Sales Invoice from Timesheet
A customer can be charged by the total hours that an employee has worked for a particular customer. The total number of billable hours worked can be monitored through a Timesheet. A Sales Invoice can be created directly from every submitted Timesheet so businesses can automate customer billing, particularly in service businesses.
This process also guarantees accurate revenue tracking through the linking of time entered directly to invoice creation.
How to Generate a Sales Invoice from a Timesheet
Submit the Timesheet: You must ensure the Timesheet is completed with all necessary details and submitted prior to creating a Sales Invoice. Submitted Timesheets alone are available for billing. Ensure that the "Billable" check box is marked, and fields such as Billing Hours and Billing Rate are entered correctly.
Click 'Create Sales Invoice': Once the Timesheet is submitted, click the 'Create > Sales Invoice' button that is displayed in the Timesheet form. This will create a draft of the Sales Invoice, where all of the essential billing information is auto-filled. This guarantees that the invoice immediately represents the actual time worked by the employee.
Input the Item Code and Customer Name: In the draft invoice, you must choose the Item Code—either a product or service item, depending on your billing setup. Choose the Customer to be billed. If the linked Timesheet has a Customer or Project associated with it, the data will automatically pull over into the invoice form.
Auto-Fetched Timesheet Details: The recording of Timesheet like Employee, Task, Project, Billing Hours, and Billing rate, and Billing Amount are automatically entered in the invoice. These additions make the invoice particular to the actual work that has been done as captured in the Timesheet.
Modify Posting Date and Time: The system will default with the date and time being posted as the system current time. Should you have to change, check the box that says Edit Posting Date and Time and fill in the timestamp. Helpful in cases where the invoice should be back-dated or align with specific periods of reporting.
Optional: POS or Credit Note Options: You have the option of enabling the POS checkbox to make the invoice a POS (Point of Sale) invoice. In addition, when you are returning or correcting you can also show an invoice as a Credit Note and the system will then process it accordingly.
Save and Submit: Once all the information has been verified, save to accept the invoice. Click Submit to complete it. Posting the invoice by submitting it will post to the system, create accounting entries and update your financial statements.
Optional: Use 'Get Items From' for Manual Invoicing: If you're not directly using the Timesheet to create the invoice, or if you're adding additional items manually, use the 'Get Items From' button in the Sales Invoice. This enables you to bring in items from other documents such as Sales Orders, Delivery Notes, or Quotations. Fields such as Customer PO, Address, Contact Information, Currency, and Price List will also get filled accordingly.
Features
Accounting Dimensions With Accounting Dimensions, you can tag transactions to a certain branch, project, territory, etc. This makes it easier to see accounting statements separately based on the criteria you choose. If you want to learn more, visit Accounting Dimensions page.
Timesheet List: In ERPNext v15 and later, you can now use the Fetch Timesheets button instead of Add Row to add individual timesheets. You can use filters like Project and Date Range to choose and import multiple Timesheets at once. This is better than the old way of adding one Timesheet at a time.
You can add all the other information just like you would on any other Sales Invoice.
After you submit it
The Timesheet will update the information like "Total Billed Hours," "Total Billed Amount," and "% Amount Billed" after you send in the Sales Invoice. You can also make a Salary Slip from the Timesheet.