Need detailed Invoice from House Account charges - for Government work!

HrtngG

We're very frustrated by the amount of time we're spending on something Square was supposed to make easy. Instead, it's costing us time (and wages.)

We are a retail and service business, and some of our customers are government entities, nonprofits, and other businesses. Throughout the month they charge things to their House Account and then we invoice that entity at the end of the period. We have run into the issue that invoices created from House Account balances do not list the separate charges on the invoice.

We realize that the “account statement” does list the charges, but we really need to have a printable, official looking Invoice with the charges listed. (Side note: the account statement does not show the cost of individual items if multiples were purchased. For example, if 25 of an item were purchased, then only the total price is given for that item. This is NOT workable for invoicing purposes.)

We also see that Invoices created from the estimate/invoice form does display what we need, and we do use that system when our clients put in a request ahead of time. However, this does not work when they come into the store and need to pick up a few unplanned items. We have to use their institution's House Account.

The public institutions we work with require a single document that (1) says “Invoice” (2) has a list of the individual charges and (3) shows the single item prices as well as the total. They need this so they can submit it to their purchasing department for payment. Some of the entities we work with are older public institutions and they have a very rigid way they need their documents.

We sometimes have to write up our own invoices because your system does not appear to do this, and our owner is deeply frustrated by the amount of time we've all spent trying to give our clients what they need.

He's started to research other POS companies, since this is not the first time the lack of customization or details has cost us a great of time!

Donnie-M

@HrtngG I also use house accounts and I do work with county, city, and federal government offices, and I used to have those issues. Here are a couple of things that I have done to ensure I don't have issues.

#1. The house account invoice with the statement link is perfectly fine for every government entity. If they tell you no, they are being obtuse. It is a clearly itemized by item statement with the charge date.

#2. If you want to take an interim step, set up a house account for each billing period, and only charge to that account during the billing period. I do one for each month for our catering to the feds. I start a new one each month, and bill it out on the last day (or a few days after, but I only charge to the house account during that month.). This creates a clean invoice period where the statement and the invoice will match perfectly.

#3. Not everyone is as smart as you...and unfortunately you may be encountering people that are too lazy to click the link. What you can do is download the statement on your pc, it will be a pdf. You can then go in and edit the invoice and add the pdf and update it. I have had to print them out and give them by hand, I have had to email separate statements...all until I finally complained enough that the A/P person clicks the link.

#4. If they are rigid and you are submitting it on paper, just print the invoice, print the statement, and if you use billing periods, or per event periods, that should clean it up for you. Most of those entities don't like a running account. On the flip side I bill one customer tens of thousands on a house account each month, but they are a business. The only time I encounter a problem is if they haven't paid their previous invoice yet. It gets a little tedious then, just to explain why the new invoices still shows a balance..

Try using multiple house accounts, then archive once paid, and I bet you will find it working better for you. And before you say that is extra work you shouldn't have to do, I get it, and I don't disagree...but dealing with the government is just that..a pain in the neck...you should be trying to bill the us marshal service right now during a shutdown..I have to wait too.