A proforma invoice is a preliminary bill issued before a sale is finalised: it states the goods, prices and terms in invoice format, but creates no debt and is never recorded as revenue. That accounting distinction is the entire point of the document.
A proforma invoice is a preliminary bill issued before a sale is finalised. It sets out goods, quantities, prices and terms in invoice format so the buyer can arrange payment, financing or customs clearance — but it creates no debt and is not booked as revenue by either party.
It is a good-faith commitment to the stated terms, not a demand for payment. It has no accounting effect: you do not record a receivable and the buyer records no payable. The commercial invoice issued after the sale does both.
A quotation offers a price to a buyer still deciding. A proforma is issued once they have decided and need an invoice-shaped document to release funds, open a letter of credit or clear customs. The content overlaps; the moment they are used does not.
Not as an invoice. It commonly triggers a deposit or an advance payment under the terms it states, but it is not itself a payable document — the final invoice is.
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