Moving to paperless (via smartphone?) invoicing

cormie

My business is relatively young. When I started off I got a few invoice books printed but to be honest, I end up emailing invoices instead of posting. I'm not sure I've ever posted one in fact.

The current procedure is:

Input the sale in my bookkeeping spreadsheet, and this will calculate the VAT rate etc. I then edit my template invoice document and manually input each value (subtotal, VAT, total etc) as well as customer details. I then save this as a new document and after doing that, export it as a PDF. I then email the PDF.

I'm just wondering is there any way this can be automated, perhaps after each job on site location via smartphone even? Where all I'd need to do is input the customer (maybe this can even be done via phone contacts where I just select them from my contact list), then the price and brief description and it can email them direct while at the same time synching to my laptop so the invoice is there and editable if need be?

I guess it's not then possible to have this automatically inputted into a spreadsheet but that's no problem anyway I guess as it's easy enough to do manually anyway.

I don't do many invoices as my business doesn't have a huge customer base so I'm not willing to pay a sub fee or anything for an app, especially if there's a basic free one but any advice would be appreciated!

secc123

Hi,
what you're asking can of course be done. I am starting a new business and am writing a similar app in Windows for myself which will do all the stuff you want to do and a bit more. I am writing it myself so i can tailor it to MY needs and in the future i will probably add the ability for the app to cross over to my phone using some form of cloud service for the back-end database.
Anyway before i decided to write my own app, i did a bit of looking around into CRM type software out there and a free one i came across called frontofoffice. The site is www.frontofoffice.com - don't be put off by the site, it looks like some 8yr old designed it. go to http://use.frontofficebox.com to see demo's. Its all held online so it should be ideal for you to use on your mobile.

Hope this helps,
Secc

capefear

try xero.com I think it does this or waveaccounting.com

nompere

Do be aware that Revenue have rules about what is acceptable and what isn't acceptable in relation to electronic invoices. There are some updated rules coming on 1 January 2013. http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vat/leaflets/invoicing-rules-010113.pdf

It would be sad to lose more to Revenue for non-compliance than the cost of buying something that follows the rules.

The basic information is here: http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vat/charging/invoicing.html#section20

cormie

Thanks for that.

I just had a chance to look over the requirements but I'm a little confused as to whether particular software is needed for this "trail" or is doing up an invoice in word/openoffice and converting it to PDF, then emailing it on, sufficient? It also doesn't mention that the name and address of the person being charged will be required but states that of the supplier is required?

nompere

The best people to explain their notes are Revenue themselves. They're surprisingly helpful, and genuinely want to make sure that taxpayers don't walk themselves into trouble.

cormie

Have you had the same experience via email from revenue? I like to look over these things in written format as opposed to trying to comprehend everything over a phonecall

nompere

I always find them open to written correspondence, which, includes email - though they're not always as quick as you might want.

You'll find the office that deals with you by using the "contact locator" on the front page of www.revenue.ie

cormie

Thanks for that!

no12

cormie wrote: »

Thanks for that!

I use Invoice2go and they have an app for IPhone handy to use and compliant as my accountant recommended it.

publicious

bullethq.com is great.

It's an Irish company and tailored to the Irish taxation system.

cormie

Thanks again for the suggestions. I'd really not prefer a "monthly" payment system as considering the amount of invoices I actually do up, it wouldn't really pay for itself time saving wise. If there was a once off payment product or free version for under a certain amount of invoices per month it'd be good though

Herbalist

If you wanted a once off payment as opposed to a monthly fee for an invoicing system your best options would be either to purchase an app that will create invoices for you or to purchase up front a small accounting system that can do this for you.

In terms of savings using an accounting system will save you time as once customers and services / products are entered its very quick to create an email an invoice to a customer. All the legislatively required details will be in the invoice template and each will also be tagged with a unique invoice number.

Also - what an app or software package will give you are reports that you can run instantly at any time to get up to date figures. This is important to be able to manage your cashflow and keep on top of sales and income and expenditure.

There will be a number of apps like this in the app store and some may have a free variant that you could try out. In terms of accounts packages a product like Sage Instant Accounts can be bought up front for €156 ex vat.

if you really do want to go down the free route you may end up spending more time creating invoices and working out figures than you would by spending a small amount up front or each month.

cormie

Thanks for that! I've heard of sage alright, I guess it must be one of the leading packages? Do they have any android apps at all or could you recommend any apps for such?

Herbalist

Hi Cormie, if you want to access via Andriod, Sage One would be the best Sage package to look at. Its an online package so you can access if via your browser on your android.

cormie

Thanks again, I see that's a per month package too.

Herbalist

Sage One is pay per month and is online.

Sage Instant Accounts is pay once but is desktop based so is not available via a browser or app.

Sage 50 is pay once for the desktop version. It has an app that you can use on iPhone or iPad or Andriod. However price wise Sage 50 would be more expensive than Instant Accounts as it is a much larger product

cormie

Thanks again! Will have a look and see if any of them suit

cormie

Just came across this from a sidebar ad on facebook: https://www.waveapps.com

Looks interseting, unlimited, online and free...