I think their business benefits are real: Small business owners are often brutal at sending out invoices. They procrastinate like everyone else. The sooner you send out an invoice, the sooner you will be paid. Also, tracking payments provides structure to follow up with your receivables. Often a reminder is all that is needed for payment. Customers just forget, but do want to pay. Clear invoices that are easy to understand will also have fewer questions and are less likely to be contested.