Here is a recap for our clients who went through our Xero introduction. We know that it is a lot to take in, so you can come back to these pages at any time to review certain aspects of what you have learnt.

To be able to create receivable invoices in Xero please go the accounts tab and select “Sales”

From this area you will be able to create a new invoice, create a new credit note or send statements. You can also view invoices by their status, you find invoices by draft, awaiting approval, awaiting payment or paid.

Who Are Your Most Important Clients?

In the “Money Coming In” you can find out which client owes you, how much money they owe and when the payment is due. The graph bars are stacked with each block representing one customer and it is showing the net amount outstanding each month based on invoices and credit notes. The graph appear in the month of the invoice due date. If you are carrying a credit balance for a customer in a month this bar will show negative. Only items in the status of awaiting payment will be included on the graph.

In the list “Customers owing the most” you can find the 5 customers that owe you the most money from invoices that you have created and how much they owe as a portion of the total money outstanding to you. (The amounts owing are shown as net balance after any credit notes or payments are taken into account). If you click on “Pie” you can view the 5 customers as a portion of the total outstanding amount they owe you and all your other customers are added together and are labelled “Other” in the pie view.

Create An Invoice

1. Go to the accounts tab
2. Select sales
3. Create a new invoice
4. Start with typing in the client (if the client is in the system already it should appear when you start typing the letters. If the client is new it will be created on the go).
5. Put in the invoice date, if the invoice date is today you can put the letter “T” otherwise type in the date
6. Put in the due date for that invoice (if the due date is 7 days after invoice date you can type “+7”)
7. The invoice number will be created automatically, but you can add one manually if you need to.
8. Add Reference as a reminder what this invoice is about. It could be something like an account number for this client or the name of the project you are invoicing.
9. Select to show the amount with tax exclusive, tax inclusive or no tax (only if you are not registered for GST)
10. Enter the sale details
11. When you are done please either save or approve the invoice. If you choose to save the invoice it will be found in the “draft status” and if you approve the invoice it will go appear in the “awaiting payment status”

 

Email The Client

When you have entered an invoice and saved it, the screen will automatically take you to the overview screen and from here you can choose to change the status for the invoice by submitting for approval, approving the invoice , deleting it or simply editing the invoice by clicking on it. You can also choose to print the invoice or email the client from here! Simply tick the customer you want to email and press on the button  “email”. If you need to quote from within Xero, you can use the draft stage for that.

If you choose to approve an invoice that you have created, you will come to an area where it shows that the invoice is approved and from here you can also choose to either print or email the customer. If you need to make any changes on the invoice you will need to press on the button “Invoice Option” and choose edit and update the changes made.

When you are emailing your customer be aware of that there are three different ways of sending the invoice to choose from. Choose what you think is the most appropriate for your customers (Options).

You can setup email templates to speed up your invoicing in Xero (Email templates)

Creating A Repeating Invoice

If you have any customers that you invoice on a recurring basis we recommend you create a repeating invoice to save time with data entry. And yes, even when the amounts change it is useful to do that. You can simply save the repeating invoice as a draft and then make updates or changes before sending.

1. Go to the accounts tab
2. Select sales
3. Press on the arrow next to button “New Invoice” and choose create repeating invoice. (You can also use an existing invoice as a template by choosing Repeat from the Invoice Options menu at the top right of an opened invoice.)
4. In the repeat area you choose how and when you want the invoice to repeat.
5. Add the customer, reference and sales details as you would in a normal invoice.
6. Don’t forget to choose the status on this invoice by either ticking save as draft, approve or send & approve. If you choose to save the repeating invoice, it will appear in the “draft status” area where you still can edit the invoice.
   If you choose approve it will appear in the “awaiting payment status area” where you still can edit the invoice if needed. You have to send it manually.
   If you choose to send and approve the invoice it will appear in the “awaiting payment status” and be emailed automatically on the invoice day.
7. Please save

 

For more details, check the excellent Xero help section on repeating invoices.