Make an Invoice on Excel
Microsoft Excel can handle many of the financial calculations you make in running your business. Excel can also help you invoice your customers; that is, prepare an itemized list of products sold or services rendered. You can make an invoice in Excel by downloading a pre-made template or creating an invoice from a blank workbook. The following steps detail both methods for Excel 2003, 2007, and 2010.
Contents
[hide]Steps
Sample Invoices
Doc:Services Rendered Invoice,Lawn Care Invoice,Printing Invoice
Downloading a Pre-Made Template
- Create a new workbook. Although a pre-made template is actually not a "new" workbook, you begin as though you were actually creating a new workbook.
- In Excel 2003, select "New" from the File menu.
- In Excel 2007, click the Office button in the upper left and select "New" from the File menu.
- In Excel 2010, click the File tab and then select "New" from the options at left.
- Do not click the New toolbar button in Excel 2003 or the New button on the Quick Access Toolbar in Excel 2007 or 2010. These buttons will only let you create a new spreadsheet using the default Normal.xlt or Normal.xltx template. (Do use this method when creating an invoice from a blank spreadsheet, however.)
- Navigate to the template you want.
- In Excel 2003 and 2007, select Invoices in the "Available Office Templates" on the left pane of the New Workbook task pane. Select the type of template from the list in the center window; then select one of the invoices displayed of that type.
- In Excel 2010, select Invoices in the Office.com Templates section under "Available Office Templates." Double-click the folder for the type of template you want to create; then select one of the invoices displayed of that type.
- Download the template. Click the Download button at the right of the screen. You can then make changes to the invoice, using the information under "Method Two: Creating an Invoice from a Blank Spreadsheet," and save it.
- You can also access invoice templates for Microsoft Word and Excel directly from the Microsoft website at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/results.aspx?qu=invoices&ex=1. Be sure to select an invoice for your version of Word.
Creating an Invoice from a Blank Spreadsheet
- Choose an invoice size. Once you choose a paper size as described below, you'll see a set of dotted lines.
- In Excel 2003, select Page Setup from the File menu. Then select a paper size from the Paper Size dropdown list in the Page section of the Page Setup window.
- In Excel 2007 and 2010, click the Page Layout tab, then click Size and select a paper size.
- Create the invoice heading. Your heading should include the following information:
- Your company name. This should be in the same font and point size as on your other company materials.
- The word "Invoice" or a descriptor of the type of invoice it is, such as "Price Quote" if you're quoting a price for your services to a client instead of billing for them.
- The invoice date.
- The invoice number. You can either use a global numbering system for all your clients or individual numbering for each client. If you choose to number for each client, you can include the client name or a form of it in the invoice number, such as "Westwood1."
- Enter the sender and recipient addresses. This information should appear near the top of the invoice, with your information above the client's.
- Your contact information should include your or your accounts receivable person's name, your company's address, phone, fax, and email.
- Your client's information should include the company name, the name of the accounts payable person, and the client address. You can also include the client's phone, fax, and email.
- You can set the client information up in a separate Excel worksheet and use Excel's VLOOKUP function in your invoice spreadsheet to look up the correct client information.
- Lay out the billing information. You can devote a column to a short description of the product or service, a column to quantity, a column to unit price or rate, and a calculated column for the total price for the quantity purchased of that item.
- If you have a fixed selection of products or services, you can set that list up in a separate spreadsheet and use the VLOOKUP function to look that information up to avoid typing it repeatedly.
- Display the amount of the total bill. This should appear below the calculated column of individual charges and can be generated with Excel's SUM function.
- If you're charging sales tax or other fees, you should display a subtotal of the itemized charges and the amounts of the taxes and fees beneath it, then the total bill beneath those. In the case of percentage-based taxes, you should include the percentage rate for the customer's information.
- Include the terms of payment. This can appear either above or below the billing information. Common payment terms are "Due on receipt," "Due within 14 days," "Due within 30 days," or "Due within 60 days."
- You may also want to include a memo at the bottom of the invoice covering accepted methods of payment, general information, or including a thank-you to your customer for shopping with you.
- Save your invoice. You should save your invoice with a meaningful name. It should include your company name and the type of invoice and may also include the invoice number and the client's name.
Tips
- Once you've saved an invoice workbook, you can use it as a template for creating new invoices by using the "New from existing" option. You can also save the workbook in .xlt or .xltx format for future template use.
- If you choose to keep the client information or your product information in a separate worksheet and link to it with the VLOOKUP function, you may wish to embed the VLOOKUP in an IF function statement to avoid displaying "N/A" in the lookup fields when the fields being looked up are not populated with information.
- Another way to display the invoice heading, sender information, and terms of payment is to put them in a Word document and keep only the recipient address and billing information in Excel. You can then paste a link to the spreadsheet in your Word document. Whenever you update the billing information in the spreadsheet, right click the embedded spreadsheet in your Word document and select "Update Link" to see the modifications displayed in Word as well.
