Lesson 1 of 7 · 3 min

Your first invoice

A draft is paper; issuing it makes it real: the customer owes it, the stock goes out and your books move.

  1. Sales → Invoices → New invoice

    Sales, then Invoices, then New invoice. Pick the customer (or add one right there), the date, and the lines: an item fills in its own price and tax rate, and you say how many. A line can be typed out too, for something that isn't an item.

  2. A draft

    Here's one for Green Valley Mart: ten bags of basmati, which is exempt, and twenty tins of oil at 18%. The due date comes from the days to pay you set (or the customer's own terms). Save it as a draft and it's only paper: change anything, or delete it.
  3. Press Issue and it's real: the customer owes it, the stock goes off the shelf, and it goes into your books. If two people press Issue at once, only one goes through. An issued invoice can still be edited, with Save changes; the stock moves by the difference and the books follow.

  4. Posted as

    Behind it, one entry, both sides equal: the customer owes the total; the sales and the 18% tax are what it's made of. And the stock it took leaves at what it cost you, as cost of goods sold. Open any issued invoice and Posted as shows exactly this.

Try it

Opens Ledger. You'll be asked to sign in first; new businesses get a free week, no card needed.

Make your first invoice

Quick check

2 quick questions. Pick an answer and Leo will tell you how you did.

1. You save an invoice as a draft. What has changed in your books?
2. NT-0042 is issued and you've typed the wrong quantity. What do you do?

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