A customer can have 30-day payment terms and the business can still lose additional days before that period even begins. This article is about measuring that internal delay: the time between completing the work and having enough information to prepare the invoice.

Use one number: completion to invoice readiness

For each job in a normal week, record two times:

  1. when the operational work was completed; and
  2. when accounts had the information it needed to prepare the invoice.

The difference is your completion-to-invoice-readiness gap.

Code the reason for every delay

Where there is a gap, give it a simple reason:

  • docket had not returned;
  • job, PO or customer reference needed checking;
  • signature or other supporting evidence was missing;
  • quantity or weighbridge information needed matching;
  • an exception during the job needed clarification;
  • accounts was waiting for several loads to be assembled.

Do not mix internal delay with customer payment behaviour

This measurement stops when the invoice is ready. It does not measure customer approval time, agreed payment terms or late payment. Those are separate commercial issues.

Where a digital record can help

With Tipper360, selected job information is captured during the work and the completed record becomes available to the office after synchronisation. Supporting information used in that workflow can remain associated with the job, making missing details easier to identify before accounts reaches the invoice.

Compare the same measure after changing the process

Do not estimate the benefit in advance. Measure a baseline, change the workflow and then measure completion-to-invoice readiness again. That gives you evidence from your own operation rather than a generic claim about faster invoicing.

For the broader list of reasons an invoice can be held up: see the seven pre-payment-term delays.