There's the rub

There are a few things that irritate me about invoicing but there are two guaranteed to get me wishing the vendor ill. The first is not having a subtotal prior to taxes and the second is not having pre-perforated forms for remittance slips. Addressing the latter first, what company even needs a remittance slip any longer? The invoice number is either noted on the cheque stub or referenced in the EFT. But assume you have a vendor that bears a grudge against trees and requires the remittance slip. It’s annoying as hell to have to take time once a month, or more, to cut along the dotted lines and creatively fold the slip to fit into an envelope. Seriously. Perforate the damn paper.

Then we have the slapdash invoices that have several lines of costs, a line for the tax amount and a total at the bottom. The missing step here is that now to do a simple entry or check and balance, the customer has to tally up each line item. Pain. In. The. Ass. Give me a subtotal to easily reference and, while you’re at it, make sure your tax number is on the invoice. Work with me.