If you’ve had an experience when your customers have returned or exchanged a product they bought from your store or when your employees have requested for reimbursement, you are now familiar of the idea and importance of issuing and keeping a receipt. Receipts are more than just slips of paper that record transactions because these may contain information that can either make or break the success of your business.
In this article, we will be helping you create a receipt using templates in Google Sheets format. These templates can be downloaded and edited for free. Along with that are some guidelines on how you can make your own receipts, as well as the answers of the frequently asked questions surrounding receipts.
Know what makes up a receipt below. Make sure to incorporate these elements in your receipt.
1. Business Name and Address: The first element that you should write on your receipt is the name of your business or company, along with your business (both office and store) address. This element is important for legal and tax purposes.
2. Contact Details: There are some transactions that can be done even if your customers would not have to visit your store or your office. Thus, you must always include your contact details so your customers and clients can easily make inquiries, reservations, and appointments even without having to visit your store or your office. Your contact details usually include your cellphone or landline number, your email address, and even your website.
3. Date Issued: Conveniently trace transactions and keep comprehensive sales reports and other records by including the date when the receipt was issued. This element is important to both you, the seller, and your customer.
4. Receipt Number: Another method that can help you in keeping track of your receipt records is a receipt number. By including a receipt number, you will be able to easily match the customer’s receipt copy to your copy and easily assess its authenticity. Any disputes made by the customer can be validated once their receipt copy is indeed a copy of your own record.
5. List of Purchased Items: This is where the products or services that you have bought and availed are listed. It is usually contained in a table and comes with a brief description of the product or services such as its quantity. Through this element that you can easily trace a certain transaction.
6. Price of Items: Along with the list of the products and services are its equivalent pricing. The price or the fee that will be reflected on the receipt must be multiplied to the number of items purchased in order to get the subtotal and the grand total. You may also see official receipt examples.
7. Subtotal and Grand Total: As soon as you can get the all the details of the items and its corresponding prices, add them all up in order to get the subtotal. To get the grand total, you must add the taxes and other charges to your subtotal. The grand total is the final amount the customer will be paying.
To ensure that you will create receipts that can serve its intended purpose, we provide you with some guidelines can follow that can help you make a receipt:
1. Consider the use of a custom letterhead: Using a letterhead for your receipt can be used to incorporate your brand identity in a document as small as a receipt. It is also convenient on your part because you can conveniently present your key information that includes your business name, store and/or office address, and your contact details.
2. Include blank spaces: There will be some cases when your customer would have to sign the receipt to certify the information it contains is indeed true. This is why you have to include blank spaces on your receipt where they can sign and where they can also add their comments and feedback that you might find handy.
3. Organization is the key: Receipts already come in a small size and despite containing only a few information, it is still possible that your customer will get confused with it especially if the layout is cluttered. Organization is the key here in order to prevent confusion and misinterpretation from happening. Make use of headings, tables, and lines when it is necessary to make your receipt organized. You may also see company receipt examples.
4. Maintain readability: There are several ways on how you can maintain readability. One is the right choice of typography and another is the proper use of negative space. Keep in mind that a receipt is a formal document so this means that using fancy font styles is inappropriate and it negatively affects its readability. The effective use of negative space can make your receipt look well-put and less cluttered.
5. Determine the best orientation: When it comes to receipt page orientation, you have two options: portrait or landscape. While there is no wrong orientation preference, you have to make sure that whatever you choose is the best orientation that fits your business. If you run a convenience store, it is best if you will make use of a portrait page orientation so you can easily list down the numerous items customers would normally buy from your store.
6. Limit the amount of text: The only text that your receipt must contain are the main elements of a receipt which includes the business name, contact details, the items purchases, and its corresponding prices. Aside from other pertinent business information, you should already be limiting the amount of text in your receipt because you have to keep in mind that receipts already come in small sizes and adding unnecessary texts will already make it look overwhelming.
7. Avoid the use of images: Aside from your business logo, adding images in your receipt design is not acceptable. Receipts already come in small sizes and it no longer needs any additional and unnecessary visual aesthetic because it would only make your receipt look overwhelming and it deviates you from its main purpose.
Here are the answers to the frequently asked questions about receipts.
Receipts can be used a proof in case you would like to purchase for warranties for any major purchase. It can be used as proof of your major expenses, such a vehicle, and for when you need to return and exchange an item. In the event that you have used your personal funds for work expenses, you can be reimbursed if you have a receipt as proof of purchase. Receipts can also help you manage your finances such as when you would budget how much you should spend and when you want to get tax deductions.
Who can benefit from receipts?
Receipts are considered as a document that has a business, legal, and official connotations. When it comes to business, business owners make use of receipts as a form of documentation, as well as a form of regulation of their financial records. Consumers will always make use of receipt as certification and acknowledgment of their purchases. A receipt can also be used as proof of ownership in various circumstances such as insurance claims and lost property claims.
One significant difference between an invoice and a receipt is its issuance. Invoices are issued before the transaction gets processed and completed, meaning before the goods or services are supplied to the customers. Receipts are issued when the transaction is already completed and are used as documentation on the buyer’s end as proof of the transaction.
For some people, managing receipts may be a difficult and tedious task but once you get to know how to sort it out, managing your receipts will eventually come easy. For you to effectively manage your receipts, you have to check the purpose of each receipt that you keep. After that, arrange them into different categories. It is in this way that you can easily manage and track down your receipts.
Receipts may look like an ordinary slip of paper but it actually hold a value that you must never underestimate. Who knows? That piece of paper might come in handy for you in the future.