billing reports and templates overview · this report shows you how payments against bills have...

Billing Reports and Templates Overview

Table of Contents

Introduction

Time and Fee Entries Report

Work in Progress (WIP) Report

Client Transactions Report

Bill Journal Report

Aged Receivables Report

Fee Allocation Report

Write-off Report

Client Profitability Report

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As a decision maker in your firm, you want access to accurate, up-to-date information that can assist you to drive the business forward.

Actionstep’s new Enhanced Billing Mode includes powerful reporting tools that provide you with all the information you need about your billing, practice areas, staff, time recording, and clients.

These reports are designed to collate both day-to-day details about yourpractice, as well as strategic information, and help you manage and growyour practice more efficiently.

You can run reports using different criteria and parameters that allow you to identify your most profitable areas, and just as importantly, determine any areas of concern.

Most reports can be summarized by practice area, responsible lawyer, and client for additional analysis.

In this document, we’ll look at these reports, what they include, and howthey can be used.

Introduction

Billing Reports and Templates Overview | 4


This report gives you complete details and summaries of all time entries and fees that your firm records for any period.

Time entries, fixed fee entries, fee adjustments created at time of billing, as well as any other fee adjustments.

• Date range• Timekeeper• Responsible lawyer• Matter or client• Practice area

• Type of fee (hourly, fixed fee, adjustment, and discount)• Billed status• Bill behavior (bill, no charge, or hide)• Matter billing type (hourly and fixed fee)

Summary:

Included in the report:

Run the report by:

• Timekeeper: run a daily, weekly or monthly list of their time worked.

• Billing Clerk: Use to run a report of unbilled time before billing at month end.

• Firm Admin: Use to run comparables for timekeepers or practice areas for any given period. You can also use this report to account for all fee adjustments and discounts. For any firm that tracks time, but bills fixed fees, you can run this report to look at the variance and value of the time worked vs. what you bill out. This is particularly useful when pricing your fixed fee legal services.

Using this report:



View individual fee entries including all the details and daily summaries.

This report can also show summaries by different categories, and provides totals for billed and unbilled, and both hours and fees. Summaries can be included for timekeeper, responsible lawyer, and daily total. The report can be grouped by date, client, matter, timekeeper, responsible lawyer, or entry type.

A summary analysis of worked vs. billed is also included to illustrate variances between hours worked and billed for both hourly and fixed fees.


Work in Progress (WIP) Report

This report gives you an aging summary of unbilled fees and expenses by matter for any given period.

Summary:

The report shows how much is unbilled for fees and expenses for different aging categories so you know who you should bill. Unbilled time shows both the hours and fee value of the unbilled work plus a total.


• Date range• Timekeeper• Responsible lawyer• Matter or client• Practice area • Billed status of fee (billed or not)• Bill type

• Matter summary• Matter type summary• Client summary• Firm summary• Responsible lawyer• Bill type

Run the report by: Layout options:

This report should be used prior to monthly billing to see how much your firm has in unbilled fees and expenses.

The report can also be used to identify only matters with retainer balances so you can bill them and create instant revenue.

Using this report:

WIP report for a single matter breaking out fees and expenses.

WIP summary by practice area.



Run this report to get complete details of all billing and trust accounting activity on any matter / client.

Summary:

Time entries, fixed fee entries, fee adjustments, discounts, trust activity, expense entries, invoices, receipts, and write offs.


• Matter or client• Practice area • Type of transaction• Bill type

Run the report by:

Many people run this report when they archive a matter and want a complete chronological listing of all billing activity for the matter.

Using this report:



DATE ENTRY TIME DETAILS AMOUNT BILL INV # TRUST AMOUNT ACCOUNT

Jan 12, 2017

Jun 29, 2017

Jul 04, 2017

Jul 05, 2017

Jul 07, 2017

Jul 07, 2017

Jul 08, 2017

Jul 08, 2017

Jul 10, 2017

Jul 10, 2017

Jul 13, 2017

Jul 31, 2017

Aug 01, 2017

Aug 01, 2017

Aug 10, 2017

Aug 14, 2017

Aug 14, 2017

Aug 15, 2017

Aug 15, 2017

Aug 15, 2017

Aug 31, 2017

Sep 06, 2017

Sep 06, 2017

Time

Receipt Retainer

Time - Fixed Fee

Time - Fixed Fee

Time

Invoice

Retainer application

Receipt Cash

Expense

Time - Hide

Time

Invoice


Receipt Cash

Time

Time

Invoice

Time


Receipt Cash

Time - NB

Time

Invoice

1182

1068

1068

1086

1068

1068

1068

1086

1086

1086

1086

1086

1086

1106

1106

1106

1182

1106

1106

1182

DescriptionWilkinson, Tyler: 1.50 x 200.00

Received from: Company Inc (Retainer: 5000.00)General Retainer

For services renderedStevens, Shelby: 1500.00

For services renderedBrant, Hayley: 2000.00

Meeting with client to discuss issues in the caseDennell, Victor

Bill #1068Fees: 3500.00

General retainer application3500.00 applied to Inv #1068

Received from Company Inc (Inv payments: 3500.00)Auto-paid from General Retainer

Document Binding - per documentGrey, Milford: 1.00 x 20.00

This time entry should not be on the billPender, Parker: 2.75 x 50.00

(empty)Parks, Neville: 1.25 x 250.00

Bill #1086Fees: 1437.50, Expenses: 20.00



Reviewing documentsSpearing, Kelly: 0.25 x 250.00

Clearing EmailHowland, Joel: 1.00 x 250.00

Bill #1106Fees: 500.00

Internal MeetingWilkinson, Tyler: 1.00 x 350.00



Meeting with client to discuss settlement optionsStevens, Shelby: 0.00 z 250.00

Meeting with clientBrant, Hayley: 118.40 x 175.00

Bill #1182Fees: 1200.00

Totals 9,140.00 6,657.50 10,000.00

300.00

1,500.00

2,000.00

1,125.00

20.00

312.50

62.50

250.00

350.00

3,220.00

3,500.00

1,45750

500.00

1,200.00

Business Current5,000.00

3,500.00

1,457.50

42.50

Company Inc vs the World (24)

See a complete list of every billing activity performed on a matter.


Bill Journal Report

This report provides complete details of all the invoices you have created for your clients.

Summary:

Invoices you have created with a breakdown of fees and expenses. The report also includes payments, write offs, and retainers applied against those bills. The bills show total balances and ages the outstanding invoices.


• AR date• Matter or client• Practice area• Outstanding bills or all bills

Run the report by:• Matter summary• Matter type summary• Client summary• Firm summary• Responsible lawyer• Bill type

Layout options:

This report is useful when you want a report of all bills the firm has created for any given period. You can run summaries only to compare billing performance from period to period, and run it to compare lawyers and practice areas.

You can also use this report as an alternative AR report as you can filter out paid invoices. Additionally, you can run this report for firm summaries of write offs, payments, and retainer applications.

Using this report:


Bill Journal Report

A separate line item appears for each invoice.

Summary by responsible lawyer which also includes average aging.



The AR report shows outstanding client bills. The report can be run as either a summary or in detail.

Summary:

Time entries, fixed fee entries, fee adjustments created at time of billing, as well as any fee adjustments.

When run in basic detail, the aged receivables report is consolidated on a per matter basis, instead of showing each individual invoice.


The report can be run in a multitude of ways that makes it easy to find exactly what you are looking for. It can be run by client / matter and bill type.

You can also customize the aging categories. To find the AR balance as of a certain date we provide you with a date selector for payments and write offs. You may also choose to only show outstanding bills over a certain amount.

Run the report by:

The report includes summaries by responsible lawyer and practice areas. A fee allocation summary will show you how the remaining AR is divided up by fee allocation lawyer based on how you chose to split the fees.

This report is useful for getting a quick list of overdue accounts. This can be used for aiding collection efforts and improving cash flow. It also lets you easily identify what staff or practice areas need attention regarding collecting balances.

Layout options:

Using this report:



Each invoice shows the amount billed and the remaining balance in the aging category, as well as any trust or general retainer funds available.

Easily identify your practice areas that need to improve collection efforts.



This report shows you how payments against bills have been allocated amongst lawyers in the firm for a given time period.

Summary:

Payments made and each lawyer and timekeepers portion of the payment made. The line items also show the matter and invoice that the payment was applied to. Payments made against expenses also appear on the bill. The report can be grouped by payment, payment date, matter, fee allocation lawyer, and responsible lawyer.


Summarize totals for payment by matter, responsible lawyer, and fee allocation lawyer.

Layout options:

Lawyer or firm administrators can use this report to calculate payments to timekeepers and lawyers based on payments coming in.

You can also use this report to see how payments for a certain period have been allocatedbetween fees and expenses. This no longer has to be a manual calculation, and each matter can have its own separate fee arrangement for lawyer payments.

Using this report:



Know exactly how payments have been allocated between lawyers.

Quickly see how payments made for a selected period are being allocated between lawyers.


Write off Report

This report details how much fees and expenses have been written off (or up) for a selected period, and how that has affected lawyer fee allocation (by invoice).

Summary:

Time entries, fixed fee entries, fee adjustments created at time of billing, as well as any fee adjustments.


• Client summary• Matter summary• GL summary• Commission recipient summary• Responsible lawyer summary• Matter type summary

Layout options:

This report is useful to identify bad accounts that have been written off. These totals are often used after the fact to adjust fee payments to lawyers who are compensated based on billings.

This report gives you a good sense of your ability to collect your bills and identify areas of concern by practice, staff, or client.

Using this report:


Write off Report

Quickly view invoices that have been written off and their effect on lawyer fees.

See who’s matters have the most write offs.



This comprehensive report shows strategically how your firm is performing on their billing and collections, and is broken down by client, practice area, and responsible lawyer.

Summary:

The report breaks up all the billing activity on a matter including unbilled and billed work. The report illustrates the work that was done, its value, and what you billed the client. It also shows any adjustments or discounts that were made, and how much was billed and collected.

You can choose to exclude unbilled work to get a more accurate picture of your overall performance on matters that are completed. Average days to pay and bill are also included on the report.

Additionally, you can look at your effective hourly rate on both fixed fee and hourly cases.


• Matter type• Matter• Client• Bill type

• E-Billing• Exclude unbilled items• Matters with no data

Run the report by:

Layout options:

• Calculating billing and collection realization by different categories for comparison against industry benchmarks• Figuring out your effective hourly rate on fixed fee matters• Helping to plan a growth strategy by identifying most profitable practice areas, clients, and staff• Monitoring problems in the firm by client, practice area, and staff• Identifying actual costs of fixed fee cases so you can establish proper pricing• Determining if you are making money on selected clients or practice matters• Tracking how long it is taking your firm to get your bills out and get paid

The report can be summarized by practice area, responsible lawyer, billing type (hourly or fixed fee), and by client. This is valuable information to consider when deciding which practice area to expand, or which type of lawyers to hire.

Using this report:



Easily determine if you made money on a matter as well as billing and collection realization values.

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billing reports and templates overview · this report shows you how payments against bills have...

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