# How bookkeepers request an invoice from clients

Source: https://dokutrak.com/requests/bookkeepers/invoice
Author: Arthur Teboul, DokuTrak
Published: 2026-10-31
Language: en-US

> Ask the client for every sales invoice issued in the month, plus credit memos and voided invoices, when invoicing happens outside QuickBooks or Xero. Ask for a list of invoices still unpaid at month-end too. You record revenue and accounts receivable from them and match each customer payment to the invoice it settles, so the aging report is right.

## Why bookkeepers need an invoice

Deposits alone do not tell you what was earned. Without the invoices, a customer payment lands as uncategorized income, an unpaid invoice never shows in accounts receivable, and the aging report the owner relies on to chase customers is wrong. Invoices also carry the sales tax charged, which has to land in a liability account, not in revenue.

## What exactly to ask for

All invoices dated in the month you are closing, in number order, from whatever tool the client invoices from, with credit memos and voids. Add an open invoices or AR aging report as of the last day of the month. On a cleanup, ask for every invoice since the last period where AR was right.

## What to check when it arrives

- Invoice numbers run in sequence, and any gap is explained by a void.
- Each payment received matches an invoice by customer and amount, partial payments included.
- Sales tax is shown separately on the invoice, so it is not booked as revenue.

## Email to send your client

Subject: This month’s invoices for your books

```text
Hi [Client name],

To record this month’s sales and match your customer payments, I need every invoice you sent in the month, plus any credit notes or invoices you cancelled.

If your invoicing tool can export a list of unpaid invoices as of the end of the month, please include that too. PDFs or a single export file both work.

Could you send them by [date]? If some invoices were written by hand or sent from email, tell me and we can sort out the easiest way to collect them.

Thank you,
[Your name]
```

## Ask once. DokuTrak does the chasing.

- Your client uploads from one link, with no account and no password.
- Reminders go out on a schedule, by default 2, 5, 10 and 14 days after the request, until the file arrives.
- With AI review switched on in your workspace (it is off by default), each upload gets a first pass that flags a file that is not an invoice or an unreadable or blurry scan. It says so when it is not sure.
- You accept every file or mark it for re-upload, and your client gets the note by email. The AI never accepts a file.

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