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This is critical for cross referencing bills stored in paper format and would save having to manually enter it in the Reference Field.

Has there been any further development with implementing this?

I was rather hoping that Xero would give me the reference number rather than the other way around. This system means that I need to keep constant track of my last internal reference number. Not an easy task when I travel so much with my business. It would be so much easier to transcribe the number from Xero onto my receipt and file my records when I get back to my home base.

Surprised to find this facility missing. Others, eg Quicken, had it as standard 20 years ago!
My business generates 10x more input invoices ie Bills than it does output invoices - so this is very important to me. The lack of automatic input Bill numbering probably increases the time to enter the transaction by ~25% and is very burdensome.
Given that the code to do this is already written and implemented for Xero outputs entry, providing this feature should not involve a lot of time, effort or expense!

please

Unbelievable that this isn't standard and is STILL not available - How on earth do users retrieve an invoice on audit or VAT inspection? A retrieval system for providing details in a timely manner for HMRC is not a choice.

Have a system generated 'Source document' number for each transaction posted in Xero at each company level.
This will help to track any transactions easily since there is no sequence serial number system in Xero for Bills and bank transactions postings.
Also, will help to communicate to client or team in one single language and everyone can easily identify the transaction if this is also made available in 'Search' function.
In addition to this, it is also better to have separate sequence number system for bills, bank / cash transactions to check the completeness of those transactions posted in order.

It is critical that we have sequential numbering for purchase invoices too

It is crucial for users to have ability to automatically create a sequential numbering for bills too as in invoices section.

Critical feature as we want to track bills too

Very important feature, please add

The ability to apply a unique Internal Reference No [IRN] to supplier invoices allows for methodical, efficient and easily retrievable document storage. The option to have the IRN automatically OR manually generated would be preferred. For example, an IRN may be of the format YYMM/NNN - this numbering allows for filing of supplier invoices in chronological (monthly) order even when supplier invoices are received late. The provision of a field to record an IRN would be of great benefit and support good record keeping and a robust audit trail