# Introduction - Invoices

An invoice is what you billed for what you shipped, and keeping the two in step is the job.

**Video coming soon:** Billing what actually shipped, and spotting the goods that went out and were never invoiced.

Inventory cares about invoices for one reason: they are the half of the transaction that is easy to forget once the goods have gone. Stock left on the shipment, so the warehouse considers the job done, and nothing physical happens when the invoice is late.

![The Invoices screen, subtitled Manage and track all invoices across your organization, and its Invoice action. Columns read Invoice Date, Invoice Number, Reference Number, Customer, Status, Total Amount, Balance Due and Due Date. Statuses are relative labels: Overdue by 21 days, Overdue by 1 day, Partially Paid, Paid, Due in 17 days and Due in 25 days, against UK customers including Thameside Fabrication, Aldgate Rail Services, Northgate Water Utilities and Redheugh Manufacturing.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/inventory/invoices/invoices-list.png)

*Fifty-four invoices. The status is a relative date, so how late something is reads at a glance.*

## Goods and money move on different documents

| Document | What it moves |
| --- | --- |
| Sales order | Nothing. It reserves |
| Shipment | The stock, off your count |
| Invoice | The money owed, onto the customer |
| Payment received | The money itself |

The two chains are deliberately separate, because they genuinely happen at different times: goods can go out before the paperwork, and an invoice can be raised for goods that ship next week.

## Reading the status

- **Due in N days** (not yet owed): Raised, sent and inside its payment terms. Nothing to do.
- **Overdue by N days** (past its terms): The number is what makes a chasing list sort itself.
- **Partially Paid** (something arrived): A payment has been allocated but does not cover the balance. Often follows a short delivery.
- **Paid** (settled): Balance due is zero and the invoice is out of the way.

![An invoice record showing its number, status and due date, the customer and their billing address, the invoiced lines with quantities and rates, the totals and balance due, and an activity panel at the right.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/inventory/invoices/invoice-detail.png)

*Balance Due, not Total, is the number that says whether this invoice still needs chasing.*

> **Warning:**
>
> **Shipped and not invoiced is the gap to watch**
>
> It is the state that costs you money silently. Nothing is wrong on the shelf, nothing is overdue, and the sale simply is not on anybody's list. Check it against your shipments rather than waiting for a customer to point it out.

## What an invoice does not do

- It does not reduce stock. The shipment already did that.
- It does not release a reservation. Cancelling or shipping the order does.
- It does not change valuation. What the goods were worth was settled when they came in.

> **Note:**
>
> **The same invoice, two apps**
>
> An invoice raised here is the same record Finance works with. Inventory shows it against the order and the shipment it belongs to; Finance shows it against the customer's balance and the ageing. One document, two questions.