QuickBooks 2016 All-in-One For Dummies

Chapter 1

Invoicing Customers

In This Chapter

• Deciding which invoice form to use
• Customizing your invoices
• Invoicing customers on paper or by e-mail
• Billing your customers for time
• Recording sales receipts and credit memos
• Recording payments from customers
• Calculating finance charges

QuickBooks provides several tools for invoicing your customers. This chapter describes these tools, as well as a handful of related tools for recording customer payments and for issuing credit memos.

If you’ve already been invoicing customers by using some manual method — perhaps you’ve been preparing invoices with a word processor — you’ll find QuickBooks to be a godsend. QuickBooks not only makes invoicing and related tasks easier, but also collects invoice information, recording this information in the QuickBooks data file. Happily, this means that you get the extra benefit of recording accounting transactions simply by using QuickBooks for invoicing.

Choosing an Invoice Form

QuickBooks allows you to use an invoice form that matches the requirements of your business. For example, businesses that sell products — such as retailers and wholesalers — need an invoice that includes descriptions of the product items that are sold. Businesses that sell services — such as law and architectural firms, engineers, and consultants — need an invoice that appropriately describes these services. Businesses that sell both products and services need a blend of attributes.

Fortunately, QuickBooks lets you ...