The quote to invoice process: how does a sales opportunity become a correctly prepared invoice without customer data, scope of work or responsibilities getting lost along the way? A clear process connects sales and administration. It distinguishes the customer’s decision, the work done, invoicing and payment, and it makes sure that every team knows what to check next. This guide shows the handover step by step and names the checks that have proved their worth.
Distinguishing sales opportunity and document
A sales opportunity describes the prospect of an order. A quote spells out which service you offer on which terms. An order documents the scope of work accepted, and an invoice requests the corresponding payment. These different tasks should remain recognisable even when all the documents arise from the same master data.
Under Art. 1, paras. 1–2 of the Code of Obligations (CO), a contract is concluded by the mutual and matching expression of intent of the parties; this may be express or implied. Art. 6 CO names an exception to express acceptance: if, because of the special nature of the transaction or the circumstances, express acceptance is not to be expected, the contract is deemed concluded if the offer is not rejected within a reasonable period. Do not rely on this; record the acceptance.
Marking a sales opportunity internally as won does not replace this legal step. So check what the customer has actually accepted and whether reservations or open points remain.
For operations, a short handover rule is advisable: sales is responsible for the confirmed scope, the team delivering the work reports the billable status, and administration checks the draft invoice. This division is a practical suggestion. In a small business, the same people can take on several tasks, as long as the checks remain clear.
Checking the quote as the starting point
Before the handover, the customer address, contact person, items and any additions must be correct. An email with a change can affect the accepted scope. Record which version the acceptance refers to. An older file with the same heading is not clear enough for this if items were added in the meantime.
Also clarify whether the invoice goes to the same company that accepted the offer. A contact person can work for several companies. An invoice to the wrong company causes queries and makes it harder to match payment and service. The invoice recipient should therefore be checked deliberately and not copied from an earlier case.
Open points belong in the handover, such as quantities not yet confirmed or a planned additional service. They do not disappear because a document is converted. How a quote should be structured is shown in the guide Write a quote; it complements this process with the technical design of the source document.
Recording the work done and billing status
A won order is not automatically fully billable. Depending on the agreement, services must first be performed, quantities confirmed or other conditions met. Check the specific contract. This guide asserts no general legal rule under which every invoice would be permissible only after full performance. If the agreement provides for deposits or partial invoices, the guide Final invoice, deposits and partial invoices helps.
In your work organisation, show at least whether a billing release is still missing, a draft invoice exists or the invoice has already been issued. These terms are organisational categories. In particular, define whether your internal analysis means a draft or an issued invoice when it says “invoiced”. Otherwise two departments compare different states.
Additional work needs a basis that is just as clear as the original items. Place the confirmation and the deviating scope with the handover. If a quantity is still unclear, administration should be able to ask back. A visibly incomplete draft is easier to check than an apparently finished invoice whose details rest on assumptions.
Checking invoice content and dispatch
Under Art. 26, para. 1 MWSTG, the supplier must, on request, issue the recipient an invoice that meets the requirements of paragraphs 2 and 3. Under para. 2, it must clearly identify the supplier, the recipient and the type of service and, as a rule, contain the following elements:
- name and location of the supplier, the note on registration in the register of taxable persons and the number under which the supplier is registered
- name and location of the recipient
- date or period of the service, where it does not match the invoice date
- type, subject and scope of the service
- the consideration for the service
- the applicable tax rate and the tax amount owed; if the consideration includes the tax, stating the tax rate is enough (para. 2 lit. f)
A cleanly transferred item text does not replace checking the other mandatory details. Also separate creating the draft from issuing and sending it: an internal action should not trigger an accidental external message. Check the preview, the payment details and the intended dispatch recipient. The guide Create a QR bill explains the payment part; its correctness alone does not yet confirm the complete invoice content.
Practical example: Raumwerk Linden AG
Raumwerk Linden AG (fictitious) is fitting out a meeting room for Beispiel Treuhand AG (also fictitious). The deal contains two items: 18 assembly hours at CHF 110.00 and materials for CHF 1’520.00.
| Item | Quantity | Price CHF | Amount CHF |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assembly | 18 h | 110.00 | 1’980.00 |
| Materials (first version) | 1 | 1’520.00 | 1’520.00 |
| Total net | 3’500.00 |
Before the quote, the customer strikes out materials worth CHF 200.00 in conversation. The salesperson changes the item in the deal: materials now CHF 1’320.00, total net CHF 3’300.00 (1’980.00 plus 1’320.00). Only then does she create the quote, issue it in Finance and send it. With the standard rate of 8.1 per cent (Art. 25, para. 1 MWSTG), VAT (CHF 267.30) brings the total to CHF 3’567.30. The customer accepts in writing; the salesperson records the acceptance and converts the quote into an order.
After the assembly, the technician reports the service as fully performed. Administration converts the order into an invoice, checks the draft against the acceptance and the work reports, checks the address and preview and issues the invoice.
In the analysis, the deal continues to show the value the salesperson entered there. Had she struck out the CHF 200.00 only in the draft quote in Finance, the deal would still appear in the statistics at CHF 3’500.00, while the invoice shows CHF 3’300.00 net. The example therefore shows a control task: reconciling acceptance, deal and document is done by people. A won sales opportunity is also not yet a payment received, and even an issued invoice may be open. In the meeting, keep sales success, services billed and funds received apart.
Tracking the document chain and open handovers
For queries, it should be possible to see which offer an invoice came from. Also keep the decisive additions and confirmations in a traceable form. An accounting voucher is any written record on paper or in electronic or comparable form that is necessary to be able to trace the business transaction underlying a posting (Art. 957a, para. 3 CO). Whether a quote or acceptance belongs here depends on whether it is necessary for that purpose; the classification depends on content and function, not on name.
Under Art. 958f, para. 1 CO, the accounting records, accounting vouchers, management report and audit report must be retained for ten years; the period starts at the end of the financial year. Art. 958f, para. 3 CO permits electronic retention of accounting records and accounting vouchers, provided that consistency with the underlying business transactions and facts is ensured and they can be made legible again at any time. For the management report and the audit report, para. 2 requires retention in written and signed form.
Go through won but not yet invoiced cases together regularly. Ask about the actual obstacle: a missing service report, an unclear address or a scope not yet agreed.
Checklist before invoicing
- Acceptance and the decisive version of the offer are documented.
- Additions and dropped items have been taken into account, including in the deal value.
- Invoicing company and customer address are correct.
- Billable service status is confirmed.
- Items, quantities and totals have been recalculated.
- Tax treatment and invoice details under Art. 26 MWSTG have been checked.
- Preview, payment details and dispatch recipient are correct.
- Responsibility for issuing and sending is clarified.
- “Invoiced” is defined internally (draft or issued).
- Open payment and won sales opportunity are tracked separately.
How KMU | base helps
Sales | base and Finance | base share the documents. The route from the deal:
1. Record the offer in the deal. In the Sales menu, open Deals and the deal. You assemble the offer from several items, one-off, monthly or yearly, with a discount per item or on the whole offer; the deal value follows the offer, with the first-year value for recurring items (“Offer with multiple items and billing cycle”).
2. Create the quote. In the “Quote, order, invoice” block, “Create quote” creates the quote as a draft in Finance (“Quote, order and invoice straight from the deal”). This needs Finance | base and, in addition, the right “Finance: sales” at least at the “Edit” level. You issue and send quotes and invoices in Finance; Sales never sends automatically.
3. Convert. After acceptance, choose “Convert to order” or “Convert to invoice”. Items and prices are taken over without retyping (“Convert along the chain”). If the offer contains recurring items, the order produces an invoice for the one-off items and, per billing cycle, a series in Finance, as a draft and without automatic sending.
4. Check and issue in Finance. “Open in Finance” takes you to the document. There you check the PDF preview before finalising (“Preview before issuing”). If the customer address (street, postcode, town) is missing, the deal shows a note with a link to the contact as soon as an invoice is due. On the document, “From the sales deal” leads back to the deal (“Return path to the sales deal”); you see the origin and follow-up documents with their status in the document chain (“Document chain on the document”).
5. See the status in the deal. Quotes, orders and invoices appear with their status, including paid, in the deal’s timeline (“Timeline with documents and consents”). Once the quote is issued or the order placed, the deal suggests a change of stage, which you confirm with one click. With the “Deal maintenance” setting under Sales settings › Automation and follow-ups, deals follow the documents by themselves (“Deal maintenance by documents (can be switched off)”).
6. Spot what has not been billed. On the Deals page, the totals row shows “Won, invoiced” and “Won, not invoiced” (“Won by invoiced/not invoiced”). The figure is no proof of an incoming payment.
Limits.
- In this analysis, a deal counts as invoiced as soon as an invoice is assigned to it, even as an unissued draft. Treat the figure as an indication, not as evidence.
- The deal value follows the offer in the deal, not the invoice in Finance. Changes in the document do not carry the deal value along.
- Invoices always remain drafts when converted. An order that arises from an issued quote, by contrast, is issued at once; it is not sent.
- Sales | base does not check whether the service status has been reached or the acceptance is complete.
The details of operation are in the Sales | base guide. In addition, agree who hands the confirmed content over to Finance and who checks the final preview. Take a look at the Demo or open a test account. If you have questions, use the contact page. You will find the terms under Pricing.
Sources
- Code of Obligations (CO, OR, SR 220), Art. 1, paras. 1–2, Art. 6, Art. 957a, para. 3 and Art. 958f, paras. 1–3, as at 1 October 2026: fedlex.admin.ch (German original), accessed on 27.10.2026.
- Federal Act on Value Added Tax (VAT Act, MWSTG, SR 641.20), Art. 25, para. 1 and Art. 26, paras. 1–2, as at 31 March 2025: fedlex.admin.ch (German original), accessed on 27.10.2026.
This guide does not replace legal or tax advice. Information as at 27.10.2026.