Short answer: The two reports serve different purposes and treat credits differently, so their totals won’t always match.
What each report shows
Revenue report (period-based)
Purpose: Accounting view of activity that happened in the selected period.
Includes:
Invoices issued in the period.
Credit notes issued in the period — even if they credit invoices from earlier periods.
Key point: What matters is when the crediting occurs.
Invoice report (invoice-based)
Purpose: Originally an Accounts Receivable view (what customers owe); now a general listing of invoices, regardless of payment status.
Includes:
The invoices you’ve filtered to show (e.g., created from date and payment status).
Net amounts on those invoices, after any credits on the invoice, provided the credit was issued in the past relative to the Statement date (but not necessarily in the period between created date and statement date).
Key point: The total reflects everything that had happened to the shown invoices at the statement date, even if the credit happened before the selected period.
Side-by-side comparison
Aspect | Revenue report | Invoice report |
Primary filter | Event date (issue/credit date within the period) | Invoice selection (the invoices you choose to show) |
Credits counted | Credits issued in the period (even for older invoices) | Credits on the shown invoices (even if issued before the period) |
Best for | Period accounting / month-end | AR overview / complete invoice listing |
Examples
Credit lands this month for last month’s invoice
Invoice A issued Dec 20: 1,000
Credit note issued Jan 5: −200
January Revenue report: shows −200 (credit occurred in Jan)
January Invoice report (showing Jan invoices): does not include Invoice A, so the −200 is not in this total
→ Totals differ
Credit lands next month for this month’s invoice
Invoice B issued Jan 10: 500
Credit note issued Feb 1: −100
January Revenue report: shows 500 (no Jan credit on B)
January Invoice report (showing Jan invoices): also shows 500, since the credit has not yet occured on the asked Statement date.
→ Totals are the same (in the other direction)
Rule of thumb
Revenue report = What happened during the period.
Invoice report = What’s the current net on the invoices you’re looking at.
If you want the two totals to be closer, ensure there are no cross-period credits—or compare over longer windows where such timing differences net out.