It is irrelevant whether your business is under certain debt or not but a business surely thrives on daily revenues. This everyday cash flow is utmost necessary for any business to function smoothly. Moreover, not only it helps in paying its own bills but also to maintain a good credit with the bank.

So everything comes down to maintaining daily cash flow. To manage this you’ll need an appropriate and professional invoicing system in place. But the challenging part is how to make your invoicing system work efficiently so that it benefits your business.

By adopting the following practices you can form an efficient invoicing system:

1) Using A Professional Invoice Generator

Instead of manual invoicing, which many at times leads to errors causing delayed payments, one should go for a cloud-based invoicing system. This electronic invoicing system or simply online invoicing allows you to send bills electronically. Not only it offers you numerous features like Payments, Estimates, Track Time, Expense Management, Import/Export & Print (if necessary) but also it saves you in postage, paper, and ink.

2) Detailed Information

You can integrate details as per your business needs but in general the basic information like email address, name, billing address, payment method, etc. With all these details saved, you can create invoices in very less time. Additionally, you can also save time while issuing the final invoice by keeping pre-fixed typical billing costs. The bottom line is that the sooner you send the invoice, the faster payment process starts.

3) Easy & Organized

Keeping your invoices neat with adequate information along with a clear design is the best way to go along. Clogging your invoices with too many information makes it look unprofessional. This might delay in getting paid. Hence, keep your invoices in presentable and easy to understand format. Your invoice should focus on the following points:

Company logo
Clearly outlined payment terms
List of product or services
Items lists
Contact information
Invoice number
Due date
A personalized message

4) Be Clear & Polite

When you are into business there isn’t any other alternative for professionalism and it is important that it reflects in your invoices. The sound of your invoicing should convey the message of being kind and thankful, actually works in your favor. Make sure to clearly mention payment amount and the specific due date within invoices.

5) Define Time Frame

Usually, once you send an invoice, ideally you should be receiving payment soon but sometimes it gets delayed and also often customers forget to pay. In such cases, you should also consider sending a payment reminder. But what is an ideal time to send an invoice is hard to determine as it varies from business to business needs. So ‘one size fits all’ cannot be implied here. Based on your business requirements you can choose to send weekly, fortnightly or monthly.

6) Be Transparent

If your services involve another supplier or vendor, then be transparent and covey the same to your customer so that they know to pay you on-time. Generally, such payment transactions also include requesting a deposit to take care of 3rd party expenses.

7) Maintain Good Records

Keeping track of all the steps is utmost necessary. This way you’ll have your facts and figures organized with respect to sent invoices which is useful in case of any disputes. You can also sort your invoices based on the paid and unpaid status also.

All these practices will lead you to have an invoicing system well placed to boost productivity, enhance efficiency and also helps you to run your business sleekly. But the question is which professional invoice maker should you choose that have all the above features and functionalities?

In a Nutshell

Moon Invoice, a simple and easy online invoicing platform can streamline your entire expense management process with its ‘Payment Simplified’ feature. The feature can help you optimize, organize and can help you to take necessary action to get you to up to speed in terms of payments. Few of the ‘Payments’ features at a glance are- Bill In Any Currency, Multiple Payment Methods, Taxes & Discounts and many more..

Recurring Payments Vs Recurring Invoices

Recurring Payments	Recurring Invoices
Recurring payments charge the customer’s credit card account or debit card account on a predetermined schedule for the same amount as preapproved.	Send an invoice to your customer on a regular basis. The client receives the invoice but, money is not paid unless the customer approves.
A business that takes prepayment of money and sells a monthly subscription service and product. Subscription services are excellent examples of this.	A company that provides fixed services with billable hours is an excellent choice for recurring billing. For example law firms and consulting agencies.

Pros and Cons of Recurring Invoices

Pros	Cons
You eliminate the possibility of human error by automating the billing process. If you use a recurring invoice, you will not be concerned about forgetting to charge your customers for the things they ordered.	You must exercise caution while recurring billing to prevent issuing inaccurate pricing. This also holds for price changes that could take place right once an invoice is created.
If you provide your customers with the option for recurring billing, they are more likely to buy products regularly.	It could be difficult to cope with recurring invoices if a transaction fails for any reason.

Net 45	Invoice is due in full within 45 days with no early payment discount offered
2/10 net 45 terms	2% discount if you pay within 10 days; otherwise full payment of the invoice is due in 45 days
1/15 net 45 terms	1% discount if you pay within 15 days; otherwise full payment of the invoice is due in 45 days
1/10 net 45 terms	1% discount if you pay within 10 days; otherwise full payment of the invoice is due in 45 days
1/7 net 45 terms	1% discount if you pay within 7 days; otherwise full payment of the invoice is due in 45 days

Category	Net Method vs. Gross Method	Explanation
Calculation Approach	- Applies tax credits first; reduces taxable income before computing tax liability.	- Doesn't apply tax credits; computes taxable income without considering tax credits.
Tax Credit Eligibility	- Allows for greater likelihood of tax credit eligibility due to reduced taxable income.	- Limits tax credit eligibility because taxable income hasn't been reduced yet.
Itemized Deduction Requirement	- Lowers threshold requirement for itemizing deductions due to decreased taxable income.	- Raises threshold requirement for itemizing deductions due to higher taxable income.
Advantages	- Leads to lower taxable income and increases chances of meeting qualifications for other tax benefits.	- Results in higher taxable income compared to net method.
Disadvantages	- May miss opportunity to reduce tax burden if taxpayer doesn't itemize deductions or take advantage of tax credits.	- Increases taxable income and may result in higher overall tax bill.