A receipt is essentially written proof of any kind of transaction. Invoices are the most common type of receipt. These basically serve to document the demand for a fee or service. However, there is a wide variety of different types of receipts, each relating to a different kind of business transaction, both between a company and external agents, and internal daily business within a company. That’s why it’s important to distinguish between internal financial statements and external financial statements.
External financial statements include all receipts obtained from external sources, such as:
- Purchase invoices
- Bank statements
- Bills of lading and commercial letters
- Expense reports
- Tax assessments
- Commercial receipts
Internal financial statements, on the other hand, are handled internally within a company. These include:
- Wage and salary rosters
- Material withdrawal slips
- Transcripts of outgoing invoices
- Copies of receipts, commercial letters, cheques, etc
- Proof of cancellations and transfers
Where the document originated from is the deciding factor in what constitutes an external financial statement and what is an internal financial statement. For example, with online banking statements, even if the company prints out the statement itself, it is still an external document, as it was created and provided by an external party. Furthermore, an invoice sent by mail also counts as an external document, even if it is printed independently.
In addition to internal and external documents, another important type of receipt is the corrective invoice, which is used as a replacement document if it’s necessary to reissue an invoice or receipt. It’s also possible to generate your own supporting documents here.
In order for them to be officially recognized, however, reissued receipts for large amounts of money should be exceptions and must not occur too frequently in order for them to be credible. However, it is relatively common to verify small amounts of change using reissued receipts – for example, tips, postage, parking fees, etc. As reissued receipts are handled internally within a company, they do not count as an internal document because they have a special status as a third type of receipt.