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How to Add or Edit Invoices, Sales, Estimates, and Customer Credits

Sales Receipts, Invoices, Credit Memos, and Estimates are all types of sales forms in one variation or another, which all function similarly.

Sales Receipt

When payment takes place at the same time as work is performed or goods are rendered, the transaction is a sale.  The Sales Receipt form is typically used in this situation.  An example of a sale would be a walk-in customer who purchases an item from you and pays you immediately. Otherwise, this form is the same as an Invoice.

Invoice

When payment is expected at a later date than when work was performed or goods were rendered, the New Invoice form is typically used to record the transaction.  Example: You perform a service call, and the customer is allowed to pay you at some point in the future.  You then send an invoice to the customer and wait for a payment to arrive at some later date.

Credit

This form is used to issue your customer a credit as a result of a refund or many other reasons. Example: A customer complains about a charge on their invoice. You can give them a credit of say $25.00 (or whatever) using a credit. Later you can apply that credit towards money they owe you or you can write a check off of that credit.

Estimate

While much of this help topic applies to an Estimate, they have their own help topic. Please see the related topic, “Estimates (AKA: Sales Proposals)” for more information.

Where to Access the Forms

From the main menu, click one of the following:

  • Customer | Create Invoices
  • Customer | Enter Sales Receipts
  • Customer | Create Credit Memos/Refunds
  • Customer | Create Estimate

Field and Button Definitions

Please Note: You will not always see all of these fields. Some of the fields written about below only appear on the sales form for certain sales or item types. For example, you will not see the “Serial Number” field if you have not selected a serialized item.

Basic Information Area

The Basic Information Area appears at the top of the form.

  • Date – The date the record was first created. Total Office Manager fills this in with the current date, but you can change it.
  • Due Date – The date payment for this sale is due. Total Office Manager automatically populates this field with the correct date as long as you have setup terms and selected one.
  • Discount Date – The last day the invoice must be paid for the customer to take advantage of the discount offered. Discounts are an incentive to get the customer to pay on time or early. You don’t have to use them.
  • To Be Printed – Ticking this checkbox indicates that the invoice will be printed later as part of a batch print job along with other sales forms.
  • Invoice # – This refers to the Invoice, Sales Receipt, or Credit Memo number assigned to that record.  These numbers are sequential (1200, 1201, 1202, etc.) and are automatically generated as new records are created.  Note: this field can be overridden by any alpha-numeric string of data you wish to enter, on a form-by-form basis.  For more information on number formatting see the related topic “Preferences – Company”.
  • Internal Memo – Enter a note to Total Office Manager users or yourself if you wish. This information will NOT show up on the invoice or other customer forms.

Invoice (or Sale) Info Area

The Invoice Info area is used to enter the following data:

  • Customer:Job – The Name of the Customer or Job the record pertains to.
  • Stage – This is a user defined custom list that can be used for any purpose.
  • Terms – Displays any pre-existing terms extended to the customer in their customer record.  This can be overridden if necessary.
  • PO – Purchase Order number (if used). You can select an existing PO, if one has already been created. POs for this customer will appear on the selection list.
  • Department – Select the department that you wish to associate with this sale. If you select a department here, all items will have that department associated with them. You can still select a different one for any item in the list. If you edit a sale, you can select a department and that department will automatically be selected for all items that do NOT already have a department selected. Note: Departments are setup in the Department List.
  • Service Agreement – Service Agreement number (if used). You can select an existing SA, if one has already been created. SAs for this customer will appear on the selection list.
  • Tax Code – Sales tax codes are used to identify or classify what type of sales tax you collect for a given item. Sales tax codes are not the same as Sales Tax Items or Sales Tax Groups. Examples of sales tax codes may include Taxable Labor Sales, Taxable Material Sales, Non-Taxable Labor Sales, and Non-Taxable Material Sales. These codes would allow you to print a more detailed and more organized Sales Tax Liability report. With Sales Tax Codes You can track why your sales were either taxable or non-taxable, identify what type of sales tax you collect, add codes to cover the different reasons you charge sales tax, and tell Total Office Manager if the invoice should be taxed or not taxed.
  • Tax Item – When you set up sales tax items, Total Office Manager keeps track of what you owe, when it’s due, and who to pay. You have the ability to group sales tax items together (called Sales Tax Item Groups) so that you only need to select one tax to track multiple tax authorities.
  • Work Order – Work Order number (if used). You can select an existing WO, if one has already been created. WOs for this customer will appear on the selection list.
  • Ship Date – The date the order was shipped to the customer.
  • Ship Via – The method used to ship the items that were purchased. Contractors will not need this field in many cases but you can also use it to identify other things about the sale.
  • Sales Rep – Used to associate a representative, salesperson, vendor, or other employee with the sale.  Thus, reports which show sales per sales rep can be produced.  Vendors can be excluded from the drop-down list by adjusting system preferences (see related topic, “Preferences – Sales/Invoices/Estimates” for more information).
  • Marketing Source – Select the option that best describes what caused this sale to happen. An example may be a coupon or newspaper ad. Unlike many other programs, Total Office Manager allows you to make a note of what produces each sale not just how you got the customer. In other words, the customer might have originally contacted your company due to a yellow pages ad, but a coupon you sent them prompted them to actually call and order service. Your selection comes from a list that you must setup.
  • FOB – An abbreviation for “Free On Board”. The term is commonly used when shipping goods, to indicate who pays loading and transportation costs, and/or the point at which the responsibility and ownership of the goods transfers from shipper to buyer.  In North America, the term is used in two common phrases, “FOB shipping point” (origin) and “FOB destination,” to distinguish when the title of goods passes from the seller to the buyer. Under the terms of “FOB shipping point,” the title of the goods passes to the buyer at the shipping point. Similarly, under the terms of “FOB destination”, the title of the goods passes to the buyer when the goods arrive at their destination. The distinction is important because it determines who pays for the shipping costs of the merchandise: whoever holds the title to the merchandise at the time of its shipping pays for its transportation costs unless otherwise noted (e.g., freight prepaid, or freight collect). Also, it is important that if the shipment is damaged while traveling the owner must file the freight claim. ~ Source:  en.Wikipedia.org
  • Cust. Message – Use the Cust. Message field either to select a pre-defined customer message (that you already created) or to enter a short original message for the customer to see on their sales forms.  An example may include “Thank you very much. Your installation is complete”.  Important Note: This feature works a little differently than many other similar features.  You may enter anything that you wish into the Customer Message field without saving that message anywhere accept in this field.  In other words, if you enter text into the field, it will be saved with the invoice but NOT saved to the Customer Message list.  The Customer Message List is where reusable messages are created and managed.  See the related topic, “Customer Message List” for more info.
  • Projected Total – Allows you to enter the amount the job will sell for. You may then see the difference between this number and the actual total. This might make it easier for you to adjust the individual amounts to make the Projected Total.

Bill To Address Area

The Bill To Address Area is used to enter the following transaction data:

  • Bill To Address – Displays the Bill To address (as entered in the Customer:Job form).  It may be overridden as necessary.  Note: There is a button you can use this to select what will appear in the “Attention” area of the printed invoice, sale, credit, etc.

Work Address Area

The Work Address Area is used to enter the following transaction data:

  • Work Address – Displays the Bill To address (as entered in cust:job form).  It may me overridden as necessary.  Note: There is a button you can use this to select what will appear in the “Attention” area of the printed invoice, sale, credit, etc.

Transaction Summary Area

The Transaction Summary Area of a sale, invoice, etc, displays information about the transaction like total, discounts, taxes, payments, account balance, and more as follows:

  • Discount – Displays the sum of any discount items appearing on the invoice.
  • Payment – Displays the total of any payment items appearing on this invoice.
  • Sub-Total – Displays the total of the sale before sales tax (if any).
  • Retail Price Tax – Displays any retail price tax applied to the invoice, if applicable.
  • Direct Cost Tax – Displays any direct cost tax applied to the invoice, if applicable.
  • Gross Profit Tax – Displays any gross profit tax applied to the invoice, if applicable.
  • Use Tax – Displays any use tax applied to the invoice, if applicable.
  • Tax Total – Displays the sales tax applied to this invoice (if any).
  • Total – Displays the total of the entire sale.
  • Amount Due – Displays the amount the customer still owes on this sale.
  • Account Balance – Displays the balance or amount of accounts receivable for this customer:job (the amount owed to you).
    • Note: This amount does not include the invoice (or sale) currently being prepared until it has been saved once.
  • Contract Total – The total amount of the estimate before any retainage is subtracted. Important: This only appears on an estimate.

Invoice Item Area (aka: item grid)

The Invoice Item Area is the listing of invoice items, sometimes referred to as “line items”, being included in the transaction.  These invoice items can include inventory or serialized items being sold, payment items being received, discount items being applied, sub-totals, and more. These columns can be arranged by each user, so this list is not necessarily in order.

  • Item – The Name/Number of the selected Invoice Item.
  • Qty. – The total number of that item that was sold.
  • Warehouse – The location where the item was sold from. Total Office Manager allows you to setup multiple locations for inventory such as a main warehouse, service truck, etc. You need to tell Total Office Manager where the item was sold from. For example, if an item is sold from truck 102, you would select this location when creating the sale. Of course you will need to setup up a “warehouse” called “Truck 102”.
  • Price Ea – The retail price (price you charge the customer) for the item.
  • Amount – Retail price multiplied by the quantity (number sold).
  • Estimate Amount This number comes from the “Amount” field for this item within the associated estimate form. Note: This field is only shown when the invoice was created from an estimate.
  • Total % Billed – This indicates the total amount billed (invoiced) for this item. It is comparing the Amount field on the associated estimate for this item, to the total amount invoiced for all invoiced including this one. This is not the percentage for just this invoice. It is looking at this invoice and all others (if any). Note: This field is only shown when the invoice was created from an estimate.
  • Tax Item – Total Office Manager is unique in that it allows you to select a sales tax item (rate) on a line-item level. If you have items with different tax rates or unique tax rules, you may select them here.
  • Tax Code – You can select a tax code for each item.
  • Description – The description of the item sold. You can change this description. The change will NOT affect the description of the actual item – just on the invoice.
  • Serial Number – The serial number of the item or items sold. If you have selected a serialized item to sell, you will see a button on the left side of the line labeled, for example, 1 of 2. You will need to select the correct serial number for the item(s).
  • Dept. – Select the department that you wish to associate with this item. Note: Department are setup in the Department List.
  • Date – This field allows you to select a date that is important to this line-item. Many companies use this for the installation or delivery date for that item (if different than the date on the form). Example: The date you delivered or installed an evaporator coil, roll of BX cable, or water heater.
  • Lease/Rental – This includes a list of Company Assets that you may offer for lease or have loaned out. Please Note: Only assets with the “Available for Lease or Rental” box checked will be included in this list. You can learn more about Company Assets here.
  • Notes – Shows the contents of the “Notes” field of the invoice item. These notes cannot be edited on this form.
  • Stage – Stages are created by your company. They can represent many different things. This form and many others include this feature.
  • WO – WO stands for Work Order. You may select a work order to associate this item with. You may find this helpful for billing purposes.

Form Button and Menu Definitions

  • Attention Select – This button is actually a small arrow at the top of the Bill To and Work Address area; just to the right of the “Attn:” field. You can use this to select what will appear in the “Attention” area of the printed invoice, sale, credit, etc.
  • Save & Close – Saves the information and closes the form.
  • Save & New – Saves the information on the form and clears it so that you can start a new one.
  • In Progress (In-Progress): To mark an Invoice as “In-Progress”, simply right click on the invoice (from the invoice list or the actual invoice form). In-Progress Invoices are helpful for managing on-going jobs that may span multiple months. There may be a time where it is helpful to start a new invoice and add to it as a job progresses. This allows you to recognize COGS, expenses, and income as the job progresses (I.E.: progress billing). Once the job is complete, the invoice may be marked “Posted” and processed as usual.
  • Print/Email – Saves the information on the form and opens the print dialog form. There you can print or even email the sales form as a PDF file. The invoice is converted to a PDF and attached to an email that you may then modify and send. Of course, you need to have email already setup on your computer (like Outlook or Outlook Express). This email feature will not work with any web-based email service.
  • Details – You may enter details about the sale. This is particular useful for service company who wish to describe the repair or install in detail.
  • Menu | Assign Hours – Open a grid that allows you to select any active employee on file and enter their time associated with this sale or job. Time is entered in minutes. This information allows Total Office Manager to produce reports that can judge a employee’s efficiency and other notes of interest.
  • Menu | Assign Work Orders – Opens a listing of the customer’s work orders which can then be assigned to the sale or invoice.  Simply tick the checkbox of each work order to assign.  The list is automatically displayed with the most recent work orders sorted first.  The columns can then be sorted as necessary, by clicking the header of the column by which to sort.  Click the header a second time to reverse the sort order.  This is helpful to locate work orders which have not yet been invoiced, for example.
  • Menu | Receive Payments – Opens a “New Payment” form, automatically pre-populated with applicable information for the same customer from the root invoice.
  • Revert – Reverses your changes BEFORE they are saved. Bring back changes you may have made but have not saved.
  • Show Signature – Displays signatures captured using the “Signature Capture” feature of Aptora Mobile.
  • Form Preferences – This option opens a form that allows you to add or remove fields and columns. When you remove fields and columns, the form may open and save quicker. Removing elements that you do not need may also make the form appear easier to understand and use. Important Note: If you remove certain columns or fields that already contains information, that information will be removed from the form. This is done to make the form faster. The form no longer needs to store and retrieve that information. There are some exceptions for accounting related fields that are absolutely required. These include Income, Cost of Goods Sold, and Assets account selections.

Tips

  • We generally recommend that you avoid deleting invoices. You should use the Inactivate or Void option instead.
  • When creating credit memos for customer returns, write-offs, or discounts; It is a good habit to immediately open the receive payment window and apply the credit to the appropriate invoice.  This will mark the invoice paid, remove it from the customer statement, and prevent the customer from using the credit inappropriately against a different invoice.  For credit memos mailed to the customer, be sure to include a blurb on the invoice that informs the customer how to treat this credit (for example: This credit has been used to offset invoice number 234, please make the same adjustment on your records).
  • Total Office Manager will allow you to change an item once it has been added to the item grid (item list at the bottom of the form). If you need to change an item from one item number to another, simply select a different item number. You may also right click to insert a new line. Click the red X to delete an item.

Related Content

Best Practices for Using Estimates in Contracting

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