Invoicing software has the key role to track your finance and billing management that helps businesses, Freelancers and organizations to create quick and easy invoices to manage and monitor payments and overall health of the business. This tool creates a list of services and products along with their corresponding costs and sends them to your customers as an invoice. These invoices are commonly created using ready-made templates, mostly professional-looking ones, which makes the process easier and advantageous to businesses.
For every product sold or service rendered, an invoice is made, the first step for you to get paid. Where before payments are mostly cash-based and books are kept manually, leading to erroneous billing and delayed payables, today, we enjoy the vast benefits of financial technologies like electronic transfers, card payments, and online payments that speed up transactions. Invoicing software makes things even faster… especially that process that rings cash to your ears: collection.
Why your small business needs invoicing software?
- Create invoices faster and more accurately. This is a far cry from what you’re used to creating an invoice from a word processor. A proper invoice document must have an invoice number with a different number on each invoice you send; details of product or service provided; date invoice was sent and date when the product was delivered or service rendered; name and contact information of seller or service provider; name and contact info of buyer; costs breakdown; total amount due; payment details; and payment due date. Imagine inputting all that information manually compared to a system that does everything for you except for the variable elements.
- Generate invoices anywhere. In relation to the above, companies can create invoices from any location with internet connectivity since online platforms are powered by cloud technology and are web-based. Likewise, with some providers offering mobile apps, you get to create invoices even on the go, something you cannot do with on-premise software.
- Integrate invoicing with your key business systems. Online invoicing platforms can integrate with your full accounting system for all your financial requirements and can be linked to your payroll, inventory, banking and reporting modules using one basic source. Some invoicing solutions can even connect directly to e-commerce platforms and shopping carts as well as to external client databases and timesheets.
The word accounting comes from the word accountability. If you are going to be rich, you need to be accountable for your money. * Robert Kiyosaki
Benefits of Invoicing Software
Businesses of all sizes need to look for ways to save time and money. Increasing productivity and convenience for their customers is paramount. Therefore, the advantages of using even in a small business invoicing software become key to scaling your billing models.
Scaling your business may sound a bit difficult task, but one of the first places to start is with your billing. Finding an efficient way to generate invoices, along with keeping track of financial information, can achieve that increase. Most importantly, this is all done while improving your cash flow.
Aside from efficiently managing all invoice-related tasks, the best invoicing software should be able to extend the following benefits:
- Minimize late payments – The right software solution can help streamline your billing and invoicing process and allow you to get and receive payments on time. No longer will you be waiting weeks for a client to receive, review, and return an invoice via snail mail. “Lost in the mail” episodes (and jokes) are gone forever. Your invoices keeping your data and schedules organized, you can have your collection on the dot and boost your profitability.
- Minimize missed payments – By accurately monitoring and tracking your billing commitments, you ensure that you do not miss collecting any payments which will redound to a positive bottom line.
- Maintain a professional image – A good invoicing and billing software can help boost your company reputation. Most software offer support for customized logos and other design improvements to payment documents and invoices. You can put forward an organized and prompt approach to exude a professional image with your clients.
- Help streamline your accounting and financial processes by automating important tasks – You can cut costs by reducing staff in the invoicing and billing department and save time that is spent on following up and going after the late payers. Likewise, you get to increase cash flow with faster payment of invoices and enhance customer relations with shorter times in fixing and resolving errors.
- Minimize fraud and improve security – A good invoicing software solution has levels of bank-grade security features to ensure that the entire billing-to-payment process is protected from hacks or prying eyes. This is comparatively more secure than preparing your invoices manually and sending them as email attachments.
- 24/7/365 Access – Online invoicing is on the cloud which gives you the ability to manage client information and billing from one application. You can use on your desktop, tablet, or smartphone. This means if you can’t make it into the office, you’re at home or traveling — you can send and manage your invoices 24/7 and 365 days.
- Environment-friendly – Did you know that on average, digital invoicing is four times more environmentally friendly than paper billing? It saves the trees (you can advertise this). You are saving water and energy, and it reduces pollution. Less in the landfill from the solid waste created by sending paper invoices. [Just thinking of the ink cartridges is making me cringe].
- Reduces errors – Paper processing involves several steps. Any process done by a human is prone to human errors. Processing incorrect billing amounts or sending a bill to the wrong client just doesn’t happen anymore. Errors delay the payment process. They can also damage the relationship that you have with a client. Not to mention the relationship with the blankety-blank who delayed or made a mistake in the billing. Even less “fun” if that’s you. Invoicing errors and disputes can end up costing you thousands of dollars to correct. The send and resends are a nightmare. Online invoicing calculates the total amount for you to prevent errors. It adds the taxes and ensures that the right client is billed. Even if you do make a mistake, it only takes a minute to fix and resend.
Top Features
Although invoicing solutions vary widely in terms of feature set, target uses and pricing, they do share standard functionalities. A respectable app should have the following features:
- New invoice creation. Allows the creation of clean and professional invoices that can be customized to match your brand. The system should allow for extracting and integrating information from projects, timesheets, and customer records.
- Customer records creation. A feature that enables you to summarize customers’ personal and purchase information and attach relevant files in a single, centralized database equipped with search filters for easy access to customer records.
- Credit card processing. The invoicing suite should enable you to save time and facilitate billing by processing credit cards promptly and allow recurring billing and secure customer management. Some systems even enable auto-billing of credit cards so clients won’t miss a due payment.
- Predefined templates. How your bills and invoices look is equally important as their accuracy, which is why a system should provide for professional and predefined communication templates. This will not only save you time but also let you personalize your accounting and allow you to carry your brand.
- Multiple currency setting. This feature enables you to connect your billing and invoicing system seamlessly with the rest of your software architecture, similar to your basic financial operations. Multiple currency settings can be useful for issuing receipts, accepting payment and managing taxes, and it is of vital importance for businesses with global operations.
- Receive/send information. The function allows you to send quotes to your customers quickly since there is a centralized database where all their information is stored and readily made available.
- Invoice, payment, and tax report. A good online invoicing system should eliminate the need for you to use external systems for tax reporting and allow you to perform it within the same system, without losing hours to summarize information.
Best Invoicing software in 2020
Here are some examples of invoicing software in the market today that are among the most widely used due to their proven efficiency and dependability:
- FreshBooks – An award-winning finance and accounting software and one of the best cloud solutions for small business owners. It has the highest customer satisfaction rates of all similar apps in this category. Included in its full array of accounting and finance tools are invoice management and online payment collection within the same system. It works with Google Checkout, PayPal, and credit card payments, and integrates with a long list of business systems and applications that can streamline billing, invoicing and payment processes, allowing for financial control in a single system.
- Sage 50cloud – Sage is a full-suite invoicing and accounting platform that integrates the capacity and power of a widely-used desktop system with a secured cloud component. Trusted by more than 400,000 companies, this robust system can help your business achieve higher efficiency using a comprehensive, agile system for managing your invoicing, inventory, cash flow, taxes, and other financial transactions. Backed-up by award-winning customer support and numerous features, this platform integrates seamlessly with Microsoft 365 to further boost staff productivity.
- Zoho Books – Zoho is another popular, easy-to-use cloud accounting app designed to help businesses to better control their cash flow and manage their accounting tasks more efficiently. With an intuitive, simple design and numerous features, this platform allows you to easily create and send professional invoices to help you get paid more quickly. Zoho Books also generates key financial reports to help you be on top of your finances, even when you’re on-the-go. It also supports automated banking and real-time inventory tracking and integrates with many third-party apps such as PayPal and Authorize.net, including all other Zoho applications.
- Xero – One of the market’s favorite financial collaboration apps listed high on our list of leaders in the accounting category. This system is designed to meet the requirements of small businesses regardless of their industry, and is often qualified by accountants as the ‘handiest asset for managing financial activities’. It is a friendly and usable platform that can create and send invoices automatically and even categorize invoices as drafted, awaiting approval, awaiting payment, or delayed.
- FreeAgent – It is a robust cloud invoicing and accounting software for small businesses and solutions specifically designed for freelancers. It practically has most of the functionalities that small companies require to efficiently manage their finances, from expense management to payroll. You only need this platform to create, monitor and send your invoices, as well as track all your expenses. It also offers the convenience of recognizing images of receipts, so you only need to take a picture of a receipt with your mobile phone, upload it to the platform, and it will automatically be integrated into your financial system. You can also integrate your bank accounts with FreeAgent to keep your finances updated in real-time.
- Sage Intacct – Sage is a smart, online financial management tool for businesses of all sizes. The first and only financial management platform endorsed by AICPA, it efficiently automates your financial tasks so that you can focus on more pressing concerns of your business. This cloud-based tool features an extensive array of core financial solutions and additional modules to allow your business to achieve higher efficiency and productivity. These include order management, accounts payable/receivable, purchasing, and general ledger, as well as time and expense management, contract and subscription billing, and multi-entity and global consolidation.
- Quickbooks – One of the most popular accounting software solutions worldwide, it offers a vast array of insights and organizational capabilities that can help companies keep accounting data organized, including their overdue items, payable bills, accounting notes, contacts’ data, and standard accounting operations. Payment is completely transformed for users with a Pay Now link to connect their invoice to credit cards or bank transfer accounts. QuickBooks can also be accessed remotely on any device by using QuickBooks Cloud Hosting Services on Cloud Desktop.
- Sage Business Cloud Accounting – It is an easy-to-use yet powerful online accounting solution for businesses. The former Sage One app, this rebranded tool is enhanced to allow seamless financial transactions using any device, at any time, from anywhere. It offers the basic financial functionalities that small businesses need such as invoicing, payroll, tracking, and other accounting processes. This platform also helps your team collaborate more seamlessly with your accountant. It is also regularly updated to ensure that your financial reports remain legally compliant.
- Invoice2Go – This billing software offers unique ways to customize invoices through a variety of templates, while also allowing users to upload or create their own business logos. This software also offers expense tracking features to manage and organize receipts and export them within a matter of seconds, which saves a ton of time, especially during tax season. You can also create invoices, get paid quickly, and even track payments since the invoice software allows users to accept online credit and debit card payments. Other features include invoice tracking and payment reminders to clients. It is not an overly complex program to navigate and can add tax where needed.
- Wave – Free online invoice software makes it easy to create professional-looking unlimited invoices in a very easy and straightforward process. You can customize invoices for free, and set up recurring billing that ensures repeat business as you get paid quickly and automatically from repeat customers through a unique invoicing scheduler. An automatic reminder for payments will be sent via email since payment and invoicing data is synced automatically with the accounting software. This tool also lets you accept credit card payments while saving credit card information securely for automatic future charging as needed.
- Tipalti – A highly regarded payment automation and management software. It is a cloud-based platform with powerful and secure payment features that automate the entire mass global payment processing operation, from onboarding to tax compliance. The app can tackle problems such as late payments, administrative overload, noncompliance, and can streamline the way you make payments to customers, partners, vendors, and affiliates across an impressive base of 190 countries.
- Invoicely – It is a unique, secure, simple, and free small business invoice software. It keeps all finances in one central location with lots of features, customizable summaries, and business reports. This invoicing tool accepts online payments while tracking mileage, expenses, and time. You can create estimates or invoices at a click. Invoice has a great user interface that is visually appealing and easy to use, with superb free invoicing arrangements that support an unlimited number of clients and invoices.
- Scoro – Allows you to bring your reports, sales, projects and entire team together. It comes with invoicing and budgeting features. It lets you send initial invoices to clients as well as track labor costs and perform advanced document reporting. This tool also offers employees different access levels and permissions depending on the project they are working on. Invoicing software keeps you updated so you can view real-time changes as they take effect. Monthly, weekly, or daily tasks that have been scheduled will populate in task lists so they are easy to sort.
- Billy – Makes it easy to submit professional invoices to clients, receive payments online, and easily manage expenses. Features include professional-looking invoices, the ability to attach proposals, and the ability to submit to clients for consideration. Quotes are easily converted into invoices with a single click. These payment tracking features ensure you know which clients owe you, and when payments will be released. Plus, it sends clients friendly reminders in case of late payments. Expense tracking is automatic once you’ve linked the tool with your credit card or bank.
Conclusion – Finally, software for invoicing gives your business a more modern and professional look and feel. It provides an image and an impression on your clients and customers. This may not seem like a biggie, but it’s going to help delays and barriers to accept payments. Ultimately you may scale, analyze and make planning and forecasts more accurately in your business future and set desired goals.