Methods for more efficient invoicing routines
Is there room to streamline the invoicing routines in your business? Invoicing is an essential part of all companies, and at Milient, we have experienced that many businesses make invoicing more cumbersome than it needs to be. In this blog post, we'll explore some practical tips and best practices to help you improve your invoicing routines and ensure that your business runs smoothly.
First commandment: Change the distribution of work
What is the first bid to get better invoicing routines? It is to distribute the work more efficiently.
In many businesses, the financial manager is fully responsible for invoicing. In Milient, we have experienced that the finance manager will spend many hours clarifying a number of things with the project managers, such as which hours are to be invoiced, hourly rates and payment plans.
Inefficient routines lead to more work for the person invoicing, and less working time for project managers and others involved.
Involve the project manager
The project managers should be involved in the invoicing work to a much greater extent than many think is necessary. They can effectively check the content of invoices and create drafts. The invoicing officer should only ensure the quality of invoice drafts, send out and follow up payments.
Good and clear routines for this ensure that invoices are sent out at the right time, and you limit the intern time spent on invoicing.
Correct invoice - every time
By involving project managers to a higher degree, you will increase the probability that what is included on the invoice is correct. If you always hand over your invoices with the correct information on the work that has been done, you will create a better experience for the customer who receives the invoice. If there are often errors and missing information, it will create dissatisfaction on the part of the customer, in addition to the fact that the person invoicing will have to spend time crediting and correcting the error(s) that were on the invoice.
The project manager has the best control over the consumption of hours
Project managers must and should be the person who has the best control over the time spent on a project. With good control over hours worked and what can and cannot be invoiced, they are best equipped to prepare draft invoices.
In this way, the invoicing officer avoids spending unnecessary time chasing down project managers to clarify what can be invoiced.
An efficient invoicing routine can look like this:
In advance of the invoicing days, the project manager approves hours and prepares a draft. This draft is then ready, and only needs to be quality assured by the person sending out the invoice. The invoicing officer can then send out an invoice and follow it up. Since the project manager has created the draft, it is a clear indicator for the invoicing officer that the hours have been checked and approved for invoicing.
This may sound easy in theory, but it requires good routines:
- Who will create the drafts if there are several project managers?
- How can we ensure that everyone leads their classes in time for the project manager to approve and prepare drafts?
- When must the drafts be ready?
There are of course things that need to be clarified before deciding to invoice in this way. For some it will be completely optimal, and for others not quite so optimal.
The point of evaluating one's own invoicing process is to see what works well and what can be improved. The goal will be the same regardless of which method you want to use: higher efficiency and less pain.
Do you have any questions about how your company can streamline the invoicing process in the projects? Get in touch, and we'll be happy to have a chat.
