Sales Invoices

You use this option to prepare and print invoices for customers. The design of invoice documents and their processing is achieved using the Document Design Manager option of the Installation program and need only be done once. Up to six completely different invoice documents (excluding Compact) may be designed for every company configured in the system.

In general terms there are three main types of invoice:

Stock-linked invoices — where the product information is taken from the stock system files, and not only can the sales ledger be updated automatically after printing the invoice but so can the stock system files.

Product-linked invoices — where details of price, description and so on are extracted from a product file (maintained by the invoicer system itself, see below).Sales ledger files can be updated after the invoice is printed.

Free format invoices — where the invoice details can be posted to the sales ledger files after printing, but details of description, price and so on must be keyed in every time for each item. Free-format invoicing is somewhat different to product/stock-linked invoicing insofar as line entries are concerned, and each type is described separately below.

Note that for any invoice type, the details displayed and the facilities available depend on the way the document was defined in the first place. The examples shown below may well differ, therefore, from the screens you see in your own system.

Select Document Layout

When you choose the Sales Invoice option from the main invoicer menu, you are presented with a list of up to six invoice layout names. A screen similar to that shown below is presented to you if there is more than one document layout.

Select the invoice layout which you want to use and press <Enter>.

Send Output To…

You are then asked to confirm the printer device to be used. The name of the printer which is currently active is displayed, and you can use the mouse to swap the printer output (from printer to fax/spooler) or to change the printer it is output to.

Document Stages

There are three main stages in the preparation of an invoice:

Header information - for details such as account code, customer name and address, date, invoice number and so on

Detail line entries which show how the invoice value is derived

Closing information - where final totals and the tax analysis are printed.

Invoices are entered on a line-by-line basis, and you are allowed to mix taxable and non-taxable items within the same invoice. Different general ledger and analysis codes may be used for each invoice line.