Edit an order and its invoice

A shop rings at quarter past ten. The order went in yesterday, the invoice is already made, and now they want two more cases of cola and some orange squash. In a lot of businesses this means cancelling the invoice, raising a new one, and hoping nobody prints the old copy. This tour shows the office editing the order itself, with the invoice following along.

Step by step

1. Open the order and tap Edit. The order's lines become editable. Nothing has changed yet, and nothing will until you save.

2. Change the quantity. The cola line goes from 4 cases to 6. The line total updates as you type, so you can read the new amount back to the customer while they are still on the phone.

3. Use Add product for the new line. Add product puts the orange squash on the order: two cases of 1 litre at £11.40 a case. It picks up the price the same way any other line does.

4. Compare the new total with the old. The changed quantity and the added product stand out from the lines that did not change, and the old total sits beside the new one. This is the moment to say "that brings it to £186.65 with VAT, is that right?" before anything is committed.

5. Save changes. One save. A short "Order updated" message confirms it, and the order now carries an Edited badge. Anyone who printed the order yesterday and finds it no longer matches will see why at a glance.

6. Check the invoice has followed. Open the order's invoice. It now carries the new lines and the new total, under the same invoice number as before. There is no second invoice to explain and no old one to void.

7. Know the two exceptions. If the order has no invoice yet, the same place shows Generate Invoice, and you make it from the finished order. If the order was invoiced in parts, the edit is refused. That is on purpose: changing the order when only some of it has been invoiced would leave the paperwork disagreeing with itself.

8. Print it. Open / Print shows the invoice exactly as it will come out on the printer this computer uses. Print, or Save PDF to email it. The customer gets a copy that matches the van.

Before and after the call

The tour's sample order, before and after the phone call. Prices are before VAT; cola, water, crisps, chocolate and squash all carry VAT at 20% in the sample.

The order goes up by £48.36 including VAT. Same order number, same invoice number, new total.

Why editing beats cancel and reissue

Cancelling an invoice and raising a fresh one leaves two documents for one delivery. The customer's bookkeeper may pay the first, the driver may carry the second, and your statement shows both until someone sorts it out. Editing the order and letting the invoice follow keeps one order, one invoice and one balance.

There is a limit to this, and it is a sensible one. Once an invoice has been sent and the customer has entered it into their books, changing it quietly can confuse them. If the invoice has already gone out, tell the customer it has been updated and send the new copy. If they have already paid it, a separate invoice for the extra goods, or a credit note for anything removed, is often cleaner. Our guide to VAT invoice requirements covers what an invoice must show and when a credit note is the right document.

Who should be allowed to edit orders?

Editing an invoiced order changes what a customer owes, so it is worth deciding who does it. In most cash-and-carry offices that is whoever takes the phone orders and raises invoices, not the warehouse and not the drivers. Keep it to a small group, and make it the same people who would otherwise have issued a credit note. That way one person can always explain why an order says Edited.

It also helps to agree a cut-off. A change phoned in at quarter past ten can still make the morning's paperwork. A change phoned in after the van has left is really a second delivery, and is better as its own order so the driver's copy and the shop's copy agree.

Tips for the office

• Read the new total back before saving. It is the cheapest check you will ever do.
• Edit before the pick, not after. If the morning's pick wave has already gone, tell the warehouse, or the extra cases will not be on the van.
• Reprint, do not hand-correct. A pen through a quantity on a printed invoice is not a valid change.
• Use the Edited badge. When a driver or customer queries a difference, it tells you the order was changed and saves a hunt.

Common mistakes

Changing the order and forgetting the paperwork has moved. The invoice updates, so the old printed copy in the van is now wrong. Reprint it.

Raising a second order for the extra cases. Two orders for one drop means two picks, two invoices and two lines on the statement.

Trying to edit an order invoiced in parts. It will be refused. Raise a separate order for the extra goods, or use a credit note to take something off.

Editing after the customer has paid. A changed total on a paid invoice leaves a balance nobody expected. Talk to the customer first.

What to do next

Once the order is right, it goes out on the van and onto the customer's balance. If it is not paid on time, it appears in money owed by age and credit control picks it up. For ways to shorten that gap, read how to get invoices paid faster. If edits like this often push customers close to their limit, customer credit for wholesalers explains how to set limits that leave room for the phone-call top-up.