Invoicing procedure for The Sourdough Club & The Sourdough School
The accounts function is a procedure. Vanessa does NOT pay invoices or even se them until they have been processed by either Alastair for The Sourdough Club OR Lorna for The Sourdough School.
Two businesses
The Sourdough Club and The Sourdough School are essentially two businesses which are intertwined. They were formed at the same time and the grew at the same time. It is probably best to think of them in many ways like John Lewis and Waitrose.
They are sister companies and use many of the same resources and for that reason it can be very confusing. But because both businesses have different shareholdings and different investments and structures, we have two different accounts departments. It is important to understand that this is the case because if not your invoice may not be paid on time and we like to keep things running smoothly.
Invoicing
You need to send an invoice to the correct business accounts department as follows:
Invoices for The Sourdough School Limited go to [email protected]
Invoices for The Sourdough Club go to [email protected]
Invoice details
On any invoice there are legal requirements with invoices that need to be adhered to. You need your name, your address, your email, your phone number (phone number not a legal requirement but is useful), what the work was for, perhaps you have your own invoice number, the date of the invoice (this must be the same month as the month you are invoicing for) and from when the work was started until when it was done, and a description of the kind of work that you were doing for that invoice. Also include the number of hours that you have done or the agreed fee for that invoice, with the rate and the amount for each job or each week, whatever your contract splits into or the article or feature which you have written. The balance due must be added up at the bottom in total.
You may also include any expenses; however we must have a copy of the receipt attached to the invoice with an expenses form. The expenses form can be downloaded from here
We also need your full name as it appears on your bank details, your account number in full (usually an 8-digit number) along with your sort code.
You need to provide details at the top of the invoice of which company the invoice is to, i.e. The Sourdough School or The Sourdough Club. If you are unsure who you need to be invoicing, please contact Vanessa by WhatsApp and ask her who the work was being done for.
Invoices that are incorrectly filed without the correct information will quite simply not be paid because we are just not allowed to pay them, they have to be correct because it is the law.
Payment of invoices
The Sourdough Club invoices are paid by the second Friday of the month, occasionally this might mean it falls as little as the 8th of the month but sometimes it is the 14th of the month. But if you remember that it is paid by the second Friday of the month this gives our Financial Director, Alastair Kimbell on [email protected] enough time to process the payments, check them all and make sure that they are paid in a timely fashion.
The Sourdough School invoices are paid at the end of the month. The Sourdough School accounts department is run by Vanessa’s bookkeeper and when invoices are received by [email protected] they are printed and checked off on the last Friday of the month, give or take a few days. Payments will be made on or after the last Friday of the month. Please note if Vanessa is running a course or is away payment can sometimes unfortunately be delayed by a couple of days, but we will let you know if that is going to happen and normally we get these done on time.
EXAMPLE
Invoice sent: 27 September (last Friday of September)
• Included in: September processing cycle
• Paid: End of October (last Friday of October or just after)
If the invoice is submitted on or just before the last Friday of the month
? Payment is made at the end of the following month
? This is typically around 30 days
SECOND EXAMPLE
Invoice sent: 30 September (after the deadline)
• Included in: September processing cycle
• Paid: End of October
If the invoice is submitted just after the last Friday
? It misses that cycle and rolls forward
? Payment is then at the end of the month after next
? This becomes closer to 45–60 days
So in operational terms:
• Best case (meets deadline): ~30 days
• Worst case (misses deadline): ~60 days
This is not unusual — it is a standard monthly batch accounts structure — and we have described this clearly so expectations are aligned.
In simple terms:
Invoices are grouped monthly and paid the following month.
Occasionally, Dr Vanessa
Kimbell may, at her sole discretion, agree to make an earlier payment; however, any such exception is made on a goodwill basis and does not amend, waive, or override these payment terms or establish any precedent for future payments.
PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR INVOICES for both School and Club on or before the last Friday of each month.
PLEASE ENSURE the date of the invoice matches the month of the work you are invoicing for. So if you are invoicing for work completed in August please make sure your invoice is dated on or before the last Friday of August
PLEASE NOTE: If you invoice is received after the last Friday of the month it is likely that it will miss the payment run and have to be moved to the following months payments.
Your 14 point Invoice Checklist
- Separate Invoices addressed to the right business, either The Sourdough Club or The Sourdough School
- Your name
- Your address
- Your email
- Your phone number in case Alastair to Lorna needs to query something
- Your invoice number, if applicable
- Invoice date
- Describe what the work was ( especially if it was for several projects as we have different cost centres)
- Date the work started
- Date the work finished
- Make sure you have put in the number of hours for each week OR agreed fee/s for the specific task/s
- Expenses form and receipts need including (if relevant.)
- Makes sure that you have added up the total cost at the bottom of your invoice
- Bank details:
- Bank account name
- Account number
- Sort code
If you have agreed then please include a timesheet along with your invoice, either using our PDF or in a format of your own, eg. As an excel spreadsheet for example.
If you do not send your invoice in correctly then it will not make the list, and it won’t get paid, until it is correct.
If you carry out work for The Sourdough School or The Sourdough Club, you are deemed to have read, understood, and accepted these terms and conditions in full.
Thank you.
