I have a client I have just taken on who is an independent therapist who has only recently started working for herself. She has told me that at the moment she isn't actually invoicing clients, she mainly deals with children at home or school and once she has seen them she is generally paid by bank transfer into her business account and is only keeping tabs on payments as they come in by checking off the name of the parent against the bank payment. I get the impression that she doesn't want to produce invoices for clients and has told me that she can basically give me a list of appointment dates with the clients name and how much the fee was. This seems like a strange way of operating to me, has anyone else experienced anything similar? and what would you recommend best practice is with this client going forward?
I've got one like this and I convinced her that in the absence of invoices that she needs to keep a duplicates books where she records every appointment, who the appointment was with, the date and the amount.
Its not quite a traditional invoice but its better than nothing.
To keep matters tickety boo for her when I enter the duplicates into VT I have the option to just print off all of her invoices for her retrospectively just using the who, when, how much (That is the only instance where I charge extra for printing).
Now that she's using that method she likes it and espechially likes the management reports where I can breakdown profitability by client for her.
That may be the selling point to get her to adopt this method and if the carrot doesn't work then use the stick and tell her what HMRC does to people who do not keep adequate records! (I know of a local mobile hotdog guy that virtually got a bend over and touch your toes while hearing the slap of latex on the inspectors shoulder! That was down to not keeping good record on the grounds that they felt that they were too small for HMRC to bother with! Thankfully that one was not one of mine).
HTH,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
I know of plenty that do not invoice every job.
I have always taken duplicate books/ daily takings sheets etc as records, and matched with bank statements.
I guess working just off a bank statement is fine providing all her income is paid by BACS.
