Sales invoice

A sales invoice records a sale to a named customer from the back office. Posting it does four things in one journal entry: it adds to what the customer owes you, books the income, books the VAT, and takes the stock out at its cost.

Where

Sales › Invoices › New invoice

Number

ARINV-000001, given only when you post

Posts to

Accounts Receivable, Sales and Service Revenue, Output Tax, Cost of Goods Sold, Inventory

Who

Managers and admins

What it’s for

• Sales outside the till: customers on credit, delivery sales, larger orders and services.
• The customer can pay now (Cash, Card, Bank transfer or Pay by link) or later (Pay later).
• Bills made at the till (Point of sale) are separate. They also appear in Sales history.

Fields

Field	What it means	What it changes
Customer	Who you sell to. Search, or add one with New customer	Their balance goes up. Picking a customer fills the due date from their payment terms
Invoice date	Defaults to today	The date of the journal entry, the stock movement and the VAT. It cannot be in the future when you post
Due date	When payment is due	Drives “Overdue” on the Overview. It cannot be before the invoice date
Stock location	The store the goods leave from	Needed only when a line is a stock item
Reference	The customer’s order number or similar (optional)	Printed only; no accounting effect
Item	A product or a service	A stock item books Sales Revenue and takes stock out; a service books Service Revenue
Description	Optional extra text for the line	Printed only
Qty	How many	Stock out and the line amount
Price	Price per unit. A company setting decides whether prices include VAT; the note under the totals tells you which	The line amount
Discount	Per unit, as an amount or a %	Lowers the sale. There is no whole-invoice discount on this screen
VAT	Worked out per line from the item’s tax profile. Hidden if your company is not VAT registered	Output Tax Payable
Payment type	Pay later, Cash, Card, Bank transfer, or Pay by link (if switched on)	Paying now posts a payment together with the invoice
Notes	Optional note	Printed only

Note

The totals panel at the bottom of the form is a preview. When you post, the app works out the final tax, stock cost and entry again.

Buttons

Nothing touches your accounts until Post invoice. Every button after that changes them in a controlled way.

Button	When you see it	What happens	Accounts
Save draft	New or draft	Saves it. No number yet	No change
Save and preview	New or draft	Saves it and shows the print preview	No change
Review and post	New or draft	Opens “Post this customer invoice?” with the checks, then Post invoice	Posts
Hold invoice / Unhold invoice	Draft	A held draft cannot be posted until it is unheld	No change
Cancel draft	Draft	Asks for a reason. The draft stays in the list as “Cancelled draft”	No change
Record payment	Posted, money still owed	Opens a customer payment for the amount owed	Posts payment
Edit bill	Posted	Change the posted invoice: Review changes, then Save changes. Asks for a reason	Restated on its own date
Edit details	Posted, when a full edit is not allowed	Changes only the due date, reference and note	No change
Return	Posted	Makes a credit note for some or all of the items	New document
Print…	Posted	Shows the tax invoice to print	No change
More › Delivery note	Posted	Prints a delivery note, with or without prices	No change
More › Cancel erroneous sale	Posted, admins only	Removes the sale as if it never happened	All effects removed
Correct this invoice	Posted and made from a delivery, admins only	Takes the invoice back and sends the delivery to Awaiting invoice again. Sales, VAT and stock stay as the delivery booked them	Invoice taken back
Accounting details	Posted	Shows the journal number, VAT by rate, the stock cost posted and payments received	No change

Statuses you will see: Draft, Held draft, Posted, Cancelled draft, and Cancelled (after Cancel erroneous sale). Payment badges show Unpaid, Part paid, Overdue or Paid. There is no Void button; to undo an invoice, see Fixing a mistake.

What gets posted

Posting writes one journal entry, dated on the invoice date. Lines with a zero amount are left out.

Example 1A credit sale with a discount and a servicePrices exclude VAT · Pay later

• 2 × stock item at 100.00, less 10.00 discount each180.00
• 1 × service at 50.0050.00
• VAT 5% on 230.0011.50
• Invoice total241.50
• Cost of the stock item (average cost 5.00 each)10.00

Account	Debit (AED)	Credit (AED)	Why
1100Accounts Receivable	241.50		The customer owes the full total
4000Sales Revenue		180.00	Income from goods, after the discount
4200Service Revenue		50.00	Income from the service
2100Output Tax Payable		11.50	VAT you owe the FTA
5000Cost of Goods Sold	10.00		What the 2 items cost you
1200Inventory		10.00	Your stock value goes down
Total	251.50	251.50	Balanced

Two units also leave the chosen stock location. The discount has no line of its own: income is booked after the discount. Profit on this invoice: 230.00 − 10.00 = AED 220.00.

Example 2When prices include VATVAT = price × 5 ÷ 105

Account	Debit (AED)	Credit (AED)
1100Accounts Receivable	99.99
4000Sales Revenue		95.23
2100Output Tax Payable		4.76
Total	99.99	99.99

The app takes the VAT out of the price you type, rounded to the fils on each line. Here, 3 × an item at AED 33.33 including VAT makes a line total of 99.99. The cost lines follow as in example 1.

A simpler case: a price of 105.00 including VAT is income 100.00 plus VAT 5.00.

Example 3The customer pays part nowExample 1 + AED 100.00 cash

Account	Debit (AED)	Credit (AED)	Why
1000Cash on Hand (the cash account you pick)	100.00		Cash came in
1100Accounts Receivable		100.00	The customer owes less
Total	100.00	100.00	Balanced

The app saves two entries together; if either one fails, neither is saved. The first is the invoice, exactly as in example 1. The second, above, is the payment. The customer still owes AED 141.50, and the invoice shows Part paid.

The payment type decides which account receives the money:

Payment type	Account debited
Cash	The cash account you pick, such as Cash on Hand
Bank transfer	The bank account you pick
Card	The card machine’s own account, “Card clearing - ‹machine›”, until the card company pays your bank
Pay by link	The provider’s own account, “Pay by link - ‹provider›”, until the provider pays you

Example 4Round-off, if your company rounds totalsSettings › Rounding policy

Account	Debit (AED)	Credit (AED)
1100Accounts Receivable	39.00
4000Sales Revenue		37.05
2100Output Tax Payable		1.85
6760Rounding Difference		0.10
Total	39.00	39.00

Totals can be rounded to 0.05, 0.25, 0.50 or 1.00. Income, VAT and cost are never rounded; only the total is, and the difference goes to Rounding Difference. Rounding to 0.25: 3 × 12.35 = 37.05, plus VAT 1.85 = 38.90, so the customer pays 39.00.

Try your own numbers

Change the numbers to see the entry the app posts for one invoice line. VAT is worked out per line and rounded to the fils, as the app does. Choose the same price setting as your company uses.

Prices

Include VATExclude VAT

Item typeStock itemService

VAT rateStandard 5%Zero-rated 0%

Quantity

Price per unit (AED)

Discount per unit (AED)

Your cost per unit (AED)

Customer pays

105.00

Income

100.00

VAT

5.00

Profit

40.00

Other rules that apply on every invoice

• Stock cost: the item’s average cost across the whole company. One exception: if the sale takes the last units at a location, it uses exactly the value left at that location.
• No VAT: if your company is not VAT registered on the invoice date, every line is 0% and there is no Output Tax line. A zero-rated item posts no VAT line either.
• Short of stock: the app refuses to post by default. If your company switched on “Allow selling stock that has not been received yet” in Settings, it first books the missing units as stock owed at an estimated cost, then posts. The owed stock is settled when the goods arrive.
• Bundles: a bundle is one income line. Its parts leave stock through a separate stock entry.

Where it shows up

Place	What changes after posting
Customer balance and statement	The customer owes the invoice total, less anything paid
Overview	“Sales (before tax)” and “Owed to you” go up; after the due date it is listed under “Overdue customer payments”
Sales history	The invoice is listed with the till bills
Day book	One entry for the invoice, plus one for any payment taken at posting
VAT return (Detailed Reports › Tax)	The VAT counts in the period of the invoice date, in the “Standard-rated” row for your emirate (or Zero-rated or Exempt)
Profit and loss	Sales Revenue, Service Revenue and Cost of Goods Sold
Balance sheet	Accounts Receivable, Inventory and Output Tax Payable
Stock reports	A sale movement at the chosen stock location

What the app blocks

These checks happen before anything is saved, so a refused invoice leaves no half-written records.

Situation	What you see
No customer	Select a valid customer.
No lines	Add at least one item.
Quantity of 0	Quantity must be greater than zero.
Price of 0	Unit price must be greater than zero.
Discount equal to or above the price	Unit discount must be less than unit price.
The same item on two lines	Combine duplicate item lines.
Due date before the invoice date	Due date cannot be before the invoice date.
Stock item but no stock location	Select a stock location for inventory items.
Posting with a future date (a future draft can still be saved)	The posting date cannot be in the future.
Date inside a locked period	The accounting period is locked through ‹date›. Choose a later date, or ask an administrator to reopen the period.
Not enough stock (default setting)	Only 4 PCS of ‹item› is in stock at this location. or ‹item› is out of stock at this location.
Posting a held draft	Unhold this draft before posting it. No accounting or stock records were created.
Inactive customer	This customer is inactive or unavailable. Reactivate or select another customer.
A VAT rate with no UAE treatment set	Add an effective UAE VAT treatment for each item tax profile before posting.
Anything else goes wrong while posting	The invoice could not be posted safely. No accounting or stock records were created.

Warnings that do not stop posting

• Credit limit or credit hold. The app warns but still lets you post. The message after posting says how far over the limit the customer is.
• Selling below cost. The line shows a “Below cost” badge.

Who can do it

Action	Admin	Manager	Cashier
See, create, save, post, hold, cancel drafts, print	Yes	Yes	No, cashiers sell at the till
Edit bill on a posted invoice	Yes	Yes	No
Cancel erroneous sale	Yes	No	No
Take payment while posting	Yes	Yes, with the right to record customer payments too	No

These are the standard roles. Your administrator can give a custom role each action separately in Settings › Users & access.

Fixing a mistake

1. Still a draft. Use Edit draft, or Cancel draft. Your accounts are not touched.
2. Posted, with a wrong item, quantity, price, customer, date or payment type. Use Edit bill.
   • The invoice is restated on its own invoice date, with the same number.
   • A reason is required, and the history keeps the before and after.
   • If the new total is below what was already paid, the extra becomes customer advance, in a small separate entry dated the day you save. Example: an invoice of 241.50 paid in full, edited from 2 items to 1, becomes 147.00, and 94.50 becomes advance.
   • If the item lines did not change, the stock cost stays as it was.
3. The customer returns goods, or you give an allowance. Use Return. It makes a credit note dated the day you make it. It reduces income and VAT, and puts restocked goods back at their original cost. See Credit notes.
4. The invoice was made from a delivery. An admin uses Correct this invoice. The delivery goes back to Awaiting invoice, and money already received becomes customer advance. See Deliveries.
5. The sale should never have been recorded. An admin uses More › Cancel erroneous sale. Every ledger, stock and VAT effect is removed, and the number stays as Cancelled. Money already received becomes customer advance; no refund is paid automatically.

When Edit bill is not allowed

In these cases only Edit details (due date, reference, note) is offered. A credit note may still be possible.

• A credit note is already linked to the invoice.
• The invoice is in a VAT return with locked figures.
• Its date is in a locked period, or behind a bank reconciliation or a cash count.
• It was made from a quotation, a sales order or a delivery.
• It was made by a Tailoring hand-over. Sales offers no change to it; see Tailoring: collection and reports.

A bill part paid at the till can still be edited, but its customer and date stay as they were, and its total cannot go below what was already paid. To reduce it, return the item. See Finding and editing bills.