7. How to Create Invoices in GnuCash -Part 02

In Part 1of Creating Invoices in GnuCash, I talked about four things you need to have in place before you begin creating invoices:

  • The Sales Tax Table
  • Register Your Business in the system,
  • Set up your Accounting Period
  • Setup your Billing Terms.

And I walked you through the steps of setting up each feature. If you haven’t already reviewed Creating Invoices which is part 1 of this tutorial I would suggest you go back and review it now so that you will be able to follow along with this tutorial.

In this tutorial creating invoices Part 2, I will be focusing on accounts receivable as I mentioned in the first tutorial invoicing in accounting terms is a part of Accounts Receivables. Accounts Receivable is money that’s owed to you, such as your invoice to clients. Sales invoices serve as an official record of a sale for both the buyer and the seller.

GnuCash has an integrated accounts receivable system. It is within this account that the integrated A/R system will place transactions. You generally do not work directly with this account. You generally work with the four integrated GnuCash A/R application components,

  1. Customers”
    People or companies to whom you sell products or services on credit.
  2. Invoices”
    The physical invoice you send to a customer to request payment. The invoice contains an itemized list of things you sold.
  3. Customer Jobs
    Customer Jobs is (optional) Customer Jobs are a mechanism by which you can group multiple invoices to a particular customer.
  4. Process the Invoice Payment

In the video tutorial above, I go through each component in detail.

9. How to Import Customers or Vendors Into GnuCash

In this tutorial we will be Importing Customers into Gnucash the same method is used to import Vendors. I will also walk you through an issue I encountered while trying to import a customer list and the workaround I used to get the desired results. The ability to Import customers or vendors into GnuCash is es-specifically useful if you have a large list of customers or vendors you need to enter into the system.

Not only can you use GnuCash to enter new customers or vendors in bulk but you can also update exciting customers or vendors you previously entered into the system using a CSV import file.

If you don’t already have a customer or vendor list you can easily create one using any spreadsheet program such as excel or use a free program such as LibreOffice Calc or google spreadsheet.

Now one of the most important things to keep in mind is that you must create the customer or vendor list according to Gnucash’s predefined format. It does not matter if you are using a list that has already been created you will have to follow Gnucash’s predefined format unless you know how to use a different method.

About Gnucash Free Accounting Software

Gnucash is a free product that has been around since 1997 and is a good alternative to Commercial accounting software programs. While GnuCash is well suited for personal finances, it is also powerful and versatile enough to keep track of all your business financial needs, from the simple to the very complex. GnuCash makes running the business so easy, that you can focus on the heart of what you do. It is an excellent and powerful program for a free product. It is designed to be easy to use yet powerful and flexible, enough for small business bookkeeping.

GnuCash Business Features

GnuCash has many features to support the needs of the business accounting community.

  • Integrated A/R & A/P  System
  • Track Income And Expenses
  • Track Customers
  • Track Vendors
  • Create And Send Invoices
  • Bill Payment System
  • Track Sales Tax
  • Budgeting
  • Track Employee Payroll

Import Transactions

  • GnuCash supports many ways to input transactions besides manual entry. If you can access your bank accounts online, this is especially useful, as most banks and credit card companies support one of the following import methods. You will spend less time entering data and more time analyzing results.
  • Quicken Import File (QIF): Import Quicken QIF style files, a popular file format with many commercial personal finance software packages.
  • Open Financial Exchange (OFX): GnuCash is the first free software application to support the Open Financial Exchange protocol. Many financial institutions are moving towards this format.
  • Home Banking Computer Interface (HBCI): GnuCash is the first free software application to support the German Home Banking Computer Interface protocol. This protocol includes statement download, initiates bank transfers, and makes direct debits possible.

Schedule Transactions

 GnuCash now has the ability to automatically create and enter transactions, or remind you when these transactions are due, giving you the choice of entering, postponing or removing the automated

Reconciliation

  • Easy Account Reconciliation: Integrated reconciliation makes reconciling your GnuCash accounts with statements simple and effective.
  • Automatic statement reconciliation is also available in GnuCash, with banking transactions automatically downloaded and matched with system transactions.
Reports:
  • GnuCash comes with over 30 prebuilt reports, including:
  • Account Summary
  • Income
  • Expenses
  • Transaction Report
  • Balance Sheet
  • Profit & Loss
  • Portfolio Valuation, and many others.
  • Reports support graphical views of the data, including pie charts, bar charts, and scatter plots.
  • The reports can be exported to HTML files, and are easily customized.

International Support

There are many built-in features to facilitate interaction with the international world we live in today.

  • Native Languages: GnuCash has been fully translated into 12 languages: Chinese, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Slovak, Spanish and Swedish. More than 25 other languages are partially supported.
  • International Format Handling: GnuCash understands that different countries display the date and numbers differently. You are able to work with the date and number formats you are accustomed to.
  • Multiple Currencies and Currency Trading: Multiple currencies are supported and can be bought and sold (traded). Currency movements between accounts remain fully balanced if “Trading Accounts” is enabled.
  • On-line exchange rates: With GnuCash, you no longer need to look up your exchange rates one at a time. The process can be automated, to always present you with the account values converted to your preferred currency using the latest exchange rates.

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