Bill Journal Report

In this article:

• Brief Description  
• Use Cases 
• Finding and Using the Report 
• Available Filters 
• Report Output 

Brief Description  

This report provides a list of invoices by matter. By default, it shows invoices not yet paid and credit notes not yet applied along with aging. 

Use Cases 

This report allows you to see what has been billed against matters for the different matter types, Clients or Responsible Lawyer. It breaks down the invoice by fees, expenses and tax and will show the total payments, retainers and write-offs applied to an invoice. 

Finding and Using the Report 

In Actionstep, go to Reports > Billing Reports > Reports List > General. 

Then, refer to these articles for help generating and saving reports for future use:

• Reporting Overview
• Generating a Report
• Saving a Report Configuration

Available Filters 

Basic Tab 

• Date range: Enter a date range for the invoices you want included in the report. Leave this blank to use today's date.  

Advanced Tab 

• Receipts up to: Choose what payments to display on the report. For example, if an invoice has a payment on December 3rd, it will not show as attributed to the invoice if the Receipts up to option is set for a date in November. This is useful to see what payments had been applied at a given point in time.  
• Age from: Enter the date that will be used to determine the aging period. Leave this blank to use today's date. (Aging period is calculated backward from the selected date, so if an invoice that is aged from today is 10 days, selecting yesterday’s date would display aging of 9 days.) 
• Age field: Choose the source date for aging: Invoice date or Payment due date. This allows you to see how long it has been since the invoice has been payable (Invoice date) or how long it has been since the payment was due (Payment due date).  
• Client (or Customer): Choose specific contacts you want included in the report.  
• Responsible lawyer: Choose the specific responsible lawyers you want included in the report.  
• Matter: Choose specific matters you want included in the report.  
• Matter type:Choose specific matter types you want included in the report. 
  NOTE:  With the next two options, you can Include paid invoices and Include draft invoices. If you include paid invoices you will see what has been paid. If you include draft invoices, the report will include what could be paid (once you actually produce and send the draft invoice). If you select both options,  you will see a total of what has been paid (paid invoices), what should be paid (produced invoices - not paid) and what could be paid (draft invoices).
• Include paid invoices: Toggle this option to on if you want paid invoices to be included in the report.
• Include draft invoices: Toggle this option to on if you want draft invoices to be included in the report. 
• Show detail: Toggle this option to on to show details on each matter and invoice. In instances where the report is configured to display summaries, the granular detail may not be necessary.  
• Show matter summary: Toggle this option to on to include a summary table with a row for each matter. The table will include the matter name and ID, hours billed, fees, expenses, invoice total, payments, general retainers applied, write-offs, balance due, and average aging. 
• Show client summary: Toggle this option to on to include a summary table with a row for each client that includes the client’s name, hours billed, fees, expenses, invoice total, payments, general retainers applied, write-offs, balance due, and average aging. 
• Show matter type summary: Toggle this option to on to include a summary table with a row for each matter type. The table will include name, hours billed, fees, expenses, invoice total, payments, general retainers applied, write-offs, balance due, and average aging. 
• Show responsible lawyer summary: Toggle this option to on to include a summary table with a row for each responsible lawyer. The table will include the responsible lawyer’s name, hours billed, fees, expenses, invoice total, payments, general retainers applied, write-offs, balance due, and average aging.  
• Show firm summary: Toggle this option to on to display a single-row table that totals all bill items as displayed in the report. This includes hours billed, fees, expenses, invoice total, payments, general retainers applied, write-offs, balance due, and average aging.

Report Output 

Various tables are displayed in the report, based on the filters you applied in the previous section. Each table contains these typical columns: 

• Invoice Date: Shows the invoice date. 
• Inv. No.: Shows the invoice number. 
• Hrs.: Shows the billable hours logged for the matter during the invoice period. 
• Fees: Shows the fees charged against the invoice. 
• Expenses: Shows any expenses charged against the invoice.  
• Tax: Shows the taxes charged against the invoice. 
• Total: Shows the total of fees, expenses, and taxes charged.  
• Payments: Shows any payments made on the invoice.  
• Retainers: Shows any general retainers applied to the invoice. 
• Write Offs: Shows any write-off amounts applied to the invoice.  
• Balance: Shows the balance after the payments, retainers and write-offs are subtracted from the Total column. 
• Aging /Avg Aging: Shows the amount of time in the aging period.