This post by our Financial Controller, Lisa Ellison, is a really useful guide to producing accurate transcriber and translator invoices.

As Financial Controller, part of my job each month is to review all transcriber and translator invoices and process them ready for payment. There are often so many important details missing off invoices submitted by freelancers that it can make the checking process significantly slower. In light of this, I have compiled a list of the main items that should always be included on invoices from transcribers and translators:

  1. The month that the work relates to e.g. March 2012 for all work done in March.
  2. Your name. Amazingly, this is often overlooked!
  3. Contact details such as mailing address and e-mail address.
  4. Client code and file name. These should be e-mailed to you when you agree to take the work, but remember to make a note of them.
  5. Number of minutes per file, pay rate and the total cost of an individual file.
  6. Total invoice cost should always be present at the bottom of the invoice.
  7. Last but by no means least, make sure payment details are included. I cannot pay people if I don’t have these vital details!

I hope this article helps people who have perhaps never produced an invoice before. We always send out an Induction Document to new freelancers that provides an example invoice and instructions for how to produce one yourself.

Despite the bad ones, I also receive lots of really good invoices so thanks to all the transcribers and translators who produce these consistently every month.

Image credit: Brett Jordan