If you searched for a quick book invoice, you probably raise invoices in your accounting software today and are wondering whether to keep doing that once sales, client records and payments live in a CRM. This article answers one decision: which system should issue the invoice, and how do you set up the levelpartner.ai platform so invoices are raised in one place only and your books still receive everything they need? We do not review any accounting product or claim a connection to one. We cover the decision, the checks and the setup.
Why two invoicing systems is the real problem
Most growing firms end up with invoices coming from two places. Finance raises some in the accounting tool. Sales raises others from the CRM because it is quicker. Each system numbers its own invoices, sends its own reminders and shows its own idea of who owes what.
The symptoms are familiar. A client gets two invoices for the same work. A reminder goes out for something already paid into the other system. Month end takes days because someone is matching two lists by hand. The fix is not a better tool. It is a rule: one system issues invoices, the other records them.
How to decide which one issues
Let the CRM issue invoices when the people who agree the work are the people who should bill it, when you want payment to move a deal or start onboarding, and when clients pay mostly by card or link. That describes most agencies, consultants, mortgage brokers and real estate firms billing fees.
Let the accounting software issue invoices when billing is complex: multi-entity, heavy on credit notes, tied to stock, or subject to audit procedures your accountant has built around that tool. In that case the CRM tracks the deal and the accounting tool owns the invoice.
Whichever you pick, write it down and tell the team. Mixed practice is what causes the mess.
Before you start
- The decision above, agreed with your accountant or finance lead.
- A payment processor connected in Payments if the platform will issue invoices.
- Your chart of accounts or income categories, so product names on the platform map to them.
- A check in App Marketplace for any connector to your accounting tool. If none exists, plan a regular export.
- A cut-over date, ideally the first day of a month or quarter.
How to make the platform the issuing system
- Agree the cut-over date with finance and note the last invoice number in the accounting tool.
- In Payments, then Invoices & Estimates, open Settings, then Payment Settings, and set an Invoice Prefix that cannot be confused with the old sequence.
- In Payments, then Products, create products whose names match the income categories in your books.
- Recreate each recurring invoice with New, then New Recurring Invoice, and stop the matching schedule in the accounting tool.
- Switch off automatic reminders in the accounting tool so clients are chased from one place.
- Raise the first live invoices from the platform from the cut-over date.
- At the end of the first week, go to Payments, then Transactions, click the download icon and pass finance the file from the emailed link.
- Agree with finance a fixed day each month to export and record, and put it in the calendar.
What your books still need from the platform
Your accounting system needs to know about every invoice and every payment, whichever system issued them. At minimum, finance needs the invoice number, date, client, net amount, tax amount and payment status, plus the processor's payout reports.
If a connector exists in App Marketplace for your accounting tool, test it on a handful of invoices before relying on it. Check that tax lines arrive correctly and that a payment marks the right invoice. If you export instead, a weekly file is enough for most firms of 10 to 250 staff. The guide to matching processor payouts to invoices at month end covers the reconciliation.
Say finance raises about 140 invoices a month in the accounting tool from emailed requests, and account managers wait a day or two for each to go out. If issuing moved to the platform, account managers could send invoices on the day work is approved. Finance would switch to a weekly import into the books. Most of the 140 request emails would then disappear. These figures are assumptions.
Time it takes
The decision takes a meeting. The cut-over takes half a day plus a short check at the end of the first week. After that, the weekly or monthly export is a few minutes, and the time saved is in the requests nobody has to send.
The mistake most people make
Letting both systems keep sending reminders. Even when invoicing moves, the old tool often keeps a schedule running on open invoices. Clients then receive a reminder from a system you stopped using, with a different pay link. Turn off reminders in the old tool on cut-over day, and settle any open invoices there before closing its schedules.
When to keep invoicing in the accounting tool
Keep it there if your accountant relies on its controls for audit, if you bill across several legal entities, or if most invoices need credit notes and adjustments after the fact. The platform can still track the deal, send the proposal and record that an invoice was raised, with a link or reference on the opportunity. You simply do not issue invoices from both.
Troubleshooting
The same client exists twice in the books. The platform's contact name differs from the accounting record. Agree one naming convention, usually the registered company name, and use it in both.
Tax totals do not match between systems. One system calculates tax per line and the other on the total. Align the setting before the first export.
Finance cannot tell which invoices are new. Use a distinct prefix on the platform and export by date range, not as a full list every time.
A client paid into the old account after the switch. Record the payment in the books against the old invoice and close it. Do not recreate it on the platform.
Frequently asked questions
Can I send invoices from the platform and still use my accounting software?
Yes. That is the most common setup. The platform issues and collects, and the accounting software records the result for tax, payroll and reporting.
Does the platform connect directly to my accounting tool?
Check App Marketplace for a current connector to the specific product you use. If none is listed, use a regular export, which is reliable and easy to audit.
Should estimates live in the CRM or the books?
In the CRM, next to the deal. An estimate is a sales document, and when the client accepts it you can turn it into an invoice. The guide to sending estimates and turning them into invoices explains the steps.
What if finance does not want to give up invoicing?
Then let finance keep it and use the platform for the deal and the payment link only. The rule that matters is a single issuing system, not which one wins. If you are weighing tools first, the invoicing software checklist may help.