Ways to Check if Payment is Received for Invoice

A vendor generates an invoice or a sales invoice to ask for payments against the goods and/or services they supply. It usually consists of sections to aid an accounting team with the information required for timely approval, processing, and transferring payments to a vendor.

How to Read an Invoice?

The Vendor’s Contact Details

An accounting team will require the vendor’s phone number, email address, and company name to initiate the transaction. No pin code or phone number can cause a significant delay in the transaction process.

The Purchase Order Number 

An invoice with a purchase number indicates to the accounting department that the company has approved the transaction being billed for in the past. This allows the accounting department to use the original purchase order as a reference and match the details with the invoice. 

All transactions do not require a purchase order number. Hence, every invoice will not reference a purchase order number. Usually, expensive purchases necessitate a purchase order number.

Invoice Number

It acts as a reference number for the payment to be received by a vendor. It is created and included in the invoice by the vendor. It is of use to both the vendor and the client as the client can close the purchase order upon the payment of the invoice indicating the completion of the transaction. 

Upon receiving the cheque, the vendor can reference the invoice number on the payslip to know which invoice the payment received was for. He can then mark the invoice as payment received. This will indicate the completion of the payment process from his side. This is especially helpful for vendors conducting a lot of business with the same client and having a lot of invoices for approval and processing.

Description and Pricing

This section shows the client that the products and/or services being invoiced for are by the past discussion and agreed upon pricing. The information in this section is the exact reflection of the description and prices indicated in the purchase order.

Payment Terms 

This section informs the client’s accounting department about the deadline by which the vendor expects the payment. Terms such as “payable upon receipt”, “net 45 days”, “net 30 days”, “net 60/90 days”, etc., are usually used. They can often contradict the client’s pay periods and confuse them. It is usually recommended for vendors to include mutually agreeable payment terms. Payment terms also tell the client about the payment methods accepted by the vendor.