What is sequential numbering, and why does your invoice book need it?
Sequential numbering means every set in the book is printed with its own number before you write a word on it, each one higher than the last. Set one is 0001, the next is 0002, and the number is printed through every part of the set so your copy and the customer's copy carry the same reference.
What it is actually for
It gives every document you issue a unique name. That sounds small until something goes wrong. A customer rings about an invoice: they read you the number, you go straight to that set in your copy book, and the conversation takes a minute instead of an afternoon. Your accountant reconciles the year by running the numbers in order and noticing the gaps. A missing number is a question worth asking, which is the point.
Numbering and Irish VAT invoices
If you are registered for VAT, Revenue expects every VAT invoice you issue to carry a sequential number that identifies it uniquely. Printing the number on the book takes that off your list: you cannot forget to number an invoice you have already been handed a number for, and you cannot accidentally issue two with the same one. Check the current requirements on the Revenue website for the full list of what a VAT invoice must show, because numbering is one item on it and not the whole of it.
Choosing a starting number
Three rules keep this simple.
- Do not start at 1 if you have traded before. Carry on from where your last book, or your software, finished. Two documents numbered 1 in the same business is exactly the confusion numbering exists to prevent.
- Decide the run length before you order. If you order three books of 100 sets, number them as one run of 300 rather than three books that each start at 1.
- Keep a prefix if you use one. Letters in front of the number are useful when you have more than one book on the go, one per van or one per branch, so DUB-0001 and CRK-0001 never collide.
Where the number is printed
Usually the top right of the set, where a thumb finds it when the book is closed, and in red so it stands out from the black of the rest of the form. Tell us where you want it and what you want it to say when you order. If you do not say, we put it top right and start at 0001.
Ordering a numbered book
Every book we print carries numbering as standard, and there is no extra charge for it. Choose your size and quantity on the personalised invoice books page, or look across the range of NCR books if you want a different size, and tell us the starting number in the notes, and our designers set the artwork and send you a proof to approve before anything is printed.
