While it’s not a required part of invoicing, nor do all businesses use them, creating a proforma invoice is a crucial element in the sales process.
Your invoicing software should therefore not only allow you to make proforma invoices quickly and easily, it should also give you the tools to send and manage proformas, as well as convert them to finalised invoices when necessary.
What is a proforma invoice?
We’ll keep this short because you can learn everything you need to know in our helpful dictionary article on proforma invoices. Essentially, a proforma is not an official invoice and is typically issued before all the details are known for the invoice.
Remember that in Debitoor, you can create an invoice with just a click. Simply create a new invoice as you normally would but when you’re ready, click ‘Save’. This will automatically apply the ‘Proforma’ label to your invoice.
Once it is saved as proforma, you will find it under your Drafts invoices and can send it anytime by clicking ‘...More’ and ‘Send as Proforma’. Do not click ‘Complete Invoice’ as this will finalise the invoice and it will no longer be proforma.
Why create a proforma invoice?
Similar to a quote, a proforma has no legal value, unlike an official invoice. A proforma invoice must always be labeled as such and should never feature an invoice number.
A proforma invoice is used because an official invoice should not be changed after being finalised and sent to a customer, whereas a proforma can be changed and updated if an order is still incomplete or if changes are expected.
In Debitoor, a draft or proforma invoice becomes an official invoice with an invoice number when you click the blue ‘Complete Invoice’ button. Once sent to a customer, changes are not advised.
Editing a completed invoice generally goes against local regulations, as it can open the door to fraudulent activity and cause complications that can lead to audits, etc. For this reason, in Debitoor, we suggest using a proforma if you are expecting changes to the order. You can then issue an official invoice once all the details are decided.
Recurring proforma invoices?
Recently, we launched a great new feature: automatic recurring invoices. Meaning, if there is a customer (or customers) that you invoice regularly, always with the same invoice with the exception of the date and invoice number, Debitoor will now take care of that for you automatically.
But there is also another option in recurring invoices - the possibility to set up your account to automatically create draft (proforma) invoices each month that you can then send manually, saving you the time it takes to create a new invoice.
