Set up a recurring sales invoice

Summary

How to set up recurring sales invoices in Sage Accounting.

Resolution

There are three methods for creating recurring invoices, from new, copy an existing invoice or copy from another recurring invoice.

New recurring invoice:

Go to Sales, Sales invoices, and select the Recurring Invoices tab
Select New Recurring Invoice.

Copy from an existing invoice:

Sales, Sales invoices, and select the Invoices tab.
Open the invoice you want to copy.
Select Recur from the actions on the right.

If you've already invoiced a customer who buys from you regularly, consider creating a recurring invoice from their last invoice. This copies all the details from their last invoice, which you can edit before saving. Use this method too if you've created the first invoice already and want to set up a recurring invoice for subsequent ones.

NOTE: You aren't able to set up recurring invoices in a foreign currency.

Enter the invoice details

All details entered here are applied to invoices created from this recurring one
We won't automatically update your recurring invoice when you amend a product record or contact record, as we don't know whether you want to apply these changes
To update information such as a price change, product description, or delivery address, edit the recurring invoice
The invoice date is always set to the day each invoice is created
The Reference is applied to all invoices created from this one. Consider using a reference that makes it easy to identify them

Set up the frequency

Set the number of days, weeks, or months between invoices. Choose Last to create invoices on the last day of each month.

For quarterly or annual invoices, set the frequency to

Months, to recur on a particular date
Weeks, to recur on a specific day of the week

Check the schedule is correct before you save.

Starting

Choose when you want the schedule to start. The Starting date is not necessarily the date of the first invoice, just the date you want to start running the schedule from.

If the Starting date is today and the Frequency is also today, then an invoice will be created immediately
Move the starting date if your first is scheduled to run today and you don't want to create an invoice straight away

You might be setting up orders today that run from a date in the future, such as the beginning of the following month. To make sure your invoices are not created early, set the starting date to the first of the next month

For example:

Frequency	Starting date	1st invoice
Weekly on a Monday	Today and today is Monday	Immediately
Weekly on a Monday	Today and today is Tuesday	The following Monday
Monthly on the 1st	Today and today is the 1st	Immediately
Monthly on the 1st	Today and today is the 3rd	1st of the following month

You can't set up a recurring invoice to run from a date in the past and create invoices respectively

Ending

Now you need to decide when to stop the invoices being generated.

To create invoices perpetually, set the Ending to Never. Otherwise, choose the number of invoices required or set an end date
Once the recurring invoice gets past its end date, it can't be edited. If you want to set up the same recurring invoice again, because your customer has renewed their subscription for example, copy the completed one to a new recurring invoice. See Copy a recurring invoice

How to invoice for a single job across multiple periods, such as 30, 60 and 90 days

Set up a recurring invoice with a Frequency of every 30 days to end after 3 occurrences.

This will create three separate invoices after 30, 60 and 90 days.

How to set up recurring invoices to make sure they're due to be paid in the next period

To help your cashflow, it's a good idea to make sure your invoices are always due to be paid on the next period.

If you set your recurring invoices to recur on the last day of the month, you may have some months where the due date falls outside of your next period.

Consider setting it up to recur around the 22nd of the month, to make sure they're always due within the following period.

Create draft invoices

Use this if you or someone else need to check the invoices before they are sent out and you don't want to update your customer accounts until they're checked. This is useful if you have an approval workflow or authorisation process.

It's easier to make changes to a draft invoice and as draft invoices can't be paid, there's less chance of making errors.

To create and send the invoices

Go to Sales and Sales Invoices.
Open the invoice from the list and make the required changes.
Clear the Save as Draft check box.
Choose to Save or Save and Email to send out the invoice and update your accounts.

Create invoices

Use this if you or someone else needs to check the invoices before they get sent out, or you need to send them to an email address other than the one set on the contact record.

Use for invoices that are not emailed or sent out immediately or to print and send in the post.

When the invoices are created they're shown on the Invoices list.

To send your invoices

Go to Sales and Sales Invoices.
Open the invoice from the list and make the required changes.
When you're ready to send them, select them from the list and select Email. You can change the email address they're sent to from here.

Create and email straight away

Use this if you're happy for the invoices to be created and emailed to the customer at the same time. Your invoices are created just after midnight on the day that they're due.

When you save the recurring invoice, set the message text (and Copy To address) to be used for all invoices created from this one
Invoices are always sent to the Main contact email address set on the Contact record. If this address is updated, subsequent invoices will be sent to the updated address
If you want to send to a email address that's different from Main Contact, choose Create Invoices and then email manually from the Invoices list
The subject line is automatically created and consists of the name of the company, the invoice number, and the value
If you want to change the subject line from period to period, choose Create Invoices so you can amend the email details before sending

NOTE: If the customer contact record doesn't have an email address, the invoices are created but not sent. Invoices that haven't been sent are shown on the Invoice list. Select them from the list to email manually.