Translation question: "bill" VS "invoice"
María Scappini <[email protected]> Sun, 24 May 2026 17:57:58 -0300
| Newsgroups | gmane.comp.gnu.medical.devel |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
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Hi!
I need some help distinguishing the usage differences between "bill" and
"invoice" on GNUmed...
My main concern is that, in Spanish, one term (bill=cuenta/prefactura)
is not a fiscally-binding document, and the other (invoice?=factura)
does have fiscal value and is much more regulated in a lot of aspects
(cannot be editable, numbering should be unique, etc). So you can see
how translating things wrong could cause user confusion :)
From what I understand, in English:
- bill (noun) = a detailed account of the items, their number, and
total amount.
- It can be edited after generation
- Does not hold legal value (?), thus not used to calculate taxes
- Does not need to have specific numbering or unique ID
- to bill (verb) = add items to the bill of a patient (self
explanatory)
- invoice = the confirmed, final account of items, their number,
and total cost of services/sales.
- Cannot (or should not) be edited after generation
- Does hold legal, accounting, value, used to calculate taxes
- Is specifically numbered and identified, cannot be generated
twice with the same number.
Do these definitions match with the ones intended for GNUmed's UI?
Or is usage of these terms not as rigid, used interchangeably on purpose?
Here below some examples of 'bill' and 'invoice' usage on the Billing
plugin:
Trying the 'Invoice selected items' button, two things happen
simultaneously:
- pop-up dialog appears, title "GMd: Editing bill | patient
| [user]".
- the selected items disappear from the charge list in the
billing plugin's UI
The pop-up dialog's contents show: invoice ID, close date,
address, if VAT is applicable, etc. Clicking 'OK', GNUmed tries
to generate an invoice pdf, and the dialog closes.
My translation concern: The dialog title mentions 'bill',
however the UI button and content mention 'invoice'.
Now back on the Billing plugin's tab, trying the 'Bills' button:
Another pop-up dialog appears, title 'GMd: Showing bills. |
patient | [user]'.
However, this dialog is listing *invoices* by close date and ID,
also lets one 'unbill' items part of an invoice, delete whole
invoices (and lets you 'unbill' their items if you'd like), and
access PDF files for said invoices and generate the PDFs if they
are not found.
My translation concern here: the button in the main plugin tab
mentions 'bills', however the dialog's content lists 'invoices'
and lets you manage them instead. (In latin america, altering
invoices is illegal, even.)
Regards,
María
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<p>Hi!</p>
<p>I need some help distinguishing the usage differences between
"bill" and "invoice" on GNUmed...</p>
<p>My main concern is that, in Spanish, one term
(bill=cuenta/prefactura) is not a fiscally-binding document, and
the other (invoice?=factura) does have fiscal value and is much
more regulated in a lot of aspects (cannot be editable, numbering
should be unique, etc). So you can see how translating things
wrong could cause user confusion :)</p>
<p>From what I understand, in English:</p>
<blockquote>- bill (noun) = a detailed account of the items, their
number, and total amount.<br>
<blockquote>- It can be edited after generation<br>
- Does not hold legal value (?), thus not used to calculate
taxes<br>
- Does not need to have specific numbering or unique ID<br>
</blockquote>
- to bill (verb) = add items to the bill of a patient (self
explanatory)<br>
<br>
- invoice = the confirmed, final account of items, their number,
and total cost of services/sales.<br>
<blockquote>- Cannot (or should not) be edited after generation<br>
- Does hold legal, accounting, value, used to calculate taxes<br>
- Is specifically numbered and identified, cannot be generated
twice with the same number.<br>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<p>Do these definitions match with the ones intended for GNUmed's
UI?<br>
Or is usage of these terms not as rigid, used interchangeably on
purpose?</p>
<p>Here below some examples of 'bill' and 'invoice' usage on the
Billing plugin:</p>
<blockquote>Trying the 'Invoice selected items' button, two things
happen simultaneously:<br>
<blockquote> - pop-up dialog appears, title "GMd: Editing bill
| patient | [user]".<br>
- the selected items disappear from the charge list in the
billing plugin's UI
<p>The pop-up dialog's contents show: invoice ID, close date,
address, if VAT is applicable, etc. Clicking 'OK', GNUmed
tries to generate an invoice pdf, and the dialog closes.</p>
My translation concern: The dialog title mentions 'bill',
however the UI button and content mention 'invoice'.<br>
</blockquote>
<p>Now back on the Billing plugin's tab, trying the 'Bills'
button: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Another pop-up dialog appears, title 'GMd: Showing bills. |
patient | [user]'.</p>
<p>However, this dialog is listing *invoices* by close date and
ID, also lets one 'unbill' items part of an invoice, delete
whole invoices (and lets you 'unbill' their items if you'd
like), and access PDF files for said invoices and generate the
PDFs if they are not found.</p>
<p>My translation concern here: the button in the main plugin
tab mentions 'bills', however the dialog's content lists
'invoices' and lets you manage them instead. (In latin
america, altering invoices is illegal, even.)</p>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
Regards,<br>
María
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