Any advice on writing invoices?

[sethlit]

I recently had a nice opportunity to write music for a promo video that will be used for things such as the annual company luncheon and web promotion. I was hired by the video creator independently. He does already know my range of fee and accepted it, but needs a detailed invoice to pass along to the the company that's hiring him. Does anyone have any good references I could check out or maybe advice from past experiences?

Thanks as always!

Seth

[jazzstan]

Generically (having run a number of accounting departments) an invoice should include:

>The name the check should be payable to (e.g. your business name if you have a DBA, otherwise your name).
>Address, zip, phone.
>Date of invoice
>Invoice number (just make something up, but don't re-use with this company. Use YYMMDD or just any number)
>Terms... e.g. due upon receipt, or due in 10 days, etc.
>If sales tax applies (this is usually for goods, rather than services... and you have to have a resale permit and number from your state)
>The total Amount due.
> Description of service... For this, less is probably more, such as "Music Services." The more detail you provide, the more you give them to pick at. Unless, your agreement requires more detail.

[funsongs]

yeh... have them send the checks directly to me!!
want my address?!

all seriousness aside; sounds like you've got better problems than some of the rest of us.
pardon the goofy humor... musta bumped my funnybone on the desk.

[rksinger]

This is probably overkill, but if you have to do a lot of this, online invoicing programs are a God send.

Plus they help at tax time, and can receive online payments.

It also sends reminders if they don't pay on time, etc.

I did kind of an extensive run down on the top software available (not expensive) in a blog a while back:

http://frankrogala.com/blog/online-invo ... f-harvest/

[Casey H]

Google for Excel templates invoice... Plenty of free stuff out there you can download and easily edit in Excel.

HTH!
Casey

[sethlit]

Thanks everyone!

Great timing too. I just sent out the invoice tonight. I ended up finding a template via the google gods and then added a few things not included that you mentioned Stan.

Frank, thanks for the link as well. That looks like something I could use for with my other thing...teaching lessons. I've been searching for a cost effective way to do "all things money" online. Currently I just send out email reminders, but it would be nice to add the monthly invoice. I'm going to look into that.

And Peter, the check's in the mail!

Seth

[funsongs]

And Peter, the check's in the mail!

I wonder if yours will arrive before Uncle Sam's... he made the same promise.
I aint holding my breath... I likely won't live that long.
Thanks, all the same.