Payment references that get reconciled: a short style guide for invoices
How to structure invoice numbers and remittance information so incoming payments match automatically.
Reconciliation fails for boring reasons: a missing invoice number, a reference typed with spaces, two invoices paid in one transfer. A few conventions fix most of it.
Keep the reference machine-readable
One invoice number per line, no spaces or punctuation inside it, placed first in the remittance field. SEPA allows 140 characters; SWIFT fields are shorter and may be truncated.
Tell clients exactly what to write
Print the reference on the invoice in a box labelled "Payment reference". Clients copy what they see.
Use structured references where available
Several countries support structured creditor references (ISO 11649, starting with "RF"). They include a checksum and are validated by the payer's bank before the payment is sent.
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