The fundamentals of running a business remain the same, irrespective of the domain of your business. Customers are an integral part of any business. When a customer opts for your service or pays for a product, it is mandatory to provide an invoice to the customer.

Manually generated invoices are prone to errors and the effort involved in invoice generation can be huge once the business gathers scale. Errors in invoicing can also lead to errors in bookkeeping & record maintenance. A solution to this problem is using good billing software that not only aids in customized invoice generation but also helps in tracking any activity related to payments!

Billing, an integral part of any accounting software is used for:

• Creating invoices using customized billing templates
• Creating a financial calendar
• Sending payment reminders
• Tracking expenses incurred on projects, clients, employees, and other stakeholders associated with the business.

 

Good billing software follows accounting principles & processes so that the receiver of the invoice can figure out all the details mentioned in the invoice. There will be chaos if accounting principles are not followed in creating billing software. The data on the invoice would be left to the whims & fancies of the receiver☹.

It is recommended that business owners should choose billing software by looking at the features and scalability of the software. If customers of your business are based out of India, you would also be required to add GST (Goods & Services Tax) component in the invoice. Hence, businesses would require GST billing software. Tally Solutions offers feature-rich billing & inventory software that is suited for small businesses as well as large enterprises. As the software by Tally Solutions is GST ready; it can be used for GST billing, error corrections & deductions in GST reports, and preparing GST returns.

So, how do you evaluate billing software for your business? You should look at the features of the software and check whether it is capable of generating invoices in the format where your customer segmented is located. If your company is selling goods or offering services to international customers, the software should be capable of generating invoices adhering to their invoicing standards. The billing software should also have the flexibility of generating an invoice for the target currency i.e. USD for US customers, Euros for European customers, etc.

The billing software should also have features for recurring billing, secure customer management, and facilitating invoicing by instantly processing credit cards. Such software can be used for office kind of setup and also for retailers where POS (Point of Sale) machines are used. The invoice format should remain the same irrespective of the type of business.

Businesses with global operations should opt for billing & invoicing software that has multiple currency options. Information in the invoice should be crystal clear else it might confuse the recipient of the invoice. There should be pre-defined templates so that time is not spent on designing the invoice.

Customer-centric billing software eliminates the need for other external systems by integrating those blocks in the software. Tax reporting is one such feature that is a must-have in billing & invoicing software.

The take-away

Businesses should look at avenues for simplifying the processes and integrating good billing software could be a good starting point!