Configuring Your Billing Settings (Admin)

You can determine how billing functions within your Actionstep system. Once set up here, billing options can be further defined for each specific matter. (See Setting Up Billing for a Specific Matter for more information.) 

To customize your system-wide billing settings:

1. In Actionstep, go to Admin > Billing. The Billing page appears. 
2. Provide the details in each section, based on the information below.
   • Participant Type Setup Section
   • Client Receipt Section
   • Hourly Invoices and Fixed Fee Invoices Sections
   • Custom Bill Templates Section
   • Timekeeper Fee Allocation Section
   • Taxes Section 
   • Invoice Defaults Section
   • Default Income Accounts Section
   • General Retainer Section
   • Trust Accounting Section
   • Rate Labels Section
   • Disbursement Templates Section
   • LEDES Defaults Section
   • Other Settings Section
   • Historic Data Section

Participant Type Setup Section

• Responsible lawyer: Indicates which participant type is configured to be the Responsible lawyer. This role has special functionality in Actionstep for things like fee allocation and reporting. Typically, it is the person who is responsible for the overall outcome of the case. Every billable Matter type should have this participant type configured. If you have more than one contact assigned to this role for your matter, the first person loaded will be the responsible lawyer. For example, if the responsible lawyer field is set to the Partner role, and the matter has both Mary and Rob assigned as partners, Mary will be listed as the responsible lawyer since she is the first contact loaded to that role.
  TIP:  When there is no participant defined for a particular Matter then it will fall back to the assigned-to participant as the Responsible lawyer.
• Alias: This setting lets you define the term Actionstep uses when referring to the Responsible lawyer. For example, you may have a supervising partner assigned to each Matter so you could use the term Supervising Partner rather than Responsible Lawyer. 

TIP:  To view who the responsible lawyer is for a specific matter, click the information icon next to the matter name. The person responsible is listed next to Assigned to.

Client Receipt Section

In this section, you can choose defaults that will be applied when you go to process a payment against a bill you have sent to a client. Users can still choose other values when creating the transaction but by correctly populating this section, you will speed up the entry of these transactions.

Your options include: 

• Default bank account
• Default 'receipt by'
• Default payment method
• Receipt template

Hourly Invoices and Fixed Fee Invoices Sections

Matters can be billed using either a fixed fee or an hourly fee billing arrangement. In this section, you choose what default will be applied to the way a matter is billed when an hourly billing arrangement is applied to a matter. There is an identical section for fixed fee invoices below.

• Default description for an increase in fees: As you create a bill in Actionstep you can choose to increase your fees from the value that has been recorded against the matter so far. When you do this, you have the option to create a new fee record to account for the increase. The Default description for an increase in fees will populate that fee entries description.
• Default description for discount: Similar to the increased field above, when you apply a discount to the fees on an invoice you can choose what the default description for that discount will appear to the user. For example, you could change this to "Our discount to you".
• If WIP less than estimate: This field is used when you mass bill a matter. Using Actionstep's mass billing, you can move all the WIP that is loaded against a matter into draft invoices in bulk as one quick process. In this field, you choose what will happen if the unbilled fees on the matter (or work in progress) is more than the quoted amount on the matter. Your options include:
  • Bill WIP only: Ignore the Estimate amount and bill the WIP only.
  • Bill estimate amount: Ignore the WIP amount, and bill the Estimate amount only.
  • Bill estimate amount plus WIP: Add the Estimate amount to the WIP to bill both.
    
    Users are able to change this setting on a matter-by-matter basis by viewing the matter, clicking the Billing menu icon, and navigating to the Matter billing options page.
• If WIP greater than estimate: This field works exactly the same as the If WIP less than quote field (see immediately above). The only difference is choosing what will happen when the WIP recorded is more than the estimate or quoted amount on the matter.
• Fee reductions: This field sets how a discount or fee reduction on an invoice should be treated when the invoice is mass billed. Your options include: 
• Appear as a discount which ensures that the bill to the client includes a line that states a discount was given and how much it was. The following example shows what this might look like on an invoice. This does depend on how your invoice template has been set up:
• Hide line pricing and show total only will still list each fee record in the bill and all its details except the amount for that time. This way there will not be a discrepancy when adding up the individual items and comparing them to the total fees. The following example shows how this could look an on invoice:
• Include the value of 'Hide' and 'No charge' time when calculating fee allocation: Each fee record in Actionstep can be set to Bill to bill the time, Hide to not show the time record in the bill at all, or No charge to let the time record show in the bill but have no billable value to it. Select this option to indicate if the time which is marked as Hide and No charge will count towards a fee earner's fee allocation for that bill or not. 
  NOTE:  Some users might not want to consider fee allocation for fees/time that has no billable value, in which case they should leave this option cleared. However, some firms recognize that while the fees did not increase the bill, they did contribute to the value and effort to produce the bill so they select the option to allow fee allocation to take into account those Hide and No charge fees.
• Allocate adjustments:  This field lets you choose how reductions or increases in fees should be allocated. Your options include:
  • To the responsible lawyer, which is used when the gains or losses on an invoice can be attributed to the responsible lawyer.
  • Based on fees entered, which pro-rates the amount among the fee earners on the bill. (An adjustment to an invoice is an increase or reduction in the fees that are being charged when compared to the WIP on the invoice.)

    EXAMPLE: 
    If you use the Based on fees entered option on an invoice in which three fee earners recorded $300 each and had a $300 discount, then each fee earner contributed one-third so the discount will be divided by three and applied to each. In this case, each fee earner will get a total fee allocation of $200. The following demonstrates this:
    The fee allocation report once the invoice has been paid might look like this:
    

• Bill template: This option sets the default template that will be applied to any invoice generated from a matter set to the Hourly invoice billing arrangement. This can still be changed on a matter by matter basis or an invoice by invoice basis.
• Email template: This option sets the default email template that will be applied to any invoice generated and sent from a matter set to the Hourly invoice billing arrangement. This can still be changed on a matter by matter basis or an invoice by invoice matter.
• Default time entry behavior: Each fee record in Actionstep can be set to Bill to bill the time, Hide to not show the time record in the bill at all, or No charge to let the time record show in the bill but have no billable value to it. This is a default for the most heavily used option but can be changed on a case-by-case basis. 

Custom Bill Templates Section

In this section, you can edit existing bill templates or upload new ones. 

To create a custom bill template, click Create new custom bill template then select the built-in template you want to use from the Template downloads section on the right side of the page. 

To change an Actionstep template, make your changes in Microsoft Word and upload the new template to Actionstep. See Invoice Templates for instructions.  

Timekeeper Fee Allocation Section

• Default fee allocation for matters: This option allows you to choose the default configuration of how fees are allocated between timekeepers. Your options include:
  • Pro-rate: This option sets the fee allocation based on how much a fee earner has contributed to the value of an invoice. For example, a lawyer who contributes 25% of the value of the bill, will get 25% of the fee allocation (though other settings can also affect this). 
  • All to Responsible lawyer:  This option allocates all fees, regardless of other fee earners that contributed to the bill, to the responsible lawyer.
    NOTE:  Some firms create separate income accounts in their accounting general ledger for specific fee earners or the teams that they belong to. You can click Edit timekeeper fee income accounts to see a list of all system users and to set an income account against each user.
    

Taxes Section 

• Enable: Toggle this option to on to enable taxes. 
• New matters are: Choose whether or not new matters are taxable by default.
• Using Tax rate: Choose the default tax rate.
• Tax applies on: Choose whether sales taxes should be applied to Fees and Expenses, Fees only, or Expenses only.

Invoice Defaults Section

• Default payment terms: Use this option to set the payment terms that will be applied to your bills by default. For example, if you set this to 14 days, you are asking the client to pay the bill within 14 days of the bill being sent to them. You can create new terms or edit the existing terms in the list below the drop-down list, but the process is fairly technical. Contact Actionstep Support if you need help with this.
• Next invoice number: This option defines what number will be used for the next invoice you create in Actionstep. If you have previously increased the number in this field, you are able to reduce it again but it will let you use the same number twice.
• Default additional notes: Use this field to include a message in the the PDF bill you send to your client. For example, you can include payment details or show your Law Society compliance text. If needed, you can still customize the additional notes field on each individual matter.

Default Income Accounts Section

This section is available in all versions of Actionstep, however, if you are on the Actionstep Express or Practice Pro plans and have chosen not to integrate with an accounting partner such as QuickBooks Online or Xero, you will not see this section.

• Fees: Choose the default account to use when a timekeeper does not have an income account set at the time of billing.
• Disbursements: Choose the default account to use when a disbursement does not have a specific income account set at the time of billing.

General Retainer Section

• Enable: Toggle this option to on to enable general retainers within the system. 
• Liability account: Choose the account in your general ledger that Actionstep will use to process your general retainers. The default chart of accounts in Actionstep will come with a General Retainer Liability account for you to map to.
• To pay: If you have funds in a general retainer for a matter, they will be applied to any new charges that you create (new bills) for that matter.
• Payment Automation: You can choose Automatic to pay invoices automatically as you create them from any available funds in trust. If you choose the Manual option, you can still apply payments from the trust as you produce a bill but this will have to be manually entered.

Trust Accounting Section

These settings will determine how trust funds are applied against bills.

• To Pay: If you have funds in trust for a matter, they can be applied to any new charges that you create (new bills) for that matter.
• Payment Automation: You can choose Automatic to pay invoices automatically as you create them from any available funds in trust. If you choose the Manual option, you can still apply payments from the trust as you produce a bill but this will have to be manually entered.
  CAUTION:  Some jurisdictions do not allow you to process a payment from trust against a bill until a number of days have passed. If you fall under such restrictions, then you will not be able to apply a trust payment to an invoice either manually or automatically. 
• Combine multiple payments by: You are able to combine payments from different matters as long as the trust bank account that the payment comes from is the same.
• Statement on bill: As you produce a bill in Actionstep, that bill might be configured to show trust account transactions on it. In this field, you can set if the transactions shown should be all trust transactions for that matter, or just the transactions that have occurred since the matter was last invoiced.

Rate Labels Section

In this section, you can create and customize the rates that you apply to fees or time records. You can create rates that are on a per-hourly basis or for a fixed amount. 

A list of each of the rate labels in your system is displayed in this section. Click on the name of an existing rate label to be able to edit it. Or, you can create a new rate label by clicking Create new rate label.

See About Rate Labels for more information.

Disbursement Templates Section

In this section, you can create templates for the expenses that you enter into Actionstep. By creating a template, you can speed up the entry of an expense. 

See About Disbursements for more information. 

LEDES Defaults Section

LEDES billing (also known as UTBMS) is where the items in a bill are assigned to a pre-set list of tasks based on the activity, what it is for, and who is doing it. This system is a requirement for some clients who use this method to compare the amounts they are billed from multiple lawyers.

Other Settings Section

• Assign Invoice No. To Drafts: When enabled, draft invoices will be assigned an Invoice Number. When disabled they will show as DRAFT until approved.
• Save Invoice PDF to Matter by Default: Choose this option to save the invoice to the matter once an invoice is produced. (See Saving Invoices to Actionstep Matters Automatically (Admin) for more information.)

Historic Data Section

This section lets you prevent time/fee entries and expenses/disbursements that were created before a set date from being billed. 

Related Articles

• About Actionstep Billing
• About Rate Labels
• About Disbursements