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Practical guide / Free to read

Keep track of invoices and payments.

Give every invoice a clear identity, record what arrives, and know which balance needs attention.

Give the customer a payable document

An invoice explains what is being charged, who should pay, and how to do so. Check the recipient, the work supplied, the reference, the dates, and the payment instructions before using it. A purchase-order reference or supply period may help the customer match it to their records.

Review the business and customer details, the work supplied, amounts, payment arrangements, and the record you will keep. The tracker supplies fields and calculations for your review; it does not determine US federal, state, or local tax treatment or guarantee a legally sufficient invoice.

Background: IRS: What kind of records should I keep?

Keep the reference and the dates distinct

Give each issued invoice its own reference. This book prevents reuse of an issued reference, even after cancellation; it cannot check other books or outside systems. Choose a sequence you can manage across all your records.

The invoice date identifies the document. The supply date or period describes when the goods or work were provided. The due date tells the customer when payment is expected. Check the details needed for your business, customer agreement, and applicable tax requirements before sending it.

Recording as issued fixes the customer-facing details in this book. It does not send the document or prove that the customer received it. Use the original-invoice preview to download the copy you intend to deliver.

Background: IRS: What kind of records should I keep?

Bring a quote forward with a deliberate review

Open a reusable Quote & Scope file and choose the lines that actually belong on the invoice. Included quote items begin selected; optional ones do not. Check that the customer agreed to the work being billed and that the quantities and prices still apply.

The new invoice reference and dates start empty. Private quote notes are not imported. The quoted payment wording is a starting point: replace proposal-stage wording with the actual instructions for this invoice. If quoted prices contain tax, confirm the tax name and rate again because the quote file does not supply a verified tax breakdown.

Make the amount understandable

Each quantity is multiplied by its unit price and rounded to two decimal places. The tool adds these rounded lines. For an added tax, it rounds the tax once on that subtotal. For tax-inclusive prices, it extracts the tax component from the inclusive total and subtracts it to show the amount before tax.

One rate applies to all lines. Use the confirmed treatment appropriate to the transaction. Mixed rates, item exemptions, multiple taxes, credits, and jurisdiction-specific rounding rules need separate handling. Choosing no added tax does not establish that a transaction is exempt.

Each invoice uses one currency. The book groups balances by currency and does not convert or combine them. The invoice limit is 1 billion currency units, with up to 20 item lines; empty numeric fields remain unfinished rather than silently becoming zero.

Record actual receipts without changing the invoice

When money arrives, record the amount applied to this invoice, its actual date, and a useful method or reference. Check it against your payment records. A promised payment is still expected cash, not a receipt. A deposit already received can be entered with its original receipt date.

A 600 invoice with a 200 payment is still a 600 invoice. The separate payment summary shows 200 recorded and 400 remaining. A second 400 receipt completes the balance. If receipts exceed the invoice, the extra amount remains visible as an overpayment to resolve; the tool does not quietly turn it into income or a refund.

For a transfer covering several invoices, allocate the correct portion to each invoice and reuse the transfer reference so you can reconcile it. Do not enter the entire transfer against every invoice. This working book does not connect to your bank or reconcile transactions automatically.

Review the balance at a useful date

The review date controls which receipts count toward the displayed balance. An invoice dated after that date is excluded. The due date itself is shown as due today; an unpaid balance becomes overdue on the following day. Drafts and canceled invoices do not contribute to outstanding totals.

The overdue view helps you find a next action. First check whether payment arrived, whether the customer received the correct invoice, and whether a query needs answering. Keep the conversation in the Customer Follow-up Planner and expected timing in the Cash Timing Planner. Opening either tool leaves this book intact but does not copy entries.

A past review date uses the current corrected entries, not a snapshot of what you knew at that time. A corrected receipt therefore changes past-date calculations. The status history uses dates; multiple changes on one date resolve to the final status for that date.

Correct an entry without losing its context

If you typed the wrong payment amount or date, use Correct this entry. The old entry stays visible as excluded, alongside your reason, and the replacement is counted once. If a receipt was duplicated or never happened, exclude the erroneous entry with an explanation.

These actions correct records; they do not represent money leaving the business. Keep real refunds, credits, write-offs, disputed amounts, and their supporting documents in the appropriate accounting records. Do not remove a genuine receipt to make an invoice look unpaid.

An unpaid invoice entered in error can be marked canceled with a reason. Its original details remain and its reference cannot be reused. An invoice with current payment entries cannot be canceled here. If the cancellation itself was a mistake, restore the same invoice with a reason.

Make the next visit easier

Keep business defaults in the book to fill new blank invoices. Existing drafts and issued invoices do not change when defaults change. Copy an invoice for repeat work: it retains the customer and items, while clearing the reference, dates, supply period, order reference, private notes, and payment history. Review any copied description or terms for the new work.

Download the reusable book after changes. It contains unfinished drafts, issued records, receipts, corrections, status history, and private notes. Reopen it here to continue. Customer invoice and payment-summary PDFs exclude private notes; a PDF alone cannot restore the working book.

The book holds up to 50 invoices and 50 payment entries per invoice, including excluded entries. It is a manually kept working record, not an account-backed or tamper-proof ledger. Keep the latest reusable file somewhere you can find and back it up. Avoid editing multiple copies at once, because reopening a file replaces this tab's book rather than merging changes.

Try it in your own situation

Set up one invoice you can follow

  1. Identify the business, customer, work, invoice reference, and dates.
  2. Check each priced line, confirmed tax treatment, and payment instructions.
  3. Read the customer preview and record the invoice as issued when ready.
  4. Record actual receipts against their dates; check a partial payment leaves the right balance.
  5. Review outstanding and overdue views, then choose the next customer action.
  6. Download the reusable book to keep the complete record for your next visit.

Keep exploring.

Understand when the money needs to move. Explore Running a business
Sources and further reading

Original Brass Charter examples and exercises, with background reading from the sources below.

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