V8 - Invoices and the Invoices list

An invoice is a bill to a customer requesting that they pay you a certain amount of money by a certain date. Invoices in SOS Inventory are very similar to invoices in QuickBooks Online. You can enter an invoice in SOS, and it will synchronize to QuickBooks Online—and vice versa. You can also send the invoice to a customer (print, email, etc.) from either place. You may prefer to generate the invoice in SOS, sync it to QuickBooks, and then send the invoice to your customer from QuickBooks Online. That works perfectly fine, if that is your preference.

Invoices list

Records of bills (invoices) issued to customers are stored on the Invoices list.

The Actions menu on the Invoices list has two options unique to this list. Create drop-ship purchase order allows you to generate from the invoice a purchase order in which the vendor will ship the items directly to your customer. The View in QuickBooks action opens the invoice in QuickBooks, as long as you are logged into QuickBooks in another tab in your browser.

The Merge batch action allows you to combine multiple invoices for the same customer into a single invoice under the most recent transaction reference number. The system will include in the Comments field on the merged invoice the transaction reference numbers for each invoice involved in the merge.

For a general overview of how lists work in SOS Inventory, refer to List functions. See Action and batch action descriptions for more information about the actions available on lists.

Adding and editing an invoice

To add an invoice, use any of the following methods:

• Generate an invoice from another transaction. This is the most common method for creating an invoice, and it is typically generated from a sales order. Locate the parent transaction record on its appropriate list, then select Create an invoice from its Actions menu. 
   
  edit_noteNOTE: The items listed on the generated invoice include only those on the sales order that have been shipped but not invoiced. This means that you must ship the items on the sales order before you invoice for them. Thus, you normally use the Create shipment action on the sales order before using the Create invoice action.

• On the Task bar, go to the Quick add > Sales > Invoice.

• Go to Operations menu > Sales > Invoices, then select Add new.

An existing invoice can be opened for editing by selecting its Edit action on the Invoices list. Be sure to save your changes.

Since invoices and other sales forms share many of the same fields, explanations for fields pertaining to any sales form type are housed under Sales form field descriptions.

Using QuickBooks Online reference numbers for SOS Inventory invoice transactions

If you wish to create invoices in SOS Inventory and let QuickBooks Online number the transactions for you, you must follow the steps listed below.

1. In QuickBooks Online:

   1. Enable Use custom transaction numbers (under Gear icon > Account and settings > Sales).

   2. Create an invoice in QuickBooks with the starting number you wish to use.

   3. After saving the invoice, disable Use custom transaction numbers.
       

2. In SOS Inventory:

   1. On the Task bar, go to Settings > Sales settings > Invoices.

   2. Enable the Use QuickBooks invoice numbers setting. Leave the Next invoice number and Invoice number prefix fields blank. Refer to the Invoices section of the Sales setting descriptions page if needed.

Ready to Invoice report

The Ready to invoice report (Operations menu > Reports > Sales > Ready to invoice) shows all orders that have been shipped and are waiting to be invoiced. This report helps ensure that your accounting department has missed no orders and has invoiced all customers.

Applying customer credit to an invoice

To apply a customer credit to an invoice:

1. Create the credit memo for the customer in QuickBooks Online.
2. Open the invoice in QuickBooks and select Receive Payment.
3. Check the box to apply the payment to the outstanding invoice and change the amount to the amount of the credit.
4. After the Outstanding Transactions section, you should see a Credit section. Check the box for the credit you want to apply. This amount should match the amount you are inputting for the invoice payment amount.