Accounting and Invoices

[Tariq Peter]

Hi All,

I have been searching for a solution, which will help me with my videography business and unable to find one that really suits my needs.

The problem I am finding with most invoicing software applications is that invoices are generated but I still need to monitor them as my payments are broken down into 3 installments.

I charge a 25% booking fee, 50% fee 3 months before the event and then the remaining 25% a month before the event. I would love to be reminded when the next payment is due and also have the client emailed about this automatically.

I would also like to add in all the items I have purchased, cameras, lens, web hosting, freelancer fees etc, and view reports onto how my money is spent. Giving me a total profit/loss would also me a massive help.

Any recommendations?

Thanks

[Tim Bakland]

I know it sounds old school, but I just do a spreadsheet for all expenses/income. Quicken would do the trick, too, and I actually use both for redundancy. I figure out State Sales taxes and year-end expenses all very quickly from the spreadsheet, and use the same template from year to year for comparison.

Again, old school, but I just use iCal reminders for payments. (I basically use your timeline scheme, too). The reason I don't bother with automated messages is that I figure that those billing times are also a good time to check in with them about music selections and logistics, too.

[Dave Partington]

Look in to a product called Light Blue.

Light Blue Software - photography business software

[Alex Khachatryan]

If you are iPhone or iPad user try invoice 2go app.
I use full version for about a year now and it works for me.

[Roger Van Duyn]

I use an online app called Harvest for project templates, estimates, invoices, and time tracking. It runs 12 dollars a month.

Here's the link:
Simple Online Time Tracking Software - Harvest

I design various project templates for my business, then cut and paste for the estimates and invoices. It can even automatically send out late payment reminders.

Accounting programs are great for managing the money. What I needed was something for planning and tracking, something to organize the time and resources involved in the work, not just the money.

[Travis Wilber]

I'm still looking into it so not sure of its features. But Xero is a new company that alot people have liked recently: xero.com

[Chris Hurd]

Moved from W/EV to TCB.

[Garrett Low]

QuickBooks does everything you are asking for and more. You do need to set it up correctly which is best done by an accountant. I'm not sure how it would translate to what you need in Europe but here in the US it allows me to easily pull all of my company finances into my year end tax filings. I can do progress billing and have it send me a reminder as well as automatically bill my client, and it keeps track of all expenses and income and if I want, I can assign expenses or portions of each to specific jobs.

Again, it does require proper setup and then typical business accounting input.

[Brian Drysdale]

I've used Quickbooks for a number of years. It's pretty easy to work with and you can set up items that your business charges.

I've recently been using Sage, a program that accountants use, it's more of a handful and any errors involve a bit of work to correct. It's clunky compared Quickbooks, takes a lot more learning and I still need to look up the manual for some things, but I can hand the file to the accountant.

I suspect if I realised that my 12 year old Quickbooks program would work on Windows 7 I wouldn't have bothered. I installed it and it does, no updates and uses their original file format, so had to run it from scratch with a new start date for one business.