Invoice management - reinvented

Invoice management involves creating, sending, and tracking client invoices, plus improving supplier invoice management.

Successful invoice management strives to:

• Ensure prompt payments from clients
• Guarantee legal compliance, especially with required details
• Streamline accounting processes
• Minimize mistakes
• Prevent late fees on supplier invoices
• Build better relationships with business partners

Invoice management is a crucial (and sometimes complex) task for any business. That's why establishing a well-thought-out process is essential.

Set up a system that works for you. The invoicing process follows a distinct sequence. Typically, it includes:

• Sharing a quote with a supplier
• The supplier signing off the quote
• The supplier delivering the product or service
• The supplier creating and sending the invoice
• The client paying the invoice

Effective invoice management requires carefully following each step in a timely manner, with one clear goal: getting paid quickly.

Dealing with an unpaid invoice? With Qonto, you can view overdue invoices at a glance and send client payment reminders without leaving the interface. With the rise of invoice digitization in Europe, using invoice management software that meets your company's needs is essential. To streamline your processes and save time, Qonto has combined all essential invoice management features into one tool. This way, you can manage both client and supplier invoices without juggling multiple software applications. This increased visibility provides real-time financial information, helping business leaders make better decisions.

Remember to delegate to your teams; managing client and supplier invoices shouldn't be the business leader's sole responsibility. Leaders should primarily focus on business development. That's why delegating certain tasks to your colleagues is essential. With Qonto, you can create roles for your employees with restrictions according to your own rules. This ensures you maintain control while granting autonomy to your teams to issue invoices, prepare supplier payments, and follow up on unpaid invoices.

According to your local market regulations, all professional invoices need to include specific details. For European businesses, this often includes:

• Full name and address of both parties: mentioning the full name and address of the service provider and recipient ensures clear identification by European authorities. In Germany, for small invoices up to €250, the issuer’s address details are sufficient. Italy and Spain are more flexible with this adaptation, with a €400 cap, whereas France’s threshold is just €150.

• Tax identification number or VAT number: each country has specific requirements for VAT numbers and tax identification, and understanding these differences is crucial for proper invoicing. In France, businesses must provide both their SIREN/SIRET number and their intra-community VAT number, which follows the format FR + 2 verification digits + SIREN (9 digits). When the provider is part of a VAT group sharing a single VAT number, invoices must include the specific mention "Membre d'un assujetti unique" along with the name, address, and VAT number of the group.

  Italian businesses must include their Partita IVA (VAT number) with a minimum of 11 characters on standard invoices. However, for simplified invoices mentioned above (under €400), this requirement may be waived. Spanish companies must always include their Tax ID (NIF) on all invoices, even simplified ones.

  For cross-border transactions within the EU, additional rules apply. In France, businesses must obtain and include an intracommunity VAT number when providing or purchasing services from EU professionals, or when selling/purchasing goods in the EU exceeding €10,000. When using a tax representative in another EU country, their VAT number must also be included on the invoice .

• Date of invoicing and date of delivery or service: the invoice date and service date are mandatory elements that ensure transparency and are essential for accurate accounting and financial management.

• Invoice number: a unique, sequential invoice number enables tax authorities to efficiently track and process documents.

• Specifications: to ensure traceability, clearly state the quantity and type of items delivered, or the scope and nature of services provided.

• Total remuneration: the total amount must be broken down to show different tax rates and exemptions, including any applicable discounts and early payment incentives.

Learn more about invoicing requirements here.

Organizing invoices is key to maintaining financial clarity and avoiding costly errors. Here’s how to streamline your process:

1. Centralize storage: Use a dedicated digital platform (like Qonto) to store all invoices in one secure, cloud-based location. Avoid scattered spreadsheets, emails, or paper files.
2. Standardize naming conventions: Label files clearly (e.g., “2025-02ClientXInvoice123”) for quick searches. Include dates, client names, and invoice numbers.
3. Automate sorting: Leverage tools that auto-categorize invoices by type (client/supplier), status (paid/unpaid), or due date. Qonto’s OCR technology, for example, extracts and organizes data from uploaded invoices instantly.
4. Set reminders: Track payment deadlines automatically. With Qonto, overdue invoices trigger alerts, and you can send payment reminders directly from the platform.
5. Sync with accounting: Ensure your invoicing tool integrates with accounting software to eliminate manual data entry. Qonto auto-forwards invoices to your accountant’s system.
6. Regular audits: Schedule monthly reviews to reconcile invoices with bank transactions and flag discrepancies.

An effective system minimizes administrative work while maximizing accuracy and cash flow. Key features include:

• Automation: Automate invoice creation, sending, and payment tracking. For example, Qonto lets you convert quotes to invoices with one click.
• Real-time visibility: A dashboard showing unpaid invoices, cash flow forecasts, and pending supplier payments.
• Customizable workflows: Opportunities to tailor the approval processes (e.g., multi-level sign-offs for large invoices) and implement role-based access for teams.
• Compliance safeguards: Built-in checks for mandatory details (e.g., VAT numbers, legal clauses) to avoid penalties.
• Client/supplier portals: Allow clients to view/pay invoices online and suppliers to submit invoices directly.
• Analytics: Get visibility on payment trends and track late payments from clients/suppliers.

Qonto’s system combines these elements, integrating directly with your business account to unify invoicing, payments, and accounting.

The best software adapts to your business size, industry, and workflow while simplifying compliance. Look for:

• Automation: Tools that auto-create invoices from templates, send payment reminders, and reconcile payments.
• Integration: Get seamless connections with your business account, accounting software (e.g., DATEV, Sage), and payment methods.
• Scalability: Seek flexibility, ideal tools should be able to handle growing transaction volumes and international clients (multi-currency support, cross-border compliance).
• User-friendly design: Intuitive interfaces that reduce training time. Qonto, for instance, offers easy invoice creation and one-click payment links.
• Advanced features: Ideally, you should have OCR capabilities for digitizing paper invoices, customizable approval chains, and team-oriented capabilities like real-time collaboration.

While many tools exist, Qonto stands out by combining invoicing with banking, enabling you to manage cash flow, payments, and accounting in one platform. Its focus on automation and regulatory compliance makes it ideal for European SMEs navigating complex VAT rules.

Choosing invoicing software over Excel can significantly improve your invoicing processes. Relying on spreadsheets has numerous shortcomings: you must create your own invoice templates, manually manage all mandatory details (risking omissions or errors), waste time converting quotes into invoices, ensure correct dates and sequential numbering, manually transfer all invoices to your accounting software, and track client payments by comparing bank transactions with issued invoices.

With Qonto's invoice management software, you have a tool directly integrated with your business account, allowing you to:

• Turn quotes into invoices with one click
• Quickly collect client payments with a dedicated page and instant transfers
• Track payments and easily remind clients of unpaid invoices
• Automatically forward invoices to your accountant's software

Additionally, our software assists in managing supplier invoices. Thanks to Qonto’s OCR technology, our solution prepares your transfer orders and provides an intuitive dashboard to monitor due dates.

Be aware that incorrect invoicing can lead to significant tax penalties - this should underline the importance for your business to use reliable, efficient software.

An e-invoice is (as the name might suggest) the digital version of a traditional printed invoice. That means that is a tax document created, issued, transmitted, and received electronically, and designed to ensure automatic processing.

Like a paper invoice, e-invoices contain detailed information about a specific business transaction. Therefore, this digital document must contain all the mandatory and necessary information to pay the invoiced amount, such as:

• Issue date
• Invoice number or series
• Tax details of the issuer
• Tax details of the recipient
• Description: name of the billed products or services
• Unit price (excluding taxes) of the billed items
• Applicable taxes - taxes may vary depending on the legal form and residence of a company
• Information about the payment method (e.g. bank transfer)