Click on the image to see an example of a correctly formatted invoice. |
Highlight important details
Feel free to frame important details on the invoice; this makes it easier for the payer to provide the right information when paying – i.e. highlight the details you want back in order to match and check off the invoice. We recommend that you mark the invoice number particularly clearly and make it eye-catching (see example). This is increasingly important as payments via Internet services become more common.
Required for accounts receivable ledgers using Automatic checking
The reference is the key to being able to identify a payment and checking it off against the accounts receivable ledger; software used for the accounts receivable ledger should be compatible with that used for the payment. This reference is also called a reference number or invoice number. For invoice issuers which use bank giro services for Automatic checking of accounts receivable ledgers, the payer must register the correct reference number/invoice number. BGC has developed guidelines as to how to format and position the reference/invoice number.
Invoice number
Enter the invoice number as a reference number on the payment advice slip
If you enclose a pre-printed payment slip with the invoice (regardless of whether this is an OCR slip or a "normal" payment slip), the reference number on the advice slip should be the same as the invoice number. If you use different numbers, there is a risk of the payer deciding to register the "wrong" one, thereby preventing the payment from being matched and checked off automatically in some cases. Note that if you are using Automatic checking and enclose pre-printed slips with your invoices, the invoice number should be printed in the top left corner of the notification field on the slip.
State the invoice number clearly!
Always position the invoice/reference number in the top right hand corner of the invoice, and make it clear that this is the number to be used by your customer when making a payment (see example). If you use Payment Service OCR, the reference should be printed on the code row of the advice slip. If you are also using Automatic checking in combination with Payment Service OCR, it is important that the invoice number you specify on the invoice itself is the same as the reference number on the OCR advice slip. If your customer completes the payment via his or her Internet service or via Supplier Payments, it is obviously this number which you want the customer to register. Also instruct your customers that if they print out their own payment slips, they should state the invoice number in the top left corner of the notification field on their slip. This is to maximise the chances of Bankgirot "locating" the invoice number on the advice slip.
Use short invoice numbers
The fewer figures you use in your invoice numbers, the lower the risk of your customer registering wrong invoice number. Some payers use software which cannot process invoice numbers containing more than 9 digits. If your invoice number is longer than this, it will be truncated and, in consequence, your search program may not find it when matching figures against your customer ledger.
Do not start invoice numbers with a zero
Past experience demonstrates that it is difficult to predict how payers will deal with zeros as initial digits in an invoice number: some will register them, others will not. This means that the length of the invoice number could change, preventing the program which matches payments against the customer ledger from locating the invoice number.
Do not use dashes or spaces in the invoice number
For the same reason, no dashes or spaces should be used.
Use a check digit in the invoice number
A check digit in accordance with modulus 10 (equal to the last digit in, say, a national insurance number) is used to help disclose registration errors. If your system can handle it, it is worth using a check digit in your invoice numbers. This will give more accurate matches, since the invoice number can be checked through the entire payment chain. Note that for Payment Service OCR, the invoice/reference number must contain a check digit.
Miscellaneous
If the payer uses their own payment slip
If you choose not to enclose a payment slip with your invoice, or if the payer for some other reason decides to use a different payment slip, you must make sure they know that the invoice number should be written in the top left corner of the notification field on the payment slip.
Use OCR slips without pre-printed amounts if necessary
Some payers need to pay an amount which is different to that entered by the invoicer on the OCR slip which was sent with the invoice. In such cases, the payer should instead use another payment slip on which the amount can be entered manually. Invoice these payers with OCR slips without the amount filled in; these payments will then be reviewed in the OCR file.
Invoice frequently
If invoicing takes place at long intervals, there is a risk that the payer will lose the pre-printed OCR slip. If the payer cannot find the payment slip when they come to pay, he or she will use another payment slip and the payment may not be recognised in the OCR file.
Boxing off the invoice number as shown in the illustration is recommended by SIS (Standardisation in Sweden) in the new standard for Swedish invoices.
The guidelines provided in this standard regarding the formatting of invoice numbers were developed by BGC and PlusGirot with the General Standardising Group – the relevant managing body within SIS. The name of the standardising document is SS 61 41 14 Handelsdokument – Forms of tender applications, tenders, ordering and invoicing with and without payment cards.
Visit SIS’s website at www.sis.se.