Multiple Invoice Number Sequence in QuickBooks
QuickBooks will automatically generate the next sequential invoice number when you are creating invoices. In some cases, though, you may want to have more than one sequence of numbers. Perhaps you have two divisions of your company, each with its own invoice numbering. Or you want to track classes of sales – with one sequence for retail sales and another for wholesale sales. This is easy to set up in QuickBooks.
Invoice Numbering Basics
If you save an invoice in QuickBooks, the next invoice that you create will have the next sequential invoice number. Save invoice “1”, the next will be invoice “2”. QuickBooks is smart enough to work with modified invoice number formats. If you save an invoice with invoice number “Counter 001”, the next invoice will be “Counter 002”. If you use “123abc” then next number will be “124abc”.
This sometimes creates some confusion – someone may accidentally add a character to the end of the invoice number, then all subsequent invoices will continue with adding that character. The simple solution is to create and save a new invoice, editing the invoice number to not have the letter.
I’ll also note that in some rare occasions I’ve heard of people who have a QuickBooks company file where the auto sequencing doesn’t work – I’ve not been able to pin down why that might happen (I’ve not gotten my hands on a file that shows this problem).
Setting Up Multiple Sequences
What if you want to have two (or more) sequences, as I described above? I might want one sequence for retail sales, where the sequence starts with “R001”, and another where the sequence starts with “W0001” for wholesale sales. Keeping track of two sequences and remembering which is the next number can be difficult.
QuickBooks can do this – create a second Accounts Receivable account in your chart of accounts.
Once you have added another A/R account you will see a dropdown box titled Account on the create invoice screen. This allows you to select which A/R account to use for this invoice.
Each A/R account has its own numbering sequence. All you have to do is to save an invoice using that A/R account, with the starting sequence number you want to use.
Things to Watch Out for
I would like to point out a few things to take into consideration:
- You have to be careful that you are selecting the proper A/R account when creating a new invoice. Your workstation will remember the last A/R account you worked with.
- When you are scanning through invoices with the Previous and Next buttons, you will scan through the invoices for the A/R account you specify. That can be confusing sometimes. You have to select the A/R account to work with, then scan through the invoices for that account.
- The Payments Receipts window will now show the A/R account dropdown – so you can only apply a payment to one A/R account for a customer. If you have different A/R accounts for the same customer, one payment can’t easily be applied to invoices from different A/R accounts.
- If you use Multiple Currencies this gets a bit complicated. Each currency you work with must have a separate A/R account for that currency. Unfortunately, that means you have a different invoice number sequence for each currency. You can create multiple A/R accounts for a currency. However, if you want just one sequence across all currencies, I’ve not found a way to do that.
I hope that this helps – if you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment!
lili | Feb 20, 2009 | Reply
Can we use the same number for Quick books file number and invoice number?
Charlie | Feb 20, 2009 | Reply
Lily, I don’t know what you are referring to as a “file number”…
lili | Feb 20, 2009 | Reply
for example i have a shipping and we creat a file number (RR150 for instance)for that shippment,when i want to issue the invoice i want to use the same number(RR150) as invoice number,can i do that?and can i have the profit based on each shippment in the system?for example i have 10 diffrent shippment in the month and i want too see the profit of each shippment Separately,is possible in this system?
Charlie | Feb 24, 2009 | Reply
Lili: You can enter anything you want for the invoice number, so if you are generating an outside number (”file number”) that you want o use, that is fine. Profit by shipment – hard to say, I’d look at the “job costing” feature in Premier or Enterprise if these are large items with a small number of shipments.
lili | Feb 26, 2009 | Reply
Thanks,
sachin | Apr 23, 2009 | Reply
why we use seprate invoice(tax invoice &retail invoice)
Charlie | Apr 24, 2009 | Reply
Sachin, if that is a question, I don’t understand what you are asking
Karen | May 8, 2009 | Reply
Can we print blank invoices with sequence numbering to send out to employees off site? Like a print shop would do.
Karen
Dan | Aug 26, 2009 | Reply
Karen,
I believe the best solution is to create an item with the amount 0 and use it on every invoice. You cannot have a blank invoice.
Brian | Nov 16, 2009 | Reply
Charlie, this blog is amazing and really helps me with what I do. I was troubleshooting an issue for a quickbooks user who’s auto sequencing did not work, and I found this entry across my research. The reason why it was not working is because they were using more than one a/r account. Quickbooks only likes using 1. When you use multiple, it sequences the invoices by a/r account, creating an invoice nightmare if you enter in multiple per day.
Thought that may be of help! Love the blog and thanks for all the great info!
Charlie | Nov 16, 2009 | Reply
Brian, that is precisely what I describe above. Multiple A/R accounts – multiple invoice number sequences. Some people want it, some people don’t.
Brian | Nov 17, 2009 | Reply
This blog entry helped me to do my job, it is an excellent resource, thanks again!
jess | Jan 5, 2010 | Reply
Hi, i am suddenly having an issue saving invoices in quickbooks. i create the invoice, hit print, print as pdf then save and close but when I go to the invoice list it is not there. i have only been using quickbooks for about 3 months but dont think I am doing anything differently to what I have been doing previously, I have had a months break from invoicing so maybe I have forgotten something crucial???
Jess.
Charlie | Jan 5, 2010 | Reply
Jess, are you using the Australian version? If so, I might not have an answer, as that is a different product than the US version.
You don’t mention what product/version/year you are using. And when you say that you go to the “invoice list”, what exactly are you looking at?
scacct | Jan 26, 2010 | Reply
We’re using QB2007 and when creating statements for customers you are also required to pick an AR account. If you have customers that have entries in both accounts you need to make your receivables accounts subaccounts of a master AR account in order to pick that master account when creating a statement. This will allow you to show all of your customer’s activity for both accounts in their statement.
Charlie | Jan 26, 2010 | Reply
scacct: Thanks for pointing that out. I rarely use multiple A/R accounts myself. I don’t like having multiple A/R accounts to get different invoice number sequences, as it make several things more complicated. So I hadn’t come across that particular issue myself.
Valya | Feb 2, 2010 | Reply
Hi,
Very helpful web site!
Here’s my problem. I’ve created a new invoice template to have an additional column that was required by one of our clients. I copied the existing one which behaved as it was supposed to relating to sequent invoice numbers before the change. After creating the new template QB restarted the invoice numeration from 1. It didn’t matter whether I was issuing an invoice using the old template or the new one.
I read the posting about the different A/P accounts and will check that out even though I did not create separate accounts.
What else could I try?
I’m afraid that I might have changed the existing template when I was meddling with it before copying it and creating the new one.
I very much appreciate your help.
Thanks!
Valya
Charlie | Feb 2, 2010 | Reply
Valya, it is hard to say much without having hands on the file. I’ve not seen an issue with the specific template…
QB remembers the last invoice number you used, USUALLY. There are times when things get out of whack for reasons that nobody has been able to explain to me.
Create an invoice, and as the LAST THING YOU DO before saving it, enter what you want as the correct invoice number. Then save it. QB should pick up on that and starting numbering from that point.
Deggi | Mar 11, 2010 | Reply
All the receipt numbers are gone from the field on the sales receipt. How can I get them back?