TRACK TIME

To collect payment from your clients, you must first create a record of the work you do for them. To do this, create a time entry for work performed as soon as your work or task is completed. Daily time entry prevents revenue loss.

Make sure you record the following on the time entry:

• Client
• Matter
• Timekeeper
• Date work was completed
• Time spent completing work
• Description or narration of work completed
• Billable rate (if not auto-filled)
• Whether the time is billable, non-billable, or no charge

Note: Actionstep also lets you use built-in timers to track time you spend completing a particular task.

• Creating a Time or Fee Entry
• Viewing Your Timesheet
• Editing Time Entries from Your Timesheet
• Choosing the Bill Behavior for Billable Time Entries
• Reviewing Fee Entries

RECORD EXPENSES/DISBURSEMENTS

There are other costs you incur that need to be charged back to the client. These are known as expenses/disbursements and can include:

• Court filing fees (hard cost)
• Process server fees (hard cost)
• Travel costs (soft cost)
• Expert witness invoices (hard cost)
• Postage/courier (hard cost)
• Medical records (hard cost)
• Photocopies (if billable) (soft cost)

Expenses/disbursements can also be anticipated, meaning it's a cost that will be incurred on behalf of a client even though the actual payment for that cost hasn't been made yet.

• Understanding Fees/Disbursements
• Entering Disbursements
• Creating a Disbursement from a Supplier Invoice
• Creating a Disbursement from a Firm Withdrawal
• Working with Anticipated Disbursements

REVIEW DRAFT BILL

Once you've identified all the fees and expenses you need to charge the client, you will generate and review the draft bill. During this phase, you should:

• Review time descriptions
• Check for duplicated entries
• Fix incorrect rates or adjust for excessive time
• Identify and add any missing expenses/disbursements
• Review any excluded WIP and add it to the invoice
• Write off or adjust time if needed
• Apply any discounts
• Confirm trust or general retainer funds are available (if applicable)

At this point, you should edit and correct any mistakes or issues you find.

Supervisors/partners often review and approve at this stage.

• Getting to Know a Matter's Billing Page
• Getting to Know the Bills List Page
• Reviewing Fee Entries
• Creating, Viewing, and Approving Draft Bills
• Adding WIP to a Draft Bill/Invoice
• About Billing Adjustments
• Changing Fee Allocations
• Creating a Fee Adjustment
• Writing Off Unbilled Time and Disbursements
• Adding a Discount to an Invoice

GENERATE FINAL INVOICE

When you're ready to send the invoice, you can finalize, generate, and approve the final bill, which you can then send to the client.

• Getting to Know a Matter's Billing Page
• Creating a Bill for a Specific Matter
• Using Mass Billing
• Producing Bills for Clients

FIX BILLING ERRORS

If you identify mistakes in a bill after it's sent, you can correct them. You have a few options for doing this:

Option 1: Deleting (or Voiding) the Invoice (If Not Paid) 

1. Move the invoice back to Draft status
2. Correct entries
3. Regenerate new invoice and send it

Option 2: Credit Note / Adjustment (If Already Sent or Paid) 

1. Create credit memo for incorrect amount
2. Apply credit to original invoice and reissue a corrected invoice ("revert" an invoice)

Option 3: Write-Off (If firm absorbs the error) 

1. Record write-off
2. Document reason

Note: A write-off can also be used to adjust fee allocations between fee earners on a sent invoice without adjusting any other values.

Always document the reason for the adjustment and keep the audit trail intact.

• Deleting a Customer Invoice
• Reverting and Reposting an Invoice
• Creating a Credit Note
• Applying a Credit Note
• Performing a Write-Off

RECEIVE CLIENT FUNDS

Once the bill has been sent to the client, you should receive payment from them. When you receive the payment, you must enter it into your system. This includes identifying and recording:

• The client name
• The associated matter
• The related invoice number
• The payment amount
• The payment date
• Who you received the payment from
• Any memos related to the payment

• Processing Client Payments
• Creating a Firm Receipt or Deposit

ADJUST ACCOUNTING TRANSACTIONS

If you receive funds from a client that are not assigned to a specific purpose, you must review and apply them or consider refunding them. 

Additionally, you may apply a payment to the wrong invoice or enter the wrong amount for a payment. You can fix these issues.

• Working with Unallocated Funds
• Removing a Payment from an Invoice
• Refunding Money to Clients
• Reporting on the Different Adjustments to Billing

DELINQUENCY

When clients are delinquent in making payments to your firm, you can send them account statements, which detail the amounts they currently owe your firm and notify them how overdue these amounts are.

• Aged Receivables Report
• Getting to Know the Aged Receivables Page
• Generating Account Statements

RECONCILIATION

At the close of each reporting period, you need to review your month-end checklist and reconcile your different accounts. This may include correcting accounting errors and creating precise general journal entries.

• Reviewing the Month-End Process Checklist
• Reconciling a Trust (or Client) Account
• Completing a Bank Reconciliation
• Correcting Accounting Errors
• Creating General Journal Entries