Sales Invoices
A Sales Invoice (SI) is the bill you issue to a customer. Posting an invoice does three things at once:
- Bills the customer — it becomes an amount owed to you (your accounts receivable).
- Moves stock — invoiced items are reduced from inventory.
- Records revenue — the sale posts to your sales/revenue accounts.
Because an invoice has real financial and inventory effects, it's the most carefully controlled document in the Sales module.
Before you begin: you'll usually invoice against an approved Sales Order. You can also raise an invoice without a sales order for quick, direct sales.
The Sales Invoice list
Open Sales → Sales Invoices to find, review, print, and create invoices. The list works like the Sales Order list: filter by customer and date range, switch between Document and Item views, and use the status tabs to focus on a group of invoices.
The Sales Invoice list showing the filter bar (Customer, Date Range, Show Data), the status tabs, example invoice rows (with Invoice No, Date, Customer, Amount, Status), and the Create button top-right.
Create an invoice from a Sales Order (recommended)
This is the normal path — it avoids re-keying and keeps the order and invoice linked.
- Go to Sales → Sales Invoices and click Create.
- Choose to create from a Sales Order, then select the order(s) to invoice.
- Ace CBM pulls the customer, addresses, items, quantities, and prices from the order.
- Confirm the quantities being invoiced (you can invoice part of an order — the balance stays open on the order).
- Review taxes and totals, then Save/Post the invoice.
The "select sales order" step: a dialog listing the customer's open sales orders with checkboxes, showing order number, date, and balance quantity/amount. Highlight the confirm/continue button.
Create an invoice without a Sales Order
For direct sales where there's no prior order:
- Click Create and choose the direct / without sales order option.
- Select the customer.
- Add items and/or services line by line (quantity, rate, discount, tax) — the same way you would on a Sales Order.
- Add any other income lines if needed.
- Review totals and Save/Post.
The invoice form, section by section
The invoice form is organized into a header (who the invoice is for, the invoice type, dates, and transport details), a line-items grid, and a totals panel. Fields that don't apply to your transaction type are hidden automatically, so a simple domestic sale shows far fewer boxes than an interstate shipment that needs an e-Way Bill.
The invoice create form. Show the customer and address blocks at the top, the header strip (Invoice Type, Sale Type, Item Tax Group, dates), the line-items grid (Item, Qty, Unit, Rate, Discount, Tax, Amount), and the totals/tax panel on the right. Point out where the e-Way Bill and Dispatch actions appear (toolbar/actions menu).
Customer & addresses
Select the customer first — everything else keys off it.
- Billing address — where the invoice is legally addressed. Defaults from the customer.
- Shipping address — where the goods are delivered. Defaults from the customer.
- Dispatch-from address — the location the goods leave from (your warehouse/branch). Used on the e-Way Bill.
Ace CBM compares the billing address with your dispatch-from address to work out the place of supply, which decides how tax is charged (see Taxes, GST & e-Way Bill):
| Situation | Detected type | Typical tax |
|---|---|---|
| Same state | Intra-state (SS) | CGST + SGST |
| Different state, same country | Inter-state (DS) | IGST |
| Different country | Export (DC) | Zero-rated / export rules |
Change the dispatch-from or shipping address on the invoice if this particular shipment moves from or to a different location than the customer's default.
Invoice header & dates
The header strip carries the classification and key dates for the invoice:
| Field | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Invoice Type | The kind of invoice (from your configured invoice-type list). It controls document numbering and the print format. |
| Sale Type | The revenue/sales account the invoice posts to. Changing this after adding items clears the lines, because items belong to a specific sale type — Ace CBM will ask you to confirm. |
| Item Tax Group | The tax group that drives how each line is taxed. Required before you can add items. |
| Invoice Date | The date the sale is recognized and from which payment terms are counted. |
| Prepare Date & Time | When the draft was prepared (set automatically). |
| Post Date | When the invoice was posted to the ledgers (set on posting). |
| Customer Ref No / Date | The customer's own reference for this bill, if any. |
| Payment Terms | Defaults from the customer; editable. |
Because Sale Type and Invoice Type determine the accounts and the items that are valid, set them before you add line items. If you change them later, Ace CBM warns that existing lines will be removed.
Line items
Add one line per item or service. Each line captures:
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Item | The product or service being billed. |
| Inventory item | (Stocked goods) the specific stock item/lot being drawn down. |
| Quantity | Units being invoiced. |
| Unit | Unit of measure (defaults from the item). |
| Package unit / Package qty / Qty per package | Packaging detail, where you bill or ship by packs. |
| Rate | Price per unit (defaults from the item price; editable). |
| Discount % | Any line discount, as a percentage. |
| Tax Group | The tax applied to the line (defaults from the header's item tax group). |
| Amount | The line value — calculated for you. |
| Note | An optional line note. |
When an invoice is created from a Sales Order, each line keeps a link back to its source order line, so the order's invoiced/balance quantities stay accurate.
Other income
Use Other income lines to bill charges that aren't stock items — for example freight, packing, or handling — so they appear on the same invoice and post to the right income account.
Totals & round-off
The totals panel recalculates automatically as you edit lines:
- Subtotal — the sum of all line amounts.
- Tax — calculated per line from each line's tax group, then grouped and shown by tax component (for example CGST, SGST, or IGST) and rate.
- Round-off — when enabled, Ace CBM rounds the invoice total to the nearest whole unit of currency and posts the small difference to a round-off account (amounts of 0.50 and above round up; below 0.50 round down).
- Grand total — subtotal + tax + round-off. This is the amount the customer owes.
Taxes, GST & e-Way Bill
Ace CBM calculates tax per line from each line's tax group, then combines the components for the whole invoice. Whether a line attracts CGST + SGST (intra-state) or IGST (inter-state) is decided by the place of supply — the comparison of your dispatch-from address and the customer's billing address described above.
Depending on your configuration and the transaction type, the header also shows:
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| e-Way Bill No. | The generated e-Way Bill number (with its status — for example Cancelled or Closed). |
| e-Way Bill Ack. No. | The acknowledgement number returned when the bill is generated. |
| e-Invoice Ack. No. / IRN | Shown when e-invoicing is enabled — the acknowledgement for the registered e-invoice. |
| e-Way Distance (KM) | The transport distance used for the e-Way Bill. |
For applicable regions and transaction types you can generate an e-Way Bill, cancel one that's no longer valid (Cancel EWB), and print the required tax document copies.
Generating an e-Way Bill
Open the invoice and choose e-Way Bill. Complete the transport details and click Submit — Ace CBM saves the transport data against the invoice and requests the e-Way Bill.
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Transporter Name | Pick the transporter from your transporter list (their GSTIN is shown). |
| Transporter Mode | Road, rail, air, or ship. |
| Vehicle Type | The vehicle category (required). |
| Vehicle No. | The vehicle registration number. |
| Transporter Doc No / Date | The transporter's document reference and date. |
| Distance (KM) | The transport distance. If it's invalid you'll see "Please enter valid distance in KM." |
| Dispatch From Address | The address the goods leave from (defaults to your company address; selectable). |
The Eway Bill dialog showing the transport grid: Transporter Name (with a picker showing GSTIN), Transporter Mode, Vehicle Type, Vehicle No, Transporter Doc No, Transporter Doc Date, Distance, and Dispatch From Address, with Cancel and Submit buttons. Also show the Cancel e-Way Bill control that appears for an already-generated bill.
Dispatch, transporter & vehicle
Transport details live on the invoice header, and there's a separate Dispatch step that stamps the invoice when the goods physically leave.
On the invoice header, record how the goods are going out:
- Transporter — select the transporter (or add a new one). Its GSTIN is captured for the e-Way Bill.
- Driver's Name and Vehicle No. — pick the vehicle from the transporter's vehicle list, or add a new vehicle.
- Vehicle Type, Transport Mode, Transporter Doc No / Date — used on the e-Way Bill.
These details flow onto the printed documents and the e-Way Bill.
The Dispatch action confirms the goods have shipped and records when they left:
- Open the invoice and choose Dispatch.
- Set the Removal Date — the date and time the goods actually left (it can't be in the future).
- Add an Additional Note if needed — it's appended to any existing note on the invoice.
- Click Submit.
The Dispatch Items dialog with the read-only Existing Note, a required Removal Date (date-and-time picker), and a required Additional Note field, with Cancel and Submit buttons.
Print the invoice
Select an invoice (or open it) and choose Print. The Print Options dialog lets you choose which copies to generate, for example:
- The standard invoice document (Original; you can produce one or more copies).
- A Duplicate for Transporter copy.
- A Packing Slip.
- The e-Way Bill detail, where applicable.
Tick the copies you need and click Print to open the print preview.
The Print Options dialog titled "Choose which copies you want to generate" with checkboxes for the copy types (Original, Duplicate for Transporter, Packing Slip, e-Way Bill) and a Print button.
Email the invoice to the customer
Use Email Customer to send the invoice PDF directly to the customer's email on file. You can review the recipient and message before sending.
The Email Customer dialog pre-filled with the customer's email address, a subject, and a message body, with the invoice attached and a Send button.
Cancel an invoice
If an invoice was raised in error, open it and choose Cancel Invoice. You'll be asked to confirm. Cancelling reverses the invoice's effects (receivable, stock, and revenue). If an e-Way Bill was generated, cancel that first (Cancel EWB).
Cancelling has accounting and inventory consequences. Follow your organization's policy on who may cancel invoices and when a Credit Note should be used instead.
After the invoice: getting paid
A posted invoice becomes an open item in accounts receivable. Customer payments are then recorded against it in the Payments & Receipts module, and its ageing appears in the customer's AR Aging.
Related documents
- Goods coming back? Raise a Sales Invoice Return.
- Adjusting the amount owed without a goods return? Issue a Credit Note.