot your business and ensure that your finances are always well organized. You’ll look professional, and you’ll stay on top of your paperwork, ensuring that you can grow your business without having to worry about missing payments or missed payments. Everything you need is at your fingertips. You just need to get your sheet together.
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