---
title: "About pro forma invoices"
description: "Visma Net provides draft (pro forma) invoice capabilities for project invoicing."
lang: en
languages:
  en: https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/manage-projects/about-pro-forma-invoices/index.md
lastmod: 2026-02-19
---

> Documentation index: https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/manage-projects/llms.txt


# About pro forma invoices

Last modified February 19, 2026

> Visma Net provides draft (pro forma) invoice capabilities for project invoicing.


Visma Net provides draft (pro forma) invoice capabilities for project invoicing.
A pro forma invoice,
which you can view in the [Pro forma invoices (PM307000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/project-accounting-windows/pro-forma-invoices-pm307000/index.md) window, is isolated from
the Customer ledger workspace.
You can review and modify the invoiceable transactions and amounts
of the pro forma invoice before you prepare the Customer ledger invoice that is based on this
pro forma invoice. A pro forma invoice can be printed and sent to a customer as many times as is
necessary until an agreement is reached.

Once all the necessary changes have been applied to the pro forma invoice, it can be approved
and released.
When you release the pro forma invoice, the system creates a sales
invoice with all the information copied from the pro forma invoice.
With this process, you
minimise corrections in the Customer ledger workspace.

Pro forma invoices provide the following capabilities:

+ On the **Revenue budget** tab of the [Projects (PM301000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/project-accounting-windows/projects-pm301000/index.md) window, you can define invoicing limit amounts for revenue budget lines of the project if the **Use time and material revenue budget limits** check box is selected on the **Summary** tab of this window. The system applies these limit amounts to the pro forma invoices of the project. If an invoice exceeds a limit, in the [Pro forma invoices (PM307000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/project-accounting-windows/pro-forma-invoices-pm307000/index.md) window, the user receives a warning or an error message, depending on the **Validate time and material revenue budget limits** setting in the [Project accounting preferences (PM101000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/project-accounting-windows/project-accounting-preferences-pm101000/index.md) window.
+ You can use different formats of printable pro forma invoices, depending on the particular project. On the **Mailing settings** tab of the [Projects (PM301000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/project-accounting-windows/projects-pm301000/index.md) window, you can specify a custom format and an email notification template that should be used for the printing and emailing of the pro forma invoices prepared for that project.

  Also, in
  the **Invoice-to contact** and **Invoice-to address** sections
  of the **Summary** tab of the [Projects (PM301000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/project-accounting-windows/projects-pm301000/index.md) window, you can
  specify the contact information of the customer to whom the pro forma invoices should be sent.

  This information is copied to each pro forma invoice created for the project and can be
  modified at the invoice level.

## Creating a pro forma invoice

A pro forma invoice can be created only through the project invoicing process (and assigned a
reference number only automatically).
You cannot manually enter new pro forma invoices in the [Pro forma invoices (PM307000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/project-accounting-windows/pro-forma-invoices-pm307000/index.md) window.
By default, the system creates a pro forma
invoice when you invoice a project because the **Create pro forma on invoicing**
check box is initially selected on the **Summary** tab of the [Projects (PM301000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/project-accounting-windows/projects-pm301000/index.md) window.
To disable the draft invoice workflow for a
project, you can clear this check box or to prevent the system from creating a pro forma
invoice when you invoice the project.

For a pro forma invoice created for a project, the system records to the following tabs of the [Pro forma invoices (PM307000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/project-accounting-windows/pro-forma-invoices-pm307000/index.md) window the lines to be invoiced:

+ **Progress invoicing**: The system creates these lines by using the **Progress invoicing** steps of invoicing rules specified in the [Invoicing rules (PM207000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/project-accounting-windows/invoicing-rules-pm207000/index.md) window. The lines originate from the revenue budget of the project.
+ **Time and material** The system creates these lines by using the **Time and material** steps of invoicing rules; the lines originate from the project transactions.

  The **Time and material** steps of invoicing rules support the aggregation of
  project transactions by date, employee, supplier, and stock item.
  On the **Time and material** tab of the [Pro forma invoices (PM307000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/project-accounting-windows/pro-forma-invoices-pm307000/index.md) window, you can select a line
  and then click **View transactions details** in the table toolbar to drill
  down to the list of project transactions based on which the **Invoiced quantity** and **Invoiced amount** of the line have been
  calculated by the formula of the invoicing rule.

Fore more information about the invoicing process, see: [About project invoicing](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/manage-allocations-and-invoicing-rules/about-project-invoicing/index.md)

## Modifying a pro forma invoice

In the [Pro forma invoices (PM307000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/project-accounting-windows/pro-forma-invoices-pm307000/index.md) window, you can edit a pro forma invoice when it is **On hold**, including the following:

+ You can delete a line of the pro forma invoice to invoice it later in the full amount.
+ You can modify the pro forma invoice to invoice any lines on the **Progress invoicing** and **Time and material** tabs in a greater or smaller amount by changing the **Amount to invoice** as desired. The **Amount to invoice** is added to the customer ledger invoice when the pro forma invoice is released.

  On the **Time and material** tab, if a
  manually edited **Amount to Invoice** is less than the **Invoiced amount**, you can make a decision about the difference between the calculated
  **Invoiced amount** and the corrected **Amount to invoice** by selecting the needed option in the **Status**
  column of the invoice line.
  The difference can be postponed until the next invoice (**Hold remainder**) or written off by this invoice (**Write off remainder**).
  The whole amount
  of the pro forma invoice line can also be written off (**Write off**); the amount will no
  longer show up in future invoices.

  > [!NOTE]
  > For a postponed amount to be added to a pro forma invoice, the sales invoice that contains the line from which this postponed amount originates must be released.
+ On the **Time and material** tab, you can select a line and then click **View transactions details** in the table toolbar to drill down to the list of project transactions for which the **Invoiced quantity** and **Invoiced amount** have been calculated by the formula of the invoicing rule. These values are summed to obtain the **Invoiced quantity** and **Invoiced amount**, respectively, of the pro forma invoice line. You can remove particular transactions from this list, and they will appear in the next invoice.
+ You can rearrange lines within the invoice by dragging them to the appropriate positions. If invoicing limit amounts are defined for the project in the [Projects (PM301000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/project-accounting-windows/projects-pm301000/index.md) window, the system applies these limit amounts to the pro forma invoice lines as a running total, starting from the first line on the **Time and material** tab of the [Pro forma invoices (PM307000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/project-accounting-windows/pro-forma-invoices-pm307000/index.md) window. For each line of the invoice, the system subtracts the **Amount to invoice** from the **Max available amount** and uses the reduced amount as the available limit for the next line. Invoice lines for which the **Over limit amount** becomes non-zero exceed the limit. By rearranging the lines, you can make the system apply the limit amounts to the needed lines of the invoice.
+ You can add to a pro forma invoice an adjustment line that does not originate from the revenue budget or project transactions. Such lines are also included in the limit application and can decrease or increase the limit total.

## Releasing a pro forma invoice

The release of a pro forma invoice does not generate project transactions or general ledger
transactions directly.
When you release the pro forma invoice, the system creates a
corresponding sales invoice with all information copied from the pro forma
invoice.
You can release the pro forma invoices one by one in the [Pro forma invoices (PM307000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/project-accounting-windows/pro-forma-invoices-pm307000/index.md) window, or you can mass-process pro forma invoices to release them and produce
sales invoices in the [Process pro forma invoices (PM506000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/project-accounting-windows/process-pro-forma-invoices-pm506000/index.md) window.

The pro forma invoices of a project can be released according to the following rules:

+ The pro forma invoices can be released only one by one, starting from the earliest one, on the **Invoices** tab of the [Projects (PM301000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/project-accounting-windows/projects-pm301000/index.md) window. The only exception is when multiple pro forma invoices segregated by invoice group have been generated during a single iteration of the invoicing process; in this case, the pro forma invoices can be released in any order.
+ A pro forma invoice can be released only after the sales invoice of the preceding pro forma invoice has been released.

If the **Detail total** of a pro forma invoice is negative in the [Pro forma invoices (PM307000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/project-accounting-windows/pro-forma-invoices-pm307000/index.md) window (for example, if you have added a negative adjustment line in an amount greater than the total amount of invoiceable lines), the system creates a sales credit note when the pro forma invoice is released.

As a result of the release of the sales invoice, the general ledger transactions are recorded, and the revenue budget of the corresponding project is changed as follows on **Revenue budget** tab of the [Projects (PM301000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/project-accounting-windows/projects-pm301000/index.md) window:

+ The **Actual quantity** of the corresponding revenue budget line is increased by the line quantity of the released sales invoice if **Task and item** is the **Revenue budget level** of the project; otherwise, the **Actual quantity** is zero.
+ The **Actual amount** of the corresponding revenue budget line is increased by the line amount of the released sales invoice.
+ The **Draft invoices amount** of the corresponding revenue budget line is decreased by the line amount of the released sales invoice.

The document details of an unreleased customer ledger document that originates from a pro
forma invoice are displayed in read-only mode in the [Sales invoices (AR301000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/customer-ledger-windows/sales-invoices-ar301000/index.md) window.
To make a correction to the customer ledger document, you need to delete
this document and start over from the pro forma invoice.

In the
[Sales invoices (AR301000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/customer-ledger-windows/sales-invoices-ar301000/index.md) window, you can also navigate directly to the [Pro forma invoices (PM307000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/project-accounting-windows/pro-forma-invoices-pm307000/index.md) window by using the **View pro forma** menu command and view the pro
forma invoice from which the current customer ledger document originates.
This menu command
becomes available on the **Inquiries** menu if the invoice being viewed has
originated from a pro forma invoice.

<h2>Related pages</h2><h3>Concepts</h3>
<ul><li><a href="/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/manage-allocations-and-invoicing-rules/about-project-invoicing/index.md">About project invoicing</a></li><li><a href="/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/manage-projects/about-project-specific-format-of-invoices/index.md">About project-specific format of invoices</a></li>
</ul><h3>Windows</h3>
<ul><li><a href="/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/project-accounting-windows/pro-forma-invoices-pm307000/index.md">Pro forma invoices (PM307000)</a></li><li><a href="/visma-net-erp/help/project-accounting/project-accounting-windows/process-pro-forma-invoices-pm506000/index.md">Process pro forma invoices (PM506000)</a></li>
</ul>


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