Invoice like a pro

Your Wave account includes features like estimates, recurring invoices, automated reminders and more; all with the goal of getting money into your pocket and capturing that information in your accounting records.

In Wave, invoicing is a simple process that follows 4 steps:

  1. Create your invoice.
  2. Approve your invoice.
  3. Send your invoice.
  4. Record a payment.

Part 1: Creating your invoice

The first time you try to create an invoice, you’ll be prompted to customize the settings to have it match your brand.

Did you miss the prompt? You can always get back to the customization settings by clicking your business name at the top right, then clicking Business settings > Invoices and estimates.

There are three main options to customize your invoices: Adding your logo, choosing a template, and picking an accent color.

After you’ve saved your customizations, you’ll land on the Create Invoice page.

The invoice is broken down into three sections:

  1. The header
  2. The body
  3. The footer

The header

Click into business address and contact details, title, summary, and logo to open up the Header.

The header contains all of the information about your business. Here you can add or edit things like your logo or business address. You can also change how your invoice is titled. For example: “Tax Invoice.” This is optional, and if you already customized your invoice in the previous step, you may not need to do anything here.

The body

This is the main section of your invoice which contains the information about your customer as well as the products/services you're selling.

On the left side of the body of the invoice:

  • Customer information: Add a customer to assign who the invoice is going to. You have the option of selecting a pre-existing customer (if you have one) or creating a new customer. If you are creating a new customer, Wave will save the customer information for you to use in the future.

On the right side of the body of the invoice:

  • Invoice number: By default, Wave starts at #1, and subsequent invoices will automatically be numbered 2, 3, 4, etc.
  • P.O./S.O.: If you need to specify a purchase order (P.O.) or sales order (S.O.) number, you can do so here.
  • Invoice date: This defaults to today’s date but can be changed.
  • Payment due: By default, your invoice is due upon receipt (i.e., today’s date) but you can modify the due date for the current invoice. To change the default due date for all invoices, navigate to the Invoices and estimates page under your business name > Business settings.

Filling in the invoice details:

  • In the invoice details section, enter the item name, description, quantity, and price.
  • If you already added sales tax in the Accounting section, click into the Tax field to select it. If you haven’t added your taxes, click Select a Tax and enter the tax name and tax rate in the provided fields.
  • If you have more items to add to this invoice, Add an item and repeat the steps.

You can save your work at any time after the required fields have been entered. Nothing is sent to your customers or recorded in your accounting until you approve the draft.

The footer

The footer is typically used for information that stays consistent when sending to different customers, such as tax information or a thank you message.

Editing your columns

  1. When creating/editing an invoice, select Edit columns.  
  2. Choose the column title name that fits best for your business (like “Products” vs. “Services”).
  3. Select if there are any columns you want to hide on the finished invoice.
  4. If you want all your future invoices to have the same labels, select Apply these settings for all future invoices.
  5. Save.

Note: Some of the information you may choose to hide, like Price or Amount, is still important to the accounting that Wave does on the back end for balancing your books, even if you don’t want to show that information to your customers. While you’re creating or editing an invoice, you will still see the columns you’ve hidden from your customer’s finished invoice. When you preview the invoice or send it to your customer, the hidden sections will not be displayed.

Turn on payment processing to get paid quick (optional)

Check out our guide to Wave Payments to learn how to turn Payments on and accept payments through your invoices.

Click to the next page to learn about approving your draft →

Part 2: Approving your draft

How (and why) to approve a draft

You’ve created and saved an invoice, but it’s still just a draft. That means it’s saved in Wave, but it’s not yet part of your financial records and it hasn’t been delivered to your customer.

To fully activate your invoice, the next step is to approve the draft. Once you’re confident that the invoice you created is ready, select Approve Draft.

Why does Wave include this step?

By having a multi-step invoice process, you have the option to create invoices before you’re ready to send them, and before they count toward the income in your accounting.

Click to the next page to learn about sending your invoice →

Part 3: Sending your invoice

How to send your invoice

  1. Click the Send Invoice button.
  2. Enter your client’s email (if you haven’t already).
  3. Enter a message for your client.
  4. Click Send.

When you send your invoices this way, Wave will be able to track when your customer has viewed the invoice and when they've paid you (if you're using Payments).

Other options for sending

Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo: You also have the option to send the invoice using your own email account. Navigate to Sales & Payments > Invoices, click on the small dropdown arrow beside the invoice, and select the “Send by Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo” option. Wave will automatically create an email that includes a link to the invoice you’re sending.

Click to the next page to learn about recording a payment →

Part 4: Recording a payment

Paying through Wave Payments

If you have Wave Payments enabled and your customer pays you online, Wave will record your customer's payment through your invoice automatically. This also syncs with your accounting to make it automatic and save you time.

Recording a Manual Payment

If your customer is paying you outside of Wave Payments, you’ll need to record the payment manually. Here’s how:

  1. Select Record a payment.
  2. Fill in the fields. Payment method refers to how your customer chose to pay. Payment account refers to where you deposited that payment: For example, did you deposit it into a chequing account, or did you put the cash into your cash box (“Cash on hand”)?
  3. Add a memo on the payment (optional).
  4. Submit.

To ensure accurate transaction records, you can no longer select Property, Plant and Equipment, Other Long-Term Liability, and Business Owner Contribution and Drawing accounts as a Payment Account for your invoices.

Charging a Credit Card

Sometimes your customer will give you their credit card information so that you can charge their card on their behalf through Wave Payments.

  1. Select Charge a credit card.
  2. Enter the customer’s credit card information. You can save the card for future payments by ticking the check box.
  3. Submit Payment. Your customer’s card will be charged, your invoice will be marked as paid, and your accounting information will be updated automatically.

Congratulations! You’re all done with this invoice and your records are up to date.

Click here to continue