How to make an invoice in MYOB

You can add a customer or a sales item while you're filling in the invoice, but MYOB points out that invoicing is quicker when your customers, sales items, sales templates and payment details already exist. Then each invoice is mostly a matter of choosing from drop-down lists.

If you're selling stock, check you have enough on hand before you start. And if you take cash sales and don't need a separate invoice for each buyer, MYOB suggests one contact named Cash Sales that you pick every time, so your sales reports can be filtered by it.

1. Go to the Create menu and choose Invoice. You can also open the Invoices page from the Sales menu and click Create invoice.
2. Pick the Customer from the drop-down list. For someone new, click the Customer dropdown arrow, choose Create customer, fill in what you know and click Save. If the customer has open quotes, you can click Open quotes and convert one instead of typing the lines again.
3. Leave the Invoice number as MYOB suggests, or change it. Add a Customer PO Number if the customer gave you one.
4. Check the Issue date, which starts as today. Click the Due date to set the terms, and tick Remember terms for this customer if they should apply to that customer from now on.
5. Click Field layout and choose the layout that suits the sale, such as services only or services and items.
6. For an item, choose it in the Item ID column (you can search by Item ID or Supplier item ID) and enter the number of Units. The Amount works itself out, and you can add a Discount (%).
7. For a service, type a Description, choose the Category the income belongs to and enter the Amount. If you're unsure which category to use, check with your accountant.
8. Add any Freight, choose a Job if the line relates to one, and pick or type a Notes to customer message if you want one on the invoice.
9. Drag any supporting documents into the Attachments area. MYOB accepts PDF, TIFF, JPEG or PNG files under 10MB.
10. Check the totals at the bottom, then click Save, or open the Save dropdown and choose Save and create new, Save and duplicate or Save as recurring.

Once saved, the invoice is listed on the Invoices page under the Sales menu, and it counts towards that page's totals for invoice value, balance due and anything overdue. Its Status column shows Open until it's paid in full, Overdue once the due date passes, and Paid when it's settled.

Saving also unlocks the buttons across the top of the invoice. Record payment opens the payment page with this invoice's amount filled in, Preview shows the online version of the invoice, and Share lets you email it or copy a link to it. Open the invoice again later by clicking its number, and its activity at the bottom shows when it was created, emailed or viewed, and any payments received.

If you changed the invoice number, the next invoice picks up from your new number rather than the old sequence.

If you can't enter Freight, MYOB asks you to set a linked category for freight first. In AccountRight used in a browser, a message saying you must specify a category means your file requires a cost centre on every transaction, which the browser can't do yet, so record that invoice in AccountRight on the desktop. The same applies if AccountRight Premier says there isn't enough stock on hand when you store the item at more than one location, because the browser only checks the primary location.

If you use AccountRight on the desktop, start from the Sales command centre and click Enter Sales, which opens a sale with its type set to Invoice. You choose a layout with Layout, can take a payment on the spot in the Paid Today field, and click Record to save. A quote or order becomes an invoice from the Sales Register, using Change to Invoice.