Recurring Invoices for Multiple Customers - Uses Previous Invoice Submitted Invoice Number
AntonioBurkett
Member Posts: 2
I have multiple customers with multiple recurring invoices. Their due dates are all different.
The problem: When a recurring invoice is sent to a customer, the system uses the most recent customer's invoice number as the invoice number of the next customer. Example: My customers are John and Jacob. John's recurring invoice that was sent has an invoice number of "JOHN1". Jacob's recurring invoice that was sent has an invoice number of "JOHN2". From that point on, I have to adjust each recurring invoice number for both customers. Even after I do that, it will use the last invoice number sent to whichever customer and increase it by one (1). How do I make John's invoice numbers remain the same (and increase by 1) and Jacob's invoice numbers remain the same (and increase by 1)? I hope this is clear.
Comments
Hey @AntonioBurkett , thanks for the super clear question and using great examples to get your point across.
I'm afraid that this is the way the system works. I'd advise against using invoice #s that are specific to the customer you're sending to as the system will always take the largest invoice in the system and increase the number by 1.
An alternative to this is by setting your recurring invoice scheduler to send manually, which means that the system will generate the invoice and wait for you to send it (which allows you to change the invoice #). The issue with this is you do still have to remember to send the invoices to your client.
Jumping in on this question to make sure I understand best practices. I am not focused on any particular method for creating invoices, however, one concern I have is that the customer should not be able to infer anything about the state of the rest of my business based on invoice number. If I bill quarterly, I don't want a customer to know how many invoices I've sent in the meantime.
Is the only way around this manual billing? Is there a way to create invoice numbers manually, but in advance...so that I could create invoice numbers for the next year all in one batch, and then have them automatically go out?
Hi @Grentropy I can definitely see why you would want to avoid letting clients know how many invoices were created based on invoice numbers. The only work around to achieve what you're looking for would be manually create each invoice. What I can recommend is to create all the invoices so that you can create set the invoices numbers to your liking and then approve them as drafts. Set yourself a calendar reminder and when the date comes, send out the invoices manually.
OK. Thanks for letting me know that I wasn't missing a simpler option.