What are the implications of deleting an invoice that has already been exported to Xero?
Deleting an invoice that has already been exported to Xero may have severe implications and should be undertaken ONLY if you fully understand the consequences. Below we've summarised the two scenarios that might cause you to consider deleting an invoice. In each scenario we've provided you with suggested actions and details of the consequences.
Mistakes happen. If you've exported a WriteUpp invoice into Xero and realised that there is an error on the invoice we would recommend that you:
Delete the invoice in Xero
Delete the invoice in WriteUpp
Recreate the invoice in WriteUpp
Export the invoice from WriteUpp to Xero
Why? This ensures that the information that you have in Xero matches the information that you have in WriteUpp. Call us old fashioned but we prefer it this way!
We don't recommend that you do this. Doing so we will have the following NEGATIVE consequences:
You will lose your audit trail from the invoice in Xero back to the invoice in WriteUpp. Why does this matter? If you are audited by HMRC (for example) you will have no systemic way of demonstrating a linkage between the invoice in Xero and the corresponding service provision (i.e appts) in the WriteUpp diary. As result, if you are audited you will have to manually reconcile every invoice with the corresponding appointments in WriteUpp which will be very time-consuming and error prone.
You are very likely to create duplicate invoices for appointments that have already been invoiced in WriteUpp, which will then be duplicated in Xero if you export them. This could have numerous implications and could easily, for example, result in your over/underpaying VAT
You will release appointments that have previously been invoiced which will mean that there is a very real risk that you will not know which appointments you have previously invoiced and which ones have not. Again, potentially giving rise to record-keeping issues and possible double counting of revenue
You're deleting an invoice because you have made an error in the source invoice in WriteUpp
Mistakes happen. If you've exported a WriteUpp invoice into Xero and realised that there is an error on the invoice we would recommend that you:
Delete the invoice in Xero
Delete the invoice in WriteUpp
Recreate the invoice in WriteUpp
Export the invoice from WriteUpp to Xero
Why? This ensures that the information that you have in Xero matches the information that you have in WriteUpp. Call us old fashioned but we prefer it this way!
You're deleting an invoice because you have want to remove all invoices in WriteUpp that have been exported to Xero
We don't recommend that you do this. Doing so we will have the following NEGATIVE consequences:
You will lose your audit trail from the invoice in Xero back to the invoice in WriteUpp. Why does this matter? If you are audited by HMRC (for example) you will have no systemic way of demonstrating a linkage between the invoice in Xero and the corresponding service provision (i.e appts) in the WriteUpp diary. As result, if you are audited you will have to manually reconcile every invoice with the corresponding appointments in WriteUpp which will be very time-consuming and error prone.
You are very likely to create duplicate invoices for appointments that have already been invoiced in WriteUpp, which will then be duplicated in Xero if you export them. This could have numerous implications and could easily, for example, result in your over/underpaying VAT
You will release appointments that have previously been invoiced which will mean that there is a very real risk that you will not know which appointments you have previously invoiced and which ones have not. Again, potentially giving rise to record-keeping issues and possible double counting of revenue
Updated on: 09/08/2022
Thank you!