There is more to life than spending hours a day generating, sending and following up invoices. There are a couple of simple ways you can make invoicing a fast, efficient, and dare it be said, fun procedure. Here are 6 tips for achieving a more efficient invoicing system that can help to gain time back in your day to do more of the things you love.
Recruit a bookkeeper
The primary objective of bookkeeping is to keep day-to-day systematic records of all financial records for a business. A bookkeeper creates invoices and ensures they’re sent out on time. They record all payments that come in and follow up unpaid invoices.
When small businesses reach a certain size, it can become impractical and costly for business owners to continue handling their own bookkeeping. Outsourcing to an external bookkeeper means that you have someone dedicated to recording your business’ financial data. This means important information financial information is less likely to be swamped by other concerns.
Use invoicing programs
A cloud-based invoicing program makes creating, sending, and following up invoices a much simpler process. Most software programs will allow you to easy to set up an invoice template for your clients with the necessary business information. The invoice is sent out, with easy payment options to get you paid faster. You can set different payment terms for clients and accept payment through the software.
A cloud-based system can also keep track of when your invoices are overdue and send out reminders without you thinking about it.
Set up a payment schedule
If you have regular clients who use the same services on a regular and predictable basis, you may be able to set up a payment schedule with them. This is easier if done with a cloud-based system, which can automatically be set up to send out recurring invoices. You set up the frequency of the invoices and your client gets used to expecting those invoices and paying them quickly.
Invoice when job is complete
The sooner you have finished a job and have an invoice to the client, the sooner you will get paid. After each phase of a project, you should guarantee that accurate records are kept in your invoice managing system, with the aim to immediately insert detail into the invoice and send it off as soon as the job is finished.
Invoice electronically
Make things as easy as possible for your client to pay as soon as they receive the invoice. Using an invoice management system that automatically generates an electronic invoice, often with a hyperlink to your payment system, that is emailed straight to the customer makes for a simple and fuss-free way to guarantee a quick payment turnaround.
Reminders about unpaid invoices
It doesn’t matter how efficient your invoicing may be, there will always be late paying clients. Eventually there will be some chasing up required to collect payment of unpaid invoices. With an online invoicing tool, chasing unpaid invoices is as easy as running a report every month.
To assist in improving this process, you can send a reminder to those who haven’t paid on a monthly basis to improve cash flow. For those that still choose to pay, you can also implement a late payment fee to encourage better habits.
So, what are you waiting for? Contact Arabon and speak with one of our experienced and caring bookkeepers who can help you set up a more efficient invoicing system. Call us on 1300 ARABON or visit our website.
