Since the company has not yet started trading, my task is to design a set of standard documents for use by the company. However, before beginning the design of my documents, I am scheduled to attend a meeting with the Directors, to discuss the various types of documents used in business with them. As Marketing Manager I am required to give guidance to the Directors on the best possible types of documents suitable for the needs of the IT company. In order to help me at the meeting I am going to prepare a report.
2. METHOD In order to do the report I was required to collect three different examples of two standard types of documents currently being used by real-life organisations. I was able to acquire sample documents of Invoices from someone who works with a real-life organisation. In addition I visited the following Banks: Barclays
HSBC
Halifax
I was able to obtain Bank Account Application Forms necessary for opening new bank accounts.
3. FINDINGS Invoices Invoice 1 Is a document from Flexitrace Limited. It is printed on A4 (210* 297) portrait.
The company name, address, telephone number and vat number is placed on the top left had side of the invoice. The top right hand side of the page shows the page number. The Invoice number, invoice date and customer number also appear on the right hand side of the document.
The Invoice gives the quantity of items as well as detailed information of the various types of items bought from the organisation. There are also abbreviations foe the manner in which goods are packaged. e.g.
CSE
=
Case
PKT =
Packet
X6 =
6 items
X24
=
24 items
X12
=
12 items
In addition the actual Price of the items are stated as well as the Net Amount.
The Vat Amount is also included in the invoice. The total vat amount is then deducted from the Total net amount in order to arrive at the Invoice Total. The invoice is stamped to show that payment has been made. A signature is also placed at the left bottom of the Invoice.
PURPOSE The purpose of the Invoice 1 is to make the customer aware of the quantity of goods bought as well as the prices for each item and the total amount payable after Vat.
CONTENT The content of the Invoice 1 consists of the various types of goods bought giving detailed description relating to quantity actual items prices etc.
LAYOUT The layout of the Invoice 1 is in columnar form. Time New Roman font and font size 12 is also used. The company name, address and vat details are written in
UPPER CASE letters. IMPROVEMENTS Invoice 1 could be improved by using a better quality of paper and enhancing the presentation. GOOD POINTS
BAD POINTS
Everything is neatly set out line by line, column by column.
Poor quality of paper used.
Clear information of all transactions done.
Poor presentation.
Invoice 2 Is a document from Imperial Cash & Carry Ltd. It is presented on an A4 (210* 297) letterhead duplicate paper with perforation at both sides. The invoice has two pages.
The telephone number, fax number and vat registration number as well as the address of the business is at the top of the invoice. The left hand side of the document has the name and address of the organisation the items are sold to. While the right hand side of the invoice has the name and address of the organisation that sold the items. The vat number also appears just below the address. The quantity of goods sold, the product code, description of items sold as well as size number of packs, price and value and vat are all listed on the invoice.
An advert is strategically placed at the middle