⇢ Go to Companies - Companies and click on the green plus sign.
Identification data
VAT number: if the company is located in a European member state, you can enter the VAT number here. By clicking on the cloud icon, Douano will automatically fill in the correct name and address details. For countries outside the EU, enter the VAT number under the Company Number.
⚠️ Douano only accepts VAT numbers from European member states for processing orders and invoices for Intra-Community (IC) shipments. If Douano indicates that the VAT number is invalid, unknown, or incomplete, it may be due to one of the following reasons:
The customer has a VAT number but is not authorized for cross-border transactions.
The VAT number is not yet registered in the official European VAT database. In this case, you can still enter the VAT number and manually complete the address details.
Company number (Belgium): if known, enter the supplier's company number.
Chamber of commerce (KvK) number (Netherlands): if known, enter the customer's KvK number. By clicking on the cloud icon, Douano will automatically fill in the correct name and address details.
Identification number: also known as the supplier number. This field can contain both numbers and letters. If left blank, Douano will automatically assign an identification number.
💡 The customer's VAT number and company/KvK number are displayed in the PDF version of the sales invoice.
General data
If the details were not loaded via the VAT or KvK number, you can enter them manually here.
Legal name: The name under which the customer is legally registered. This name appears on the invoice.
Commercial name: The name by which the customer is better known. This is often the brand name of a business, such as a restaurant or the name used for advertising.
Customer: Check this box to create a new customer for this company. Customers can be selected in sales orders and invoices.
☝️ Also, check the Supplier box if the company is both a customer and a supplier.
Status: the current status of a company. Only companies with an active status can be selected in orders. Conversely, you can set a company to inactive so that it can no longer be selected when creating orders and/or invoices. More information about company statuses can be found in this 👉 guide.
Company categories: the categories a company belongs to. A company can be assigned to more than one category. More information about company categories can be found in this 👉 guide.
Invoice address
💡 The billing address is the registered office address of the customer. This is also the address that will appear on the invoice.
If you have entered the VAT number and/or company/KvK number above, the address details have been filled in automatically.
Address line 1: this field typically contains the street name and house number. Since this is a free-text field, you can format it according to the conventions of a specific country. For example, in the United States, the house number is usually listed first, followed by a comma and the street name.
Address line 2: you can use this field to specify additional details, such as a particular floor in an office building or any other relevant address information.
Attn.: if the invoice should always be addressed to a specific person or department, you can enter it here. The text "Attn." will automatically be added to the billing address.
Postal code: this field can contain both numbers and letters. For addresses in the Netherlands, be sure to include the two letters that are typically part of the postal code.
City: enter the city or town name in this field.
Province/State: this field is optional and is mainly used for companies in countries like the United States, where the state is a standard part of the address.
Country: select the country. Douano takes the country into account when generating invoices (to determine whether VAT should be applied) and for receiving goods under excise duty suspension.
💡 By default, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and Germany are included in Douano. To add a new country, you can follow this 👉 guide.
Logistics data
Default transport method: this field allows you to set the general default transport method per customer. In a sales order, this transport method will be selected automatically, but you can still override it. If the transport method has not yet been created, follow this 👉 guide.
Default transport carrier: this field allows you to set the general default transport carrier per customer. In Logistics, this carrier will automatically be selected when assigning products to transport carriers. You can still override this in the order. If the transport carrier has not yet been created, follow this 👉 guide.
Reserve from the same batch: you can configure per company whether Douano's automatic picking suggestion should prioritize items from the same lot/batch number as much as possible. This makes it easier to fulfill (larger) orders for these customers from a single lot/batch.
Excise data
Excise number: if the company has an excise number, you can enter it here. This excise number will be automatically included in an eAD declaration when a shipment under excise suspension is made for this company.
Communication data
Language: all PDF documents generated by Douano for a company will be created in the selected language. Standard email messages will also be displayed in the chosen language.
General email addresses: enter the company's general email address in this field. You can add multiple addresses by separating them with a comma.
General phone number: enter the company's general phone number in this field.
Document delivery type: you can choose to send documents via email from Douano or by postal mail. In the latter case, select 'None' and you can indicate each time that a document was sent by post.
💡 If you choose the 'Email' option, the 'General email address' field becomes mandatory.
Default email addresses
💡 Default email addresses can be used to specify a different email address for each document type. If no default email address is available for a specific document type, the General email addresses will be used instead.
Document type: select the type of document for which you want to use a different email address, such as Invoice.
Email addresses: enter one or more email addresses where documents of the selected type should be sent. You can add multiple addresses by separating them with a comma (,).
Commercial data
Price class: select the price class to which this customer belongs.
💡 In Douano, customers are grouped based on the pricing applicable to their customer type. These groups are called Price classes.
Each customer is assigned to a specific price class. Examples include Hospitality, Wholesale, Export, Retail, etc.
For each price class, you define the payment term and payment term type. When selecting a price category for a customer, these details are automatically applied but can still be adjusted per customer.
In the Sales module, you can create a price list for each price class and set product prices accordingly.
👉 Follow this guide if you have not yet created any price classes.
👉 Follow this guide if you want to create a price list for a price class.
Default commercial discount: the standard discount applied to the total taxable amount of an invoice. This discount can still be adjusted per order or invoice and remains valid even if the invoice is paid late.
Default financial discount: the standard discount applied to the total taxable amount of an invoice. This discount can also be adjusted per order or invoice but is only valid for the number of days specified in the Term financial discount field.
Term financial discount: the number of days during which a financial discount is valid. This will also be clearly stated on the invoice.
Balance Limit: The amount entered here will trigger a warning when creating a new order if the customer has an outstanding balance equal to or exceeding this limit. However, you will still be able to confirm the order.
Bank accounts
Name: the name of the bank for this bank account.
IBAN: the IBAN number of this bank account. Douano will validate whether this is a correct bank account.
Standard document notes
Document type: select the type of document for which you want to use a default comment, such as order.
Comment: the comment entered here will be automatically added to the selected document type for this company. This default comment can still be overridden when creating a sales order.
Internal reminders and warnings
💡 At the company level, you can set warnings and reminders. These will automatically be displayed for a few seconds in the selected screens. You can also manually retrieve the warning/reminder at any time by clicking on the blue triangle next to the company.
Screen: select the screen where you want the warning/reminder for this company to appear.
Comment: enter the message that should be displayed.
Start date: enter a start date if the warning/reminder should only appear from a specific day onward.
End date: enter an end date if the warning/reminder should be displayed until and including a specific day.