On-line or "e-invoicing" can help reduce costs and improve cashflow

The benefits of on-line invoicing

Creating invoices individually and sending them out by email or post can take up a lot of time and be very costly for a small business. There is a better way to do it. You could be saving time and money by switching to on-line invoicing.

Why invoice on-line?

In the traditional business model, invoices are created at the end of each billing period. Then they're printed, put in an envelope and posted to the customer. Many companies still do business this way, but it's inefficient. It takes time to create the invoice, and for it to reach the customer – assuming it doesn't get lost in the post. It also takes time for the customer to process it and most importantly, pay the invoice.

There are other problems with this method too. For example, you have to create and reuse templates for different customers and enter their billing information twice: once in your accounts and once in each invoice. Also, keeping track of bills and payments can be time consuming – especially if you keep them on your desktop or in a folder. Even sending your invoices by email won't reduce the workload by much.

On line or ‘e-invoicing’ solves these problems, making it fast and easy to send out invoices and track them. Switching to on-line billing can reduce your costs and speed up payments. Here are some of the ways it can benefit your business.

• Switching to on-line billing can reduce your costs and speed up payments.
• Send your invoices out immediately.
• Have a pay now option so money can be paid immediately into your bank account.
• The faster you send out your invoices, the sooner you're likely to get paid.
• Invoice any time anywhere from your phone or tablet! Why wait until your back in the office.
• View payment status and find out which invoices have been paid as well as one due or past due.

Would you like to get paid faster?

One goal of invoicing on-line is to reduce the time between sending an invoice and receiving payment. It can make a big difference. Your invoice reaches your customer instantly. No more worrying about whether or not your invoice arrived. Some software will even send you automatic updates when your bill is opened by the customer.

Better security

E-invoicing software is secure and safe to use. It uses special encryption similar to that used by other financial institutions such as banks. Your clients can trust it, so they're likely to respond to your invoices faster.

No more complex accounts reconciliation and cash flow management

Keep track of your company's cash flow by sending invoices to your clients directly from your accounting software on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis. No more wrestling with paperwork and digging out old invoices, recreate similar ones or reuse an old template. A few clicks and the new one is sent out. You won’t have to worry about numbering your invoices correctly, let your accounting software handle this, either with a unique client number or a sequential numbering system.

Your time is money. Less time spent invoicing means more time to spend managing other important areas of your business. The paperless office has been predicted for many years, but most companies still produce lots of paperwork. If you keep your invoices on-line right from the start, you'll never have to print them out. On line invoicing on its own won't make your office paperless, but it's another step towards getting rid of paper altogether.

So it's only fair that they pay you quickly too. With on-line invoicing you can eliminate many of the delays and barriers to payment. That means you'll get paid faster, have better cash flow and have more time and money to make your business grow.

If you would like to understand more about on-line invoicing and how to update your software, contact Paul Redmond on 053 9170507 or email paul@rda.ie for more information.