Ambivo Books User Guide
DocsUG-020
Invoices
Creating, posting, sending via Stripe, recording payments, voiding
An invoice is a request for payment from a customer. Books generates a printable PDF, optionally sends it via Stripe Invoicing for online payment, posts the receivable to your ledger, and tracks payment status until the invoice is fully paid.
Where Invoices Live
Invoices are shared between Ambivo Books, the Core Ambivo API (where the master invoice record sits), and Stripe Invoicing (when you choose to collect payment online). The invoice list in Books shows everything regardless of where it originated — invoices created here, invoices created in CRM/Commerce, and invoices pulled from Stripe.
The accounting side of the invoice (the journal entry that debits Receivable and credits Revenue) is tracked separately in Books' ledger so it can be reversed cleanly without touching the source record.
Getting There
- Click Invoices in the left sidebar
- The list appears with search, stage filter, and pagination
Invoice Stages
An invoice moves through several stages. The stage is what tells you whether you can still edit it, send it, collect on it, or write it off.
| Stage | What it means |
|---|---|
| Draft | Created but not yet finalized. Editable. Not posted to the ledger. |
| Open | Finalized and sent (or ready to send). Posted to the ledger. Awaiting payment. |
| Sent | Delivered to the customer (typically via Stripe). |
| Partial | Some payment received but not the full balance. |
| Paid | Fully paid. |
| Void | Cancelled before payment. Posted entries are reversed. |
| Cancelled | Cancelled while still in draft. No ledger impact. |
| Uncollectible | Written off as bad debt. Reversed against an Allowance/Bad Debt expense. |
Stage colors in the UI follow a traffic-light pattern — gray for draft, blue for open/sent, yellow for partial, green for paid, red for void/cancelled.
Creating an Invoice
Steps
- From Invoices, click + New
- Pick the Customer — Books pre-fills their default A/R account, deposit account, and tax code
- Set the Invoice date and Due date
- Pick the Currency (defaults to the customer's preferred currency, falling back to the entity base currency)
- Add line items: Pick a Product (or type a free description); Set Quantity and Unit price; Pick the Income account (pre-filled from product); Pick a Tax code if applicable; toggle Tax inclusive if the price already includes tax
- Review the Subtotal, Tax, and Total
- Add a Memo if needed (appears on the PDF)
- Click Save as Draft or Save and Post
What Happens Next
- Save as Draft — The invoice is saved but no ledger entry is created. You can edit it freely.
- Save and Post — The invoice is finalized: a journal entry posts (debit Receivable, credit Revenue, possibly credit Tax Payable), and the invoice moves to Open.
Posting an Invoice
Posting is the moment the invoice becomes part of your books. Until it is posted, it is just a draft.
To post an existing draft:
- Open the invoice
- Click Post to Books
- Confirm the line items and totals
- Confirm
After posting, the invoice can no longer be edited. Mistakes have to be corrected by voiding and re-creating, or by recording a separate credit note.
Sending an Invoice via Stripe
If your tenant has Stripe Connect set up, you can send the invoice directly through Stripe Invoicing — the customer receives a hosted-invoice URL, can pay by card or ACH, and Stripe notifies Books when the payment lands.
Steps
- Open a posted invoice
- Click Send via Stripe
- Confirm the recipient email
- Click Send
What Happens Next
- The customer gets an email with a "Pay Now" link.
- The invoice stage moves to Sent.
- When the customer pays, Stripe webhooks tell Books to record a payment and clear the invoice.
If Stripe Connect is not set up for your tenant, the Send via Stripe action is hidden. You can still send invoices manually (export to PDF, attach to your own email). See Settings (UG-080) for Stripe Connect status.
Recording a Manual Payment
If a customer pays you outside Stripe (cheque, wire, cash, ACH from their bank, etc.), record it manually:
- Open the invoice
- Click Record Payment
- Pick the Payment date, Amount, Method, and Deposit Account (the Bank account that received the money)
- Optionally enter a Reference (cheque number, wire reference)
- Click Save
What Happens Next
Books creates a Client Receipt transaction, posts it (debit Bank, credit Receivable), and assigns it to the invoice. The invoice stage updates:
- Full payment → Paid
- Partial payment → Partial
You can record several partial payments against one invoice; each one is its own assignment.
Voiding an Invoice
If you sent an invoice in error, or the customer cancelled the order before paying:
- Open the invoice
- Click Void
- Confirm
What Happens Next
- The invoice moves to Void stage.
- Books creates a reversing entry that backs out the original debit-Receivable / credit-Revenue (becomes credit-Receivable / debit-Revenue).
- The customer's balance is reduced.
- The original invoice stays in the audit trail.
You cannot void an invoice that has already been paid — refund the payment first, then void.
Writing Off as Uncollectible
The Uncollectible stage exists in the data model — when an invoice is marked uncollectible, it stops appearing on your AR aging — but the Books frontend does not currently expose a one-click "Mark Uncollectible" / "Write Off" button on the invoice. To write off a bad debt today, post a journal entry that debits Bad Debt Expense and credits Accounts Receivable for the unpaid balance, then void the original invoice (or leave it as a record).
A dedicated write-off action is on the roadmap.
Editing a Draft
While the invoice is in Draft, you can edit anything — customer, line items, dates, accounts, tax. Once posted, you cannot.
Multi-Currency Invoices
The data model carries a currency on every invoice and every ledger entry, and realized FX gain/loss is recognized at the moment of assignment. The Books invoice form today does not surface a per-invoice currency picker — invoices are created in the entity's base currency (or the customer's default currency if one is set on the underlying record). For genuine multi-currency invoicing, create the invoice via the API or the Core Ambivo platform; reports translate to base currency automatically.
A per-invoice currency picker in the Books frontend is on the roadmap. See Multi-Currency (UG-070) for the broader model.
Invoice Filters and Search
Use the filter bar at the top of the list to narrow down:
- Search — by invoice number, customer name, reference
- Stage — Draft / Open / Sent / Partial / Paid / Void / Cancelled / Uncollectible
A date-range filter on the list is on the roadmap; for now, narrow by date by exporting to PDF or running an Income Statement for the period of interest.
Read-Only Mode (QuickBooks Tenants)
If your tenant has QuickBooks set as the invoicing system of record, the Create / Update / Delete actions on invoices are blocked. The list, filters, and view actions still work — you can browse historical invoices and see their stage — but new invoices, edits, and voids must happen in QuickBooks. See QuickBooks Migration and Read-Only Mode (UG-090).
Common Questions
What is the difference between Save as Draft and Save and Post?
Draft does not affect your books — no ledger entries, no balance changes. You can edit freely. Posted creates the receivable and revenue entries; the invoice can no longer be edited.
My invoice is posted but the customer wants a change.
Void it and create a new one. The original stays in the audit trail. If only one line is wrong, an alternative is to issue a credit note for the difference and a new invoice for the corrected amount.
Can I send an invoice without using Stripe?
Yes — export to PDF and email it from your own mail client. Or print and mail.
Can I attach a file to an invoice?
There is no native attachment feature today. Add a link in the memo, or send the supporting file in the same email as the PDF.
My invoice shows "Open" but the customer says they paid.
Either the payment has not posted yet (Stripe webhooks can take a few minutes), or the payment was recorded but not assigned to this invoice. Check Bank Transactions and Payments Received (UG-022).
Can I issue a credit memo / credit note?
Yes — record it as a separate transaction (Credit Note type) and assign it to the invoice. The assignment reduces the outstanding balance.
Why does the line item have both "Tax inclusive" and a Tax code?
Tax code says which tax to apply; tax inclusive says whether the price already includes that tax. Setting tax inclusive to true causes Books to extract the tax from the price; setting it false adds the tax on top.
Where do I see the journal entry behind an invoice?
Open the invoice and look at the bottom — the posted ledger entries are listed. Or open Transactions and search by invoice number.
Tips and Best Practices
- Set due dates honestly. "Due on receipt" is fine for some industries; net-30 for most B2B. Use the same convention everywhere so your aging report is meaningful.
- Don't post invoices the moment you create them — post when you send. That keeps your books in sync with what the customer thinks is real.
- Use Stripe Invoicing if you can. It dramatically shortens days-sales-outstanding (DSO) because customers can pay by card on the spot.
- Record manual payments the day they hit your bank, not the day you find out. This keeps cash on the books matching cash in reality.
- Treat the void action as serious. It is reversible (re-create the invoice) but it leaves a void trail. Don't void casually.