Consulting invoice template

Retainers, day rates and hourly time

Consulting rarely bills as a flat hourly rate. A monthly retainer reserves your availability for a fixed fee; a day rate suits defined pieces of work; ad-hoc hours mop up everything outside the agreement. Many engagements use all three at once, so itemise them as separate lines — "March retainer", "2 days discovery workshop", "3.5 hrs ad-hoc support" — rather than collapsing the month into one number. A finance reviewer who can map each line to something they agreed will sign it off without a back-and-forth.

Billing through procurement

Corporate clients route invoices through accounts payable, not the person you actually worked with, so write for that reader. Quote the purchase-order number if one was raised — many AP systems reject an invoice without it — and reference the statement of work or contract the engagement sits under. Expect longer payment terms than freelance work: Net 30 is normal and Net 45 or 60 not unusual, so price and plan your cash flow around the wait rather than being surprised by it.

Expenses and milestones

Pass-through expenses — travel, software, subcontractors — belong on their own lines, marked as expenses and ideally backed by receipts, kept separate from your fee so the client sees what's your time and what's a cost you carried. On a project priced by milestone, bill each milestone as it's accepted. Agree the scope and price first with a quote or estimate; the same builder powers the general invoice generator.