Billing a foreign client from Ghana

Invoicing a client in London or Lagos from Accra raises three questions that a domestic invoice never does: which currency the document is in, what the client actually pays, and what you record when the rate has moved by the time it lands.

Pick the currency before the work, not the invoice

Whichever currency the invoice is written in, one of you carries the exchange risk. That is a commercial decision and it belongs in the agreement, not in a surprise at the bottom of the document. If the client insists on their own currency, price with enough room to absorb a move.

Show one currency, clearly

An invoice with two currencies in the totals invites the client to pay the smaller one. State the currency once, in the totals and in the payment terms, and write it unambiguously: GHS, GBP, USD rather than a bare symbol that could be several things.

If a cedi equivalent is genuinely useful to the reader, put it as a note under the total rather than as a second column, so there is no doubt about which figure is the amount payable.

Bank details that actually work

A domestic account number is not enough for an international transfer. Whatever your bank requires for payment from abroad belongs on the document, and it belongs somewhere the client will find it without asking. Every design here has a bank details block that takes as many lines as you need.

VAT on an export

How a supply to a customer outside Ghana is treated for VAT is a question with a real answer that depends on what you are supplying and to whom, and it is worth asking your accountant once rather than guessing repeatedly. Whatever the answer, the invoice should show the treatment rather than leaving it implied.

Record what was agreed, not what it became

The invoice keeps the figure you billed. What the money is worth when it arrives is a separate fact that belongs in your books, not a reason to alter a document you have already sent.