How to Automate Your Invoices

Still processing invoices manually? How time consuming. Not only that, manual invoices are prone to errors. No one needs false financial documents in their business records!

If you automate invoices, you could save yourself a lot of trouble.

By automating your invoice process, you reduce human error, speed up invoicing workflows, and create a reliable audit trail. Not to mention you’re more likely to get paid on time.

But how do you go about automating invoices? Where do you start?

Let’s explore ways you can automate your invoicing processes and how invoicing software can help.

Automated Invoices vs. Manual Invoices

Manual invoices can either refer to the process of filling out a paper invoice by hand or entering data into software for each transaction. Automated invoicing is far faster and much more accurate.

The first problem with manual processes is good old human error, which you or accounting teams have to spend time and money to fix. Even companies that use accounting virtual assistants often struggle with longer processing times and higher costs per invoice due to the tedious task of repeatedly filling in the same information.

That leads us to the second problem with manual invoices: how time consuming they are! Most business owners agree that there are better ways to spend their hours than doing data entry and pressing send on emails.

That’s where automation comes in.

Automated systems streamline invoicing workflows. There's no need for manual data entry, because the tool integrates directly with your online store or website and your payment processors. By retrieving all the necessary billing data on the spot, the invoicing software can create and send invoices automatically, then remind customers about due dates, and even store transaction details or customer information to reuse the future.

Bottom line: Automated systems are far more efficient than manual invoicing. They cut down on the time and costs of processing invoices since humans don’t have to spend precious time on repetitive tasks or remedying errors. So you and your team can focus on more strategic work.

Why You Should Automate Invoices for Your Business

Automated invoice processing streamlines accounts payable (AP) processes. Not only does it speed up and improve the invoice creation process, it can lead to faster payments and more scalable invoicing.

Think about it like this. Imagine you’re a SaaS company offering your software on a subscription. What a headache it’d be to manually create and send invoices to every customer on their specific renewal date.

Now consider the amount of time and money you’d save if invoices went out automatically.

Plus, with the rise of digital reporting and electronic invoicing rules, automated invoicing will be required of your business within the next 5 years. So you might as well get on board now and start enjoying all the benefits!

6 Benefits of Automated Invoicing

1. Increased efficiency

When you automate lots of the manual tasks associated with invoicing, your business feels a lot more efficient – which means you feel more efficient.

This is why 40% of companies say that invoicing is the most important AP process to automate.

Automated invoicing software fills in customer and transaction details, delivers invoices, and sends automatic payment reminders. This drastically reduces the time and effort spent on invoicing, making the process much more efficient.

2. More accuracy

Manual invoices tend to have a high error rate. People enter information incorrectly and fail to notice, even when they double check. False information on legal financial documents is not a problem you want to have!

Automated invoicing software minimizes such errors. It captures data electronically and validates it against existing records, like purchase orders or IP addresses.

With fewer discrepancies, your team spends less time checking and fixing – and you have peace of mind that all your documents are correct!

3. Quicker payments

Late payments are a rising problem. 40% of businesses say they’ve seen a recent increase in late or failed payments, with 30% admitting this is causing stress and sleepless nights. So, receiving timely payments is a matter of not only efficiency but also, dare we say, health and wellbeing?

Automated invoices are sent instantly and usually come with automatic follow-up emails to remind customers who don’t pay right away.

This leads to faster payments, smooth payment processing, and easier bookkeeping. Plus it brings other workflow automation benefits.

4. Reduced manual work

Automating the invoicing process significantly reduces the manual workload since there’s no need for manual data entry, validation, or payment reminders. With less busy work to complete, your team can focus on tasks that are more important – and more interesting!

5. Compliant accounting and reliable audit trails

Automated invoice systems create detailed, reliable audit trails that log every action with timestamps and user details. Not only does this provide better internal records for you, it also simplifies audits and improves compliance with accounting standards such as GAAP in the US and IFRS in other parts of the world.

6. Easier to scale

The volume and complexity of your invoicing will increase as your business grows. Automated invoice systems can create and process unlimited invoices at once. Some software can even adapt invoices to other countries, languages, and currencies! So, with automatic invoicing, you can handle increased order volumes and an expanding business – without the need for additional staff.

Top 4 ways to automate invoicing

If you want to streamline your payable workflow, automate your invoicing process. But which parts of the process should you focus on first?

Here are 4 ways to help streamline your invoicing, all the way up to automating the entire process!

1. Use forms to create invoices

Capture client profiles and invoice details with forms like Typeform, Paperform, or Jotform. This simplifies the invoice creation process. When you use standardized forms, you get consistent responses. This means you have the same details for each client every time. Plus, since they’re easy to use, your customers won’t have any trouble providing the necessary information.

The only downside to relying on form through a separate tool is that you must make sure that tool also integrates with your business processes, otherwise you’re still manually copy-pasting all of the customer data!

2. Schedule a reminder when invoices are due

How often have you sent an invoice and forgotten to follow up? It’s crucial to set reminders for due payments. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself chasing unpaid invoices way after the due date. Not only is this unprofessional, but it eats up more of your time and leads to late payments – or, in the worst case, payments that never arrive.

Tools such as your calendar app, Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant are all great mechanisms for setting reminders. Setting these reminders and sending follow-up emails are manual steps in themselves, but the right invoicing software will do it all for you.

3. Set up recurring invoices

Recurring invoices are ideal for subscription-based businesses or companies that offer services on a retainer. Invoices go out at regular intervals without you having to remember to send them, much less create them during each payment cycle. This means less manual work yet consistent, regular payments!

4. Use automated invoicing software

​​Automated invoicing software like Quaderno drives invoicing efficiency and frees up your time to focus on other areas of your business. The app automates the entire invoice workflow, from data capture to payment reminders.

As soon as a customer purchases a product or service, Quaderno pulls billing data, fills in invoices, validates information for tax compliance purposes, and then sends those invoices to the client automatically. This drastically decreases manual workload and human error, reducing the time, cost, and effort associated with invoicing.

As Agus García, Chief Financial Officer of Mailsuite, explains:

Plus, it automatically reminds customers that they haven’t paid. No more manual reminders, no more chasing clients. Software like Quaderno does this for you, so invoicing becomes a fully hands-off process.

What Quaderno invoicing software can do for you

Quaderno invoicing software automates your invoicing processing workflow. Dealing with high volumes of invoices? Quaderno’s solution helps you handle invoicing at scale, no matter where you or your clients are based in the world.

Quaderno manages everything effortlessly on one centralized platform with a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for all finance teams to get on board with. The app provides all of the following:

• Correct tax calculations
• Automated invoices
• Global invoicing formats
• Automatic translation
• Customizable branding
• Customer billing dashboard

Correct tax calculations

Calculating taxes can feel cumbersome. With so many different tax codes worldwide, it’s important you get it right, or you’ll have compliance issues.

Quaderno supports over 12,000 tax jurisdictions worldwide. So, with every sale, the software automatically calculates the right amount of tax based on the correct local tax rate for your client’s location.

Plus, Quaderno adapts to different B2B and B2C tax rules. By categorizing sales and verifying customer tax IDs, Quaderno ensures you comply with the right international tax rules for your business model.

Just look at AdTranquility. As COO Monica Zamfir puts it:

Automated invoices

Never create another manual invoice again. Quaderno’s automation capabilities save you time and reduce the stress and expense of data entry mistakes and local tax compliance.

No matter what you sell or where you sell, Quaderno automatically pulls invoice data, verifies it, creates an invoice with the correct tax amount (if needed), and sends it to the customer.

If a customer doesn’t pay immediately, Quaderno keeps on top of the reminder process automatically so they don’t miss payments and you don’t have to chase them.

Global invoicing formats

Quaderno makes sure all of your invoices meet local standards, no matter where your customers are based. This makes it far easier for you to expand into international markets without worrying about financial compliance issues.

As Nikos Fountas, Head of Operations at HackTheBox, explains:

Automatic translation

If your customers are located abroad or have overseas bank accounts, you may need to translate invoices.

Quaderno automatically translates invoices to your buyer’s local language and currency. This is highly beneficial for global businesses, as it ensures customers receive invoices in a way that’s easy for them to understand. This way, there’s no confusion about what’s expected when it comes to payment.

Customizable branding

Helping you deliver end-to-end professionalism, ​​Quaderno allows you to customize invoices with your business branding. Add your company colors and logo to every invoice. This provides a consistent visual identity for your business throughout the sales process, and leaves customers with a great impression.

Customer billing dashboard

Give your customers full visibility of their payment history with Quaderno’s self-service billing dashboard. This allows you to give your customers an interface where they can view their payment history, edit billing details, and pay pending invoices.

Significantly reducing customer support requests, this feature streamlines the customer experience by giving your clients full control over their account.

Automate invoicing to streamline payments

Automatic invoicing isn’t just about faster AP processes. It’s about increasing efficiency, reducing mistakes, and making sure your financial processes are 100% compliant, no matter what or where you’re selling.

Quaderno specializes in highly accurate, automated invoicing that guarantees compliance and offers your company a professional way to deliver payment requests.

Tired of wasting time typing out invoices each month? Try Quaderno for free now.

Thanks to Catalina Grigoriev from Planable for sharing her expertise and writing this article for us!