Verifying an invoice with its QR code

Every invoice validated in SynkriaOps carries a verification QR code. By scanning it with a phone, your customer, their bank or an auditor checks in a few seconds that the invoice was really issued by your company and has not been changed since. By the end of this page, you will know what this QR code contains, what it shows and how to explain it to your customers.

When the QR code appears

Document	Verification QR code
Validated invoice or credit note	Yes
Draft	No
Quote	No

The QR code is created when the invoice is validated. It is tied to the invoice’s digital fingerprint, computed from its content, which never changes afterwards. There is nothing to switch on.

What the person scanning sees

The QR code opens a public SynkriaOps page, with no account or password. It shows one of three results:

Result	What the page says
Authentic document	The invoice is intact. The page shows the Number, the issue date, the Total amount and the issuer, with Download the invoice (PDF)
Authentic invoice, but cancelled	The invoice was issued, then cancelled by the issuer. It must not be paid
Tampered or unknown document	The document could not be verified: modified copy, invalid link or unknown document

The person compares the amount and number shown with those on the paper in their hands. If they differ, the invoice has been altered.

A safeguard against fake invoices

A common fraud is to send a customer a copy of your invoice with a different bank account or a changed amount. Ask your customers to scan the QR code before paying: the page shows the original version, issued by your company.

The QR code on PDF exports

Statements printed from the export centre (Documents → Exports) also carry a QR code, at the bottom right of each page: general ledger, trial balances, financial statements, VAT returns, fixed asset register. It leads to the export’s proof of issue. A preview shown on screen, which does not go through the export centre, carries none.

What the QR code is not

The QR code proves that the invoice comes from SynkriaOps and has not been altered. It is not an electronic signature in the legal sense, and it does not replace the invoice’s mandatory information.

Further reading

• Create a customer invoice →: the information and validation that create the QR code.
• Create a credit note →: cancel an invoice; its QR code will show “cancelled”.
• Automatic payment reminders →: the invoice attached to reminders carries the same QR code.
• Export the FEC →: exports from the export centre.