Organising, Invoice Numbers, Purchase Orders and Quote numbers help needed! Software?

Discuss Organising, Invoice Numbers, Purchase Orders and Quote numbers help needed! Software? in the Business Related area at ElectriciansForums.net

T

Tidy Max

Hello folks,

Once again i find myself turning to the forum for advice, this time its paperwork related.

I am getting myself in a right mix up with my invoice numbers, purchase order numbers, quote numbers and job numbers..... please can a few of you shed some light on how to organise said unique identifiers!

Do any of you use software which will manage them for you? If so please suggest it. It takes me so long to produce an invoice that its hardly worth doing. Anything that could possibly manage my quotes and invoices would be ideal.

Max
 
Re: Organising, Invoice Numbers, Purchase Orders and Quote numbers help needed! Softw

On my very basic level I have sheets of sequentially numbered labels the numbering starts with a letter and stick, say, a label beginning with A on the invoice then for the next invoice the next number, or next available label if i have lost a few. For POs numbers beginning with B....
Easiest way i could see without having computers available at every point in my work.
 
Re: Organising, Invoice Numbers, Purchase Orders and Quote numbers help needed! Softw

I use Intuit Quickbooks Pro and this does all this for me. I also use the invoice number against the certificate(s) I do for jobs.

People always want to cut corners and "save" money but a decent PC based system need not cost the earth and will help you loads!
 
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Re: Organising, Invoice Numbers, Purchase Orders and Quote numbers help needed! Softw

another one for quickbooks, i dont use anywhere near its full capability but invoicing is very good, i very rarely print out now, which saves paper and postage as i can email invoice direct to client. Invoices look professional and you can easily track your invoices overdue for payment.
I dont raise POs for suppliers just use client name but again all bills are entered into quickbooks so you know how much you have to pay / have paid and the wonderful think is, the VAT is just about 5 clicks away. Once a year i put in all wages, rents and expenses and it does corporation tax as well.
Costco was selling quickbooks single license for about £120, it has saved me many many times over.
I do my own books and have paper and two copies of the database, thats it.
 
Re: Organising, Invoice Numbers, Purchase Orders and Quote numbers help needed! Softw

plugsandsparks said:
another one for quickbooks, i dont use anywhere near its full capability but invoicing is very good, i very rarely print out now, which saves paper and postage as i can email invoice direct to client. Invoices look professional and you can easily track your invoices overdue for payment.
I dont raise POs for suppliers just use client name but again all bills are entered into quickbooks so you know how much you have to pay / have paid and the wonderful think is, the VAT is just about 5 clicks away. Once a year i put in all wages, rents and expenses and it does corporation tax as well.
Costco was selling quickbooks single license for about £120, it has saved me many many times over.
I do my own books and have paper and two copies of the database, thats it.
Click to expand...

Do you use it for your estimates too?
 
Re: Organising, Invoice Numbers, Purchase Orders and Quote numbers help needed! Softw

No, i should look into that, at present i use excel to knock up the figures and then email quote to client just using the body of the email in txt
 
Re: Organising, Invoice Numbers, Purchase Orders and Quote numbers help needed! Softw

plugsandsparks said:
No, i should look into that, at present i use excel to knock up the figures and then email quote to client just using the body of the email in txt
Click to expand...

You are missing a trick then. Do the estimate in quickbooks, you email it like your invoices. When you've done the job you can create the invoice from the estimate, make any changes and send!

This also allows to to keep track of estimates sent!
 
Re: Organising, Invoice Numbers, Purchase Orders and Quote numbers help needed! Softw

Have you got your logo and scheme logo on your invoice and estimates?
 
Re: Organising, Invoice Numbers, Purchase Orders and Quote numbers help needed! Softw

I do work for letting agents so if one agent is call Wibbily Wobbly then I my invoice is WW-3-029 so that means 3rd year of trading and job No 29 for them I also run 4 basic spreadsheets Sales,Purchase,Banking,Milage and at the end of the month enter the totals on a totals sheet that helps me fill in my self assesment .

Also on the Bank spreadsheet I can see what jobs are complete and what ones I have put a quote in for in other words keep it simple .

Also use the MS briefcase utility to back my business folder up every week Never leave it all on a PC/laptop always back it up
 
Re: Organising, Invoice Numbers, Purchase Orders and Quote numbers help needed! Softw

Thanks for all the replies. Sorry ive took so long to acknowledge them been off ill.

I think quickbooks is the way to go. I know a guy who also swears by it and has been telling me to get for a while.
 
Re: Organising, Invoice Numbers, Purchase Orders and Quote numbers help needed! Softw

Women tend to be useful for this sort of thing and not all of them cost an arm & leg to own & run. Just chuck all of your bits of paper at them and leave them to get on with it. :8:
 
Re: Organising, Invoice Numbers, Purchase Orders and Quote numbers help needed! Softw

Tidy Max said:
Thanks for all the replies. Sorry ive took so long to acknowledge them been off ill.

I think quickbooks is the way to go. I know a guy who also swears by it and has been telling me to get for a while.
Click to expand...

You can download a trial version and have a "play"
 
Re: Organising, Invoice Numbers, Purchase Orders and Quote numbers help needed! Softw

Geordie Spark said:
Women tend to be useful for this sort of thing and not all of them cost an arm & leg to own & run. Just chuck all of your bits of paper at them and leave them to get on with it. :8:
Click to expand...


You incinerating that's all I'm good at? :38:
:86:
 
Extreme software suite by Amtech for estimating if you're looking for a good system it also has job costing and accounts modules.... They also do a smaller system called work smart which is just a estimating and Job costing/invoicing package about £200....
 
Re: Organising, Invoice Numbers, Purchase Orders and Quote numbers help needed! Sof

Murdoch said:
Use the "built in" template, and then you customise it.

PM your email details and I'll send you a sample if you want.
Click to expand...

Can you back this info up on a memory stick the reason I ask is a guy I knew hard drive screwed up and he lost 5 years of records without backing them up so far he has not been asked to produce them but he has a legal obligation to keep them and supply them if required
 
Re: Organising, Invoice Numbers, Purchase Orders and Quote numbers help needed! Sof

oldtimer said:
Can you back this info up on a memory stick the reason I ask is a guy I knew hard drive screwed up and he lost 5 years of records without backing them up so far he has not been asked to produce them but he has a legal obligation to keep them and supply them if required
Click to expand...

I know I sound a bit pariniod but working with computers for the past 28 years I have seen to many fatal loss of data hence why I keep it simple and then back it up every week . Just seen too much of this plus whats in it for the company who is giving you the free online service where do they make their money ?
 
Re: Organising, Invoice Numbers, Purchase Orders and Quote numbers help needed! Sof

oldtimer said:
Can you back this info up on a memory stick the reason I ask is a guy I knew hard drive screwed up and he lost 5 years of records without backing them up so far he has not been asked to produce them but he has a legal obligation to keep them and supply them if required
Click to expand...

Quickbooks does a back up every other time I close it. This file is saved on the same hard drive. once a week its copied to another PC in the house and once a month the 2nd PC is backed up to a plug in drive, so in theory I'd lose a weeks work. I have been meaning to "automate" the back up but haven't got round to it.

I should say that all the invoices, and certs, are printed out and kept in a file!
 
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Re: Organising, Invoice Numbers, Purchase Orders and Quote numbers help needed! Softw

Hi in reply to the origanal post my company A and P contractors use a product called Job Tracker PLUS you can down load a free trial if you click on the link. its great it keeps me realy organised and everything is kept together so it all matches up at the end. you can do job sheets invoices and quotes on it and even book apointment i have found it so helpful

hope this helps :)
 
Re: Organising, Invoice Numbers, Purchase Orders and Quote numbers help needed! Softw

Hi Tidy Max,

I would recommend an accounts package called Solar Accounts. I think I paid £140.00 for it. I found it very easy to use and they have an excellent online help facility. The cost is a one of payment so no other monthly outgoings. They also offer a free 30 day trial. Give it ago, it works for me.

http://www.solaraccounts.co.uk/
 
Re: Organising, Invoice Numbers, Purchase Orders and Quote numbers help needed! Softw

Quickbook and Excel can help you out in this necessity. You just have to organize them properly and label it's name. I think it will be the best if you will have chronologically ordered. In this way, you will not be bothered which will comes first and vice versa.
 
Re: Organising, Invoice Numbers, Purchase Orders and Quote numbers help needed! Softw

Hi
Before you commit to Quick Books have a go with SliQ Invoicing Plus. It has been written for traders such as your self to make it easy to manage the admin around invoicing, estimates etc. It is inexpensive in comparison to QB and considerably easier to get started with. You can also add a prefix to your invoice numbers.
As an accountant in business I use QB and it is great but it has an awful lot of stuff in it that non accountants would not want to know about. If you want a clutter free and simple to use piece of invoicing, quoting software then try SliQ. There is a free trial of 30 days. :mickey:
 
Re: Organising, Invoice Numbers, Purchase Orders and Quote numbers help needed! Softw

also worth looking at Amphis Customer www.amphis-software.com which has a free 60 day trial and handles contacts, appointments, quotes, invoices, jobs, customer letters, mail merge, sms messages and more. can export to Sage format which your accountant might want. single or multi-user. uses Word templates so easy to add your logo and business details.
 
Re: Organising, Invoice Numbers, Purchase Orders and Quote numbers help needed! Softw

I think I shall take a look at that. It's a new one to me. Do you use it?
 
Re: Organising, Invoice Numbers, Purchase Orders and Quote numbers help needed! Softw

yes, I use it for all my invoices and quotes. saves a lot of time.
 
Re: Organising, Invoice Numbers, Purchase Orders and Quote numbers help needed! Softw

I have been using quick files for last couple of years after seeing someone recommend it on here. It does all invoicing and estimating etc. Best thing is that it's completely free. The only thing is that I can't see how to automatically show 20 % cis deduction.
 
Re: Organising, Invoice Numbers, Purchase Orders and Quote numbers help needed! Softw

I use the back of a beer mat but after pushing my 1000th job the local pubs are getting suss of me :thinking:
 

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