What are the different types of invoices?

Different invoices explained

Businesses and SMEs can create a number of different invoices for clients, and these vary depending on the industry they work in, how often they get paid and how they choose to bill for the services they offer.

Types of Invoice:

  1. Proforma invoice
  2. Interim invoice
  3. Final invoice
  4. Collective invoice
  5. Credit invoice
  6. Debit invoice
  7. Account statement

Different types of invoices explained

1. Proforma invoice

Sent before any work is carried out, these documents list out the goods and services being provided along with the price. They aren’t usually a request for payment but more a notice of when your client will need to pay the invoice.

2. Interim invoice

When working on very large projects, instead of waiting until the end of the work and issuing one big invoice, interim invoices allow you to send them intermittently throughout the project.

3. Recurring invoice

These invoices tend to be scheduled to go out indefinitely or for projects set to last for a set period of time, for example 12 months.

4. Final invoice

This is the last invoice sent to a client outlining all the work that has been carried out as well as any outstanding balance due.

5. Collective invoice

If a business is doing lots of small projects for a client, instead of issuing multiple small invoices, they can instead provide one collective invoice grouping together the smaller invoices. These tend to be beneficial as you don’t need to keep track of multiple invoices and keep transaction fees to a minimum.

6. Credit invoice

Credit invoices are issued by businesses to clients to provide a refund or discount as a result of a previous invoicing error. They usually include a negative amount that needs to be paid.

7. Debit invoice

Much like a credit invoice, your client may issue a debit memo if you have underbilled them.

8. Account statement

Although not technically an invoice, account statement summarise the goods or service.


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Want to understand more Cash Flow Finance terms?

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We explore ways you can begin improving your cash flow situation and start getting your business on track to positive cash flow.

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