When you enter into a business transaction with other individuals or business entities, you will have to certify that the goods or services that has been part of what has been agreed upon for the business transaction was delivered and given to you. You have to give some type of certification or verification that the other party was able to fulfill their end of the bargain, not only to support the agreement made between you and the other party, but also to help them account for the goods or services they have successfully delivered.
A document that is used to verify that specific goods, products, and services have been received by the recipient is called an acknowledgment receipt. Although an acknowledgment receipt is a simple document, the information included in the acknowledgment receipt is significant in informing both parties that they have already come to terms on what they have agreed on regarding their transaction. The most common information found in the receipt is the signature of the recipient that confirms the completed transaction. Simply put, an acknowledgment receipt is a binding document that validates and confirms completed transactions.
You may think that a receipt is nothing but a small piece of paper and that it holds no weight or significance, you are quite mistaken. Receipts help you verify that you have, in fact, received the goods or services included in a transaction, in a way it helps the seller account into their inventory a successful transaction and in your end, the receipt will certify that the goods or services were provided by the seller in case of defects and other issues.
An acknowledgment receipt is no different as it helps confirm and verify the fulfillment of an agreement for a certain transaction. It helps you acknowledge that a product or services were provided by the party you have had an agreement with. In this case, you must know what information are commonly reflected in an acknowledgment receipt.
As you may know, there are can be varying types for a single document; same goes for an acknowledgment receipt. Listed below are some of the common forms of an acknowledgment receipt:
This acknowledgment comes in the form of a letter. The letter still basically consists of the information you find in a pre-printed receipt. The only difference is that this form takes the structure and appearance of a letter. This form states who the transaction is between, for how much or what items are being transacted, a date, and a signature from each party involved in the transaction. Both parties should be given individual copies of this document for recording and safe keeping.
This form is being more and more prevalent nowadays. This form retains the same information found in a physical or letter form of an acknowledgment receipt. The difference is that it is sent through email. Since emails do not provide the opportunity to sign documents, each legal representatives for each parties should be cc’d on the email acknowledgment and responses agreeing to the receipt of the goods or money should be provided by both parties.
This pertains to the other person or a middleman used to deliver and fulfill the business transaction. The third party is an outside messenger that will help manage the overall transaction. Therefore, the third party will have to let both parties involved in the transaction affix their signatures upon delivery of the goods or money being transacted.
Although some companies or business entities follow or use a pre-printed format for an acknowledgment receipt, some still use a letter format for their acknowledgment receipt. If that is the case, how do you write an effective acknowledgment receipt in letter format? Here is a simple guide to help you with writing an acknowledgment receipt:
To help you convey a more professional image, you should use your company’s letterhead. And since this is still a business letter, you should follow the format of that of a professional or business letter. In that sense, you should put the company letterhead on the topmost part of the letter. This will help the other party easily identify the sender of the acknowledgment receipt. As mentioned, it can help convey a professional and more reliable image to help with the verifying process.
Under the company letterhead, the title for the document should be immediately stated. As mentioned before, one of the inclusions of an acknowledgment letter is the receipt title that serve as its label. The label “Acknowledgment Receipt” should be centered a few spaces below the company letterhead.
It is important that you indicate the date when the receipt is made to confirm that the goods or services were delivered on the agreed date and also to further prove the completion of the transaction. If you use your company letterhead, there might be no point in including a return address since it will be included in the letterhead. However, you will still have to indicate the inside address of the address of the receiver in the receipt. There is no strict format or structure as to how and where you should place your inside address since a business address has a couple variety of formats you can choose to follow.
The salutation or greeting of your receipt should maintain professionalism. If the person you are transacting is known or that you know the focal person you should address the receipt to, it is best to make it appear more personal than distant. For example, Dear John Doe. However, if you have no idea as to who you should address the receipt to, or that you don’t really know the focal person of the business, it is acceptable to address the receipt in a general or broad way like the most common To whom it may concern.
There is no point in discussing other matters in an acknowledgment receipt, the content should be direct and straightforward. The content should immediately address and state the name of the person acknowledging the transaction, the goods, products or services given or delivered along with its quantity, the date of acknowledgment. Basically, you should be able to explain the entire purpose of issuing an acknowledgment receipt in five sentences or less.
After your content, immediately indicate your signature line consisting your name as recipient and affix your signature. Remember that your signature is very important in documents like this since it verifies and makes whatever stated in the document as legitimate and true.
Remember that this guide is for individuals or companies that still have to make an acknowledgment receipt from scratch. There are readily available acknowledgment receipts that only needs to be filled out by the recipient.
In conclusion, an acknowledgment receipt is an important document that will help confirm and verify the fulfillment of a transaction. The receipt will act as evidence that both parties were able to comply to their ends of the agreement. Therefore, the the receipt should contain all the relevant information regarding the business transaction. Although there might be other ways or form to follow when making an acknowledgment receipt, remember to always be professional. The acknowledgment receipt should be written in a way that is presentable and professional. Remember that this document has to to with official business transactions your company might have. We hope that you have learned and understood what an acknowledgment receipt is and how to write it; the examples above are for your perusal.