It is simply a draft invoice which is sent to a buyer with the specific details that will later be included in the original invoice in order to inform the details and await their approval. The proforma invoice is not a common document but a statement of the seller's commitment to promoting specific goods or services to the buyer.
Unlike the best known, these invoices are not registered as accounts receivable by the seller nor are they registered as accounts payable, that is, they are not part of the accounting of a business as such. Basically it plays the role of a commercial offer or, if applicable, a draft invoice, being a buyer-seller agreement that is established as a commitment between both before making the final deal.
Another use that is given to this invoice at the commercial level is as a voucher, which specifies an operation that has not yet been completed, since the customer has not received the merchandise or paid for it. To detail the difference from an ordinary invoice, the proforma makes it clear what is in the same document in addition to having another numerical series or it is simply not numbered and cannot be replaced by an ordinary one. In the area of law, this invoice is used as a final sentence to enable the development of a legal process. For its part, in international trade, this invoice must be delivered to customs when the real one is not available at the time of shipment.
There are two established groups in the case of linguistics, which are:
- Pronominal proforma: it is the best known, it serves to supply a noun phrase or a determining one if applicable.
- Non-pronominal proforma: in our language such a concept does not exist, however in Italian, French or Catalan it is used. The function of this is to replace a prepositional phrase, depending on the language, it may have differences and particularities.
The data to be consigned in said invoice are the following:
- Date.
- Names.
- Seller-buyer business reasons.
- Precise denomination and quantity of merchandise.
- Unit price and quantity of merchandise.
- Form and conditions of payment.
- Type of packaging.
- Terms of delivery of the merchandise.
- No authorized signature is required.
- Said data can be consigned in the commercial invoice once the order has been confirmed by the buyer.
