Invoices, Business Letters, and Quotations

Business documents come in various formats. This is particularly the case given that most businesses are usually engaged in many different kinds of operations and undertakings, which have unique documentation needs. In basic terms, business documents are used for record keeping, communication, analysis, and verification purposes. The three business documents which will be highlighted in this text are business letters, invoices, and quotations. These documents come in handy in the communication, verification, and analysis of various business undertakings.

Business Letters

Business letters differ significantly from other letters written in non-business scenarios. In addition to being formal, they also tend to be brief and concise. Business letters could be drafted in diverse scenarios and for a wide range of reasons. A basic business letter has several unique parts or sections. These, according to the Purdue University Online Writing Lab, include the sender's address, the date, the inside address, the salutation, the body (of the letter), closing, enclosures, and the sender's/typist's initials (Perdue OWL, 2014).

Business letters could also be completed in various formats. These include the block format, the modified block format, and the semi-block format (Perdue OWL, 2014). The other key aspects of a business letter worth noting include the punctuation, font, as well as language and tone used. It goes without saying that the sender should in this case use an 'official' tone. Light hearted remarks or the so called 'off-the-cuff' remarks ought to be avoided. The generally accepted font, as Perdue OWL (2014) points out, "is Times New Roman, size 12…"

Invoices

An invoice, in the words of Means (2010, p. 213), "is a bill for items or services purchased from a company." Like any other business document, an invoice is also prepared by making use of a standard form. Some of the most common items captured in an invoice are; the date, the invoice number, the names of the seller and the buyer as well as their addresses, and some kind of tabular data capturing not only the item/product number but also the quantity sold, the description of the items/products, the unit price per item/product, and the total cost of the same.

Quotations