Consultant invoice template
A free invoice template for consulting work — day rates and deliverables, on 30-day terms. Fill it in, download the PDF, send it to accounts payable. No account, no email, nothing saved.
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What's on the template
It opens with the two things consultants bill: days worked at a day rate, and a fixed-fee deliverable such as a report or presentation. Edit the engagement name and rates to yours.
Name the engagement the way your client names it internally. A finance team approving an invoice is matching it against a purchase order and a budget line, and "Consulting — Q3 operations review" matches; "Professional services" makes them go and ask someone. Every question adds a week.
- A day-rate line with the number of days worked.
- A fixed-fee line for a report, presentation, or other deliverable.
- A 30-day payment term in the notes — standard for corporate clients.
- Space for a purchase order reference, which most corporates require.
Invoicing corporate clients
Consulting invoices are usually paid by a finance function that has never met you, following a process. Working with that process is most of getting paid on time.
Get the purchase order number before you start. Many companies simply will not pay an invoice without one, and retrofitting a PO after the work is done can take weeks. Ask who invoices go to as well — your sponsor is rarely the payer, and an invoice sitting in your sponsor's inbox is an invoice not in the system.
Match the invoice to the PO exactly. If the PO says four days at a given rate, invoice four days at that rate. A mismatch, even a favourable one, kicks the invoice out of automated matching and into someone's manual queue.
And expect terms. 30 days is standard, 45 and 60 aren't unusual at large companies, and payment runs happen on fixed dates. An invoice submitted the day after a run waits for the next one — so know when they are.
- Get the PO number before the engagement starts.
- Ask who invoices go to — it's rarely your sponsor.
- Match the invoice to the PO exactly; mismatches drop into manual queues.
- Expect 30-day terms, sometimes 45 or 60 at large companies.
- Learn their payment run dates — missing one costs you a cycle.
Retainers and repeat engagements
Consulting revenue often settles into a rhythm — the same client, the same amount, every month. Typing that invoice manually twelve times a year is a strange way to spend your time.
In a free Platybooks workspace, a recurring invoice generates itself each cycle as a draft, so you review and send rather than rebuild. Clients and standard rates are saved. Numbering is sequential and handled server-side. The dashboard shows what's outstanding across every engagement, and overdue invoices get chased automatically at +3, +7 and +14 days without you writing the email that damages a client relationship you'd rather protect.
Proposals work the same way: send a quote, the client accepts it from a link, and it converts to an invoice with the line items carried across.
- Recurring invoices generate as drafts each cycle for retainer clients.
- Saved clients and rates — no retyping.
- Automatic overdue reminders, so you're not the one sending them.
- Quotes convert to invoices in a click when a proposal is accepted.
Frequently asked questions
What should a consultant put on an invoice?
Your business name and contact details, the client's billing entity and address, a unique invoice number, the date, the purchase order reference if there is one, and clear lines for days worked at your day rate plus any fixed-fee deliverables. Name the engagement the way the client names it internally, and include the total, the due date, and how to pay.
Should I invoice by the day or by the hour?
Day rates are the norm in consulting and generally read better to corporate buyers, who think in days of effort against a budget. Hourly can suit smaller advisory work or ad-hoc support. What matters most is that the unit on the invoice matches the unit in the engagement letter or purchase order — a mismatch stalls the invoice in approval.
Why do my consulting invoices take so long to get paid?
Usually process, not reluctance. The most common causes are a missing purchase order number, the invoice going to your sponsor rather than accounts payable, a mismatch between the invoice and the PO, or simply missing the payment run. Fixing those up front does more for your cash flow than chasing does afterwards.
Should I ask for payment up front?
For new clients or longer engagements, a deposit or a staged schedule is reasonable and common — for example a third on signature, a third at an interim milestone, the balance on delivery. Agree it in the proposal before the work starts. Larger corporates often won't deviate from standard terms, so it's worth asking early rather than at invoice time.
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