III:
Accounting and invoice

It is crucial that you establish a solid system for your accounting. Some artists hires an accountant to do the job, to avoid frustration and worry about the accounting. But we are all different; some artists actually enjoy to do their accounting, others hate it.

When you submit your tax papers, your income and expenses must be specified in different categories, such as sales, grants, equipment, studio-rent, and so on. If you implement these categories in your personal accounting as well, it will be easier to fill out the tax papers, and to monitor how much you’ve spent/earned in the different categories.

Fiken https://fiken.no is a program which has integrated invoicing, accounting and other services that can be useful for your sole proprietorship.

accounting

Many artists in Norway use electronic accounting, such as Fiken https://fiken.no. Be aware that from 2023 the Tax Office requires artists with AS (limited company) to do their accounting through a program like Fiken or Conta or through an accountant. The tax office does not require, but recommend all artists to use an accounting program. You can use an Excel sheet if you have less than 600 vouchers.

INVOICE

To send an invoice to a client/customer, you need an organization number (see chapter above – registration). You should send invoice electronic, as all invoices has to be numbered and tracable (e-faktura). SendRegning https://www.sendregning.no, ContaFaktura https://conta.no are some of the online invoicing sites that helps you create and send an electronic invoice. If you have a business account, your online bank might have the option to send electronic invoice directly from your account.

Fiken https://fiken.no is another site which has integrated invoicing, accounting and other services that can be useful for your sole proprietorship.

You can also ask fellow artists about their experiences with the different platforms, in order to help you find the platform that’ll work for you.