Invoice, proforma, quote or receipt

These four documents share a layout and almost nothing else. Sending the wrong one is rarely a disaster, but it does cause the two most common misunderstandings in small business: a client who thinks they have been billed when they have not, and a client who thinks they have paid when they have not. The app makes all four; here is which to reach for.

Quote: a price, before there is a deal

A quote — an estimate, an offer — says what you would charge if the client says yes. It creates no debt, appears in no accounts, and normally carries a validity period, because the price you gave in March is not the price you can honour in October. Write what is included and, as importantly, what is not: a quote that says "website" and an invoice that says "website" describe two different amounts of work, and the gap between them is where arguments live. If the client accepts, the quote becomes the reference for what follows.

Proforma: a bill-shaped document that is not a bill

A proforma looks like an invoice and is not one. It is used when the client needs a document to act on before a real invoice can exist: to raise a payment, to open a letter of credit, to clear customs, to get an amount approved internally. It commits you to the amount but does not book revenue, and it is not what the buyer's accountant will file. When the transaction actually happens, you issue the real invoice — often with a different number, because the numbering sequences are separate. If a client asks for "an invoice so we can pay in advance", a proforma is usually what they actually need.

Invoice: the demand for payment

The invoice is the document that creates the claim. It is dated, numbered in its own sequence, and it is what both sides book. Once issued it should not be edited — if it is wrong you issue a correction, because an invoice that has been silently changed after it was sent is exactly what an audit looks for. This is also why gaps and duplicates in numbering matter more than they seem to: the sequence is the evidence that nothing was removed.

Receipt: proof it was paid

A receipt says money changed hands. It comes after payment, references the invoice it settles, and its purpose is the client's proof, not your claim. In cash-heavy trades it may be the only document that exists; where invoices are paid by transfer, the bank record often does the job and the receipt is a courtesy. Do not use a receipt to ask for money and do not use an invoice to acknowledge it — the app keeps them as separate document types precisely so the wording and the number sequence stay apart.