How to Keep track of Invoices and Payments: 2024 Guide

Q: How do you keep track of invoices on a spreadsheet(Excel)?

You can track invoices for your business on excel sheets using spreadsheets and formulas. It is a great solution for freelancers and small businesses, as it is cost-efficient.

Q: How do I manage my invoices?

Invoicing is at the heart of any accounting process and it can be a tedious process. It involves a lot of procedures like creating, organizing, receiving, tracking and managing invoices. It is best to automate your invoice management for speed and accuracy.

Q: How do you keep track of billing?

The best way to keep track of your billing as a freelancer or business owner is to employ accounting software. It not only automatically keeps track of your bills and invoices, but also provides many other advances.

Q: Is Excel Good for Invoices?

Excel is a cost-effective method to track and manage invoices for freelancers or very small businesses. But for larger organizations, it renders useless due to the complicated in and outflow of invoices.

Q: Do I need invoicing software?

Tracking and managing invoices can be a laborious task when done manually. Top invoicing software, like Moon Invoice, is utilized by most firms to assist with invoicing and invoice tracking since it is convenient and time-saving. It simplifies the payment process, provides your business with a clear picture of its financial condition, ensures liquidity and flexibility, and adds to accurate financial forecasting.

As a business owner, you have a lot on your plate. And on top of that keeping tabs on how to keep track of invoices and payments can be a tough task.

So, don’t you think your invoice tracking must be streamlined?

Invoice tracking has a direct impact on your company’s cash flow, thus simplifying this process is vital. The invoicing process may be incredibly time-consuming and resource-intensive on a large scale, especially for firms that deal with hundreds of monthly bills. Invoices are also critical for your own small business because they demonstrate how much money is available to meet expenditures.

Your company will not have enough capital to meet the expenses if consumer payments are not collected on schedule. Furthermore, a decline in revenue may hurt credit.

Furthermore, failure to find a steady stream of income is the biggest challenge for around 33% of business owners, as reported by Fortunly.
This article demonstrates how to keep track of invoices and payments with the help of the best tools and approaches. So, let’s get down to business without delay!

Table of Contents

Choose Your Accounting Software Wisely

As a complete accounting novice, you will have to create invoices and manage payments manually. If these complex, time-consuming processes are not completed correctly, they can prove problematic for most firms. Overdue payments and bills might occur. These problems may impede proper cash flow.

Fortunately, digital solutions make it simple to organize receipts and bills, so you won’t have to worry about paper invoices getting lost in traditional file systems.

It is critical for today’s businesses and should be reflected in the features accessible.

However, not all accounting software is equal. To help you track bills and payments more efficiently, look for the following features:

Choose a Cloud-Based Software

To keep track of your bills, you can use cloud-based software that provides users with critical invoice information to help them make effective and well-organized payments. For this tracking, a reliable good accounting software system must be employed.

Cloud-based software with a dashboard to display all of a company’s spending, earnings, and settled and outstanding debts is optimal. A variety of such tools may be used on Android and iOS devices.

Use a Modern Automatic Software

Manually entering invoice data into a central accounting system takes a long time, there is a significant risk of data entry errors, and manual invoices are easily misfiled or forgotten. Because the primary objective of an invoice management system is to solve these problems and improve its effectiveness and accuracy.

Automatic invoice processing may greatly reduce the likelihood of these errors occurring while creating invoices. Most modern accounting software can automatically create recurring invoices for long-term client payments.

Look for a Tool with Third-Party Integrations

Many reputable invoicing and payment software solutions are capable of being linked with mobile payment and payment processing applications and payment service providers like Cash App and Google Pay. Tech-savvy customers are growing more and more interested in these applications. Some accept both physical and contactless credit and debit card payments, while others do not. So it makes sense to offer a solution that meets everyone’s needs to better your credit.

Offers Multiple User Accounts

It is essential to pick software that allows multiple user accounts. Although accounts receivable is common for invoicing software, we recommend granting access to other staff members as well. As a result, they will be able to manage expense claims on their own and collect money from clients.

Picking an Invoice Management Software

With the help of invoice software, you may automate your invoicing without any monthly fees. Payments may be made easier to manage by automatically producing expert invoices and establishing reminders for your clients. Instead of having to send long emails every time you need to remind clients to make payments, you can save time by using the feature’s time-saving email templates.

Your accounts payable department will have more time for tasks outside manual filing, data entry, and invoice payment if all the invoices are processed electronically.

Provides Profit and Loss Report

It would be beneficial if your accounting application generated a profit and loss report regularly. Reporting features can automatically total your bills to date, whether or not they have been paid. This offers you an idea of your company’s overall net profit during a certain period.

Revenue report visibility benefits the company because it allows them to focus their attention on the actions that have the greatest influence on revenue.

Need Help Keeping Track of Your Payments?

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Follow Best Practices for Invoicing

For efficient billing, it is crucial to document complete and accurate information in the designated sections. When creating the invoice, this may not appear to be a major worry, but if the invoice is not paid, this information may become critical.

With this and many additional best practices, your invoicing process can be made simpler. Let’s go through them below:

Ensure the Description is Detailed

In the invoice’s description area, do not add “project as negotiated” or don’t just be satisfied with the client’s purchase order number or invoice number. Make sure you are clear to understand.

Make it a point to compose a clear description of the purchase and mention necessary details like invoice number, transaction details, etc. This can be ensured by accounting software, as they always create invoices using the most relevant template for your business.

Verify the Due Date is Accurate

Often, your invoicing software will determine when your payment is mandated. Check that it corresponds to your planned payment date and that you have planned your credit accordingly.

Moreover, before you invoice your clients, double-check to ensure it has the correct dates mentioned. If you make an error, the client’s accounting department may use the erroneous date, delaying your payment.

Make Sure Your Contact Information is up to date

You may have been using the accounting software for some time, but your phone number has changed or you have relocated. Make certain that this information is kept up to date. Having all of the details on your invoice as precise as possible might help you be paid faster since it lowers the risk of confusion on the customer’s or client’s accounting department’s end.

Run Reports Regularly

Simply organizing your paid and unpaid invoices with accounting software is insufficient. Running routine reports after acquiring the product may help you maximize its potential benefits.

This is how to keep track of invoices and payments with the accounting software:

The amount of all current bills are included in the profit and loss report, whether or not an invoice has been paid. This report computes your net profit and assists you in making sound financial decisions by subtracting your costs from the total.
Once you’ve installed the program, run frequent reports, such as a “Profit and Loss Report,” to get the most out of it. A profit and loss statement is a highly useful tool since it totals all of your current invoices and subtracts all of your own expenses to calculate your net profit.
The accounting software programs also provide “Invoice Details.” It reflects the difference between the total billed and paid amounts. It immediately recognizes the outstanding amount and the firm. This way, you can go after any unpaid bills.

Follow Up on Late Invoices

When a payment is late, the accounting software will alert you.

The best line of action is to first contact the client to inquire about the payment. If the person cannot be reached with a courtesy phone call, a follow-up email with the original invoice attached is usually adequate. Some programs create and send client reminder emails.

It would be appreciated if you could send the invoice and save the client from having to look for it. With this, he will have all the related information to check with his accounts payable team and make payments swiftly.

Create a Future Financial Strategy Using Accounting Software

After a period of utilizing the professional accounting software program, you’ll be able to notice patterns in your business accounts. There might be costs that appear disproportionately high or payments that are frequently paid late. Take careful notes while paying attention.

To develop a new financial plan for the future, consider whether there are any methods to save money by doing things differently, or whether you should change the payment conditions for clients who consistently pay late. You can also keep track of recurring payments for multiple users.

On a Final Note

Finding a time-saving approach for tracking and creating invoices can be challenging at times. But, as a result of digital transformation, many business owners’ convenience and productivity have increased.

These crucial invoice tracking tips, combined with the implementation of Moon Invoice software, will make a time-consuming task quick and easy for your company. This will resolve your invoicing concerns, allowing you to go back to doing what you love.

So that was all from us on how to keep track of invoices and payments. Do check the FAQs for more details.

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FAQs

How do you keep track of invoices on a spreadsheet(Excel)?

How do I manage my invoices?

How do you keep track of billing?

Is Excel Good for Invoices?

Do I need invoicing software?

Jayanti Katariya About the author

Jayanti Katariya is the founder & CEO of Moon Invoice, with over a decade of experience in developing SaaS products and the fintech industry. He holds a degree in engineering. Since 2011, Jayanti's expertise has helped thousands of businesses, from small startups to large enterprises, streamline invoicing, estimation, and accounting operations. His vision is to deliver top-tier financial solutions globally, ensuring efficient financial management for all business owners.

How to Keep Track of Invoices and Payments: A Simple Guide