A system for numbering invoices?

Question

I have started working in a small company with an erractic and confusing invoice system and was wondering if anybody had any suggestions as to how I might design a new, logical system?? I don't need suggestions for software as we already have a fairly good programme-it's just that I need a simple way to organise the invoices without producing duplicates. Does anyone have any ideas, links etc?

Many thanks!

Answer 1

To help with invoice location in my small business I numbered them thus.
First number for year, second number month, third number for the invoice starting with 00. So a typical number was 96 for the year then 06 for the month (June) the say 0011 for the invoice number. Giving a complete number of 96060011.To get the spot on date you could add the days date of invoice in between the 06 and the 0011.
Happy Christmas.

Answer 2

I do all of the filing here in the office and although our system is fairly simple it does work. We file everything alphabetically (under co name the invoice has come from) and then in date order, with newest invoices first. This is all filed in folders depending on the year they were received, so we have files for 2004 2005 2006 etc all alphabetical and all in date order. You know where to look if you are looking for an invoice say sent to you in 2004, as you just look under the letter corresponding to the name of the company and then just look for the date. Its also good for when the tax return has to be done at the end of the year as you have all of the invoices already filed for that year.

Answer 3

Sequential is the best - that way you won't get the Inland Revenue asking awkward questions if they think some are missing.

If you don't want customers to know how many invoices you have ever issued, try using a prefix based on the date, e.g.

20061220xxxx (i.e. all invoices issued on 20th Dec 2006 start with this prefix and are then sequentially numbered after that).

Year then month then date is best as they will sort into order on a computer easily.

Answer 4

If you begin the number with the year: either 2006 or 06 (just be consistent) and then sequentially number them in the order they were produced, you'll be able to sort the easily and find them. If you need to get fancier, add a letter behind the sequential number. (If you do 10,000 invoices per year, the first one should be 00001, then 00002 ....09999, 10000) Add the letter following the 5 numerics. You could use the letter to denote the type of customer A= auto shops; B=schools etc.

Answer 5

I find that numbering by date provides me an easy way to match up the invoices later. For example: YR-MODY-001, or 061220001. Always start with the year, not month, so that your invoices will show up in sequential order.

Answer 6

Use a 10 digit sequence. So invoice one will be 0000000001

Answer 7

try giving numbering them in numerical order 1 being the first, then 2, them 3. I always thought thats how businesses numbered them anyway. it's in a logical sequence and you can aproxamately tell when it was issued

Answer 8

without sounding too flippant

1-2-3-4-5-6-7 etc works wonders when you looking for unique numbering.

Answer 9

Invoice No. 1
invoice No. 2
Invoice No. 3
Invoice No. 4
Invoice No. 5
....................
...................?

Answer 10

How about - sequentially ? Duh