Top Reasons to Stop Using Excel Sheets for Invoicing
How rude it is for someone to say that excel sheets are dated? After all, this is where it all began. Excel sheets made the task easier for accountants. These invoices have been used by numerous businessmen in the past. However, with the availability of reliable and advanced invoicing solutions, excel sheets have become redundant. While this can meet your basic needs, some conveniences can be avoided by using new and advanced
solutions.
Here are some of the reason to stop using excel sheets for invoicing –
1. No Modification Zone
2. Your Invoices are Never Consistent
3. Tied to your Desk Invoicing
4. Absolutely no Control
5. You’re missing out on so Much
No Modification Zone
Have you ever had to make last-minute changes in the excel sheet? It happens to the best of us that just before invoice generation, your client makes one more demand, and turns out it is billable. And there goes your invoice. Just adding another row is so frustrating in excel when you have done calculations through columns, or made a total using a set of cells. Adding new things or even removing entities from excel sheets is a difficult task. Those little pointers and manual formulae entry invariably lead to unnecessary errors.
Also Read: Online Invoicing for Small Businesses: Brief History & 5 Essential Invoices You Need
Your Invoices are Never Consistent
Even if you use a template in excel sheets for invoicing, none of your invoices ever look the same. It is bizarre how a simple row addition can change the entire format of the invoice. This may not mean much to you when you don’t have many invoices. But once you have to compile hundreds of invoices, it can be a real pain. And, it is not good to look at. The client surely doesn’t deserve such hassles. The entire interface of excel sheet is not made for people who are not fond of math.
Tied to Your Desk Invoicing
Have you tried to make an invoice on your phone with Microsoft applications like MS office? Try it, it can frustrate you. You want to add a cell right below, and suddenly you will find yourself in part of the spreadsheet you did not know existed. Excel sheet invoices are only worth making or editing in your laptop or desktop. So, there is no mobility whatsoever. This might not seem like a big deal, but it can be problematic in future.
Absolutely No Control
You will find it hard to make any sort of modifications in the excel sheet. In a normal day, these spreadsheets are updated among a team of workers. By the time it gets back to you, new billable hours are added by each worker. But what to do if there is a mistake? You can restore the sheet back to the previous version, but this means your employees will lose all their work and have to do it all over again. Another solution is to manually update the sheet, but it will take a lot of time, leaving you frustrated. There is absolutely no way to automate a process of version control with excel sheets, it has to be hard manual labor.
Also Read: How to Choose a Small Business Invoicing Solution: The Complete Guide
You’re Missing out on So Much
There is a better way to do things. Imagine a world where you could make and print invoices on your phone in two minutes, where you could track billable hours and save yourself from unnecessary business losses. This is the new world of online invoicing software. Here you can access your invoices anytime anywhere, make changes on the go. You can bill clients the way they want. And still maintain a consistent set of invoices. And they look pretty
good, too.
