Understanding Invoices in Inventions

The invoices section contains records of all invoices entered in the system.

Accessing Invoices

From the Inventions homepage, click on Finances, and then select Invoices from the drop-down menu.

All invoices will be displayed in a table format.

To filter results, click on Advanced and select the filters you would like to apply. Click Save Report.

We strongly recommend reviewing invoices regularly, especially those in Draft status, to ensure they get paid in a timely manner.

Invoice Statuses

• Draft: Invoice has not been finalized with a sequential number. The line items are not able to be invoiced out if they are on a draft invoice.
• Open: Invoice has been sent to the licensee and may or may not have payments applied to it.
• Paid: Invoice has either been paid in full or has manually been marked as paid in full.
• Void: Should not have been sent to the licensee and is no longer valid.
• Written Off: Will not be repaid.

Invoice Types

• Credit Memo: Accompanies a refund to a licensee for either revenue or reimbursements.
• Distribution Statement/Receipt: Accompanies a distribution to an inventor, will be moved to another location in the system.
• Financial Compliance Revenue: Invoice for revenue items, will be renamed as Revenue.
• Historical Invoice: Invoice that was imported from another system.
• Invoice to Licensee: To be removed.
• Other Revenue: Invoice for revenue that is outside of normal invoicing, will likely be removed.
• Reimbursement: Invoice for reimbursement of expenses.
• Payment Schedule Plan for Reimbursement: Invoice for reimbursement of past expenses, paid in installments.
• Payment Schedule Plan for Revenue: Invoice for revenue (financial compliance) that is being paid in installments, will be replaced with Revenue.
• Reimbursement Pre-payment: Payment for expenses that have not yet been incurred.
• Revenue Pre-payment:  Payment for financial compliance that is not yet due.

Aged Receivables

To view the aging report from the Invoices tab, click on the Related Reports drop-down menu, and then select Aged Receivables.

• The Aged Receivables report organizes invoices by licensee. 
• You can apply additional filters to review financial compliance or reimbursements by clicking on the Advanced tab. 
• By selecting to display invoice paid amount, you can review previous payments and internal notes from the invoice 
• In order to function properly, invoices should not contain charges for both revenue and reimbursements in the Aged Receivables report.

Accrual Calculations

The invoice section can be used to calculate what is owed in an accrual-based accounting system. 

To calculate the accrual for an agreement, add the revenue account and the outstanding invoices for revenue. 

For patent reimbursements, add patent reimbursements and the outstanding patent reimbursement invoices. This will not balance to the GL.

Invoicing on Hold

1. 1. To prevent Invoices from being generated for a particular agreement, click on the Agreements tab from the navigation header.
      
      
   2. Select and click on an agreement to open it.
      
      
      
      
   3. With the agreement open:
      • Click the box that says Invoicing On Hold to indicate invoices should not be generated.
      • Include a reason for the hold in the text box. 
      • Click OK.
        
        

The note will be displayed in the View Edit History section of the agreement.

Adding Bank Fees and Other Line Items

Additional expenses can be added to an invoice in Draft status.

1. From the main Invoices table, click on an invoice to open it. 
2. Click on Line Items and then click Add to add the new expense.
   
   
   
   
3. Complete all required fields in red. If an overpayment of bank fees will be used as a credit for future expenses received, link the line item to the reimbursement account. Click OK to save. 
   
   

When accepting a payment for an invoice with a bank fee, make sure that the reimbursement amount being applied to the expenses is accurate or the revenue is recorded accurately. The system adjusts the values based on what was invoiced and received, including manually added items.

For example, you add $30 to an invoice for a bank fee but only $10 is taken by the bank, the full amount for the expenses the invoice should be marked as Paid. The remaining $20 will be deposited into the account that was selected when the invoice was created.

The invoice will still have an Open status, so it should be marked as Paid if the balance is not a valid expense (like a bank fee variance), or if a decision is made to not pursue collection efforts. The original invoice amount will not change, and the payments made against the invoice will not change, but the invoice will be closed and the correct amounts will be recorded in the accounts for reconciliation to the general ledger.