Open Item Fees are the most common fee type for practices that record and bill WIP to their clients.
Click the New Bill button, then use the drop-down arrow and select Open Item Fee.
Batch details
Processing Office | This will default to the office you’re allocated to as an employee. If you need to raise the fee to a different office, change the office selection here. |
ProForma No | Leave this as-is - the system will use auto numbers to allocate the next invoice/fee number. |
Invoice Date | System Options control how your Invoice Date is set: - Capture Date – This may be pre- or post-dated within the current or future period. - System Date – Sets the date to when the invoice is approved. This could be a future date from the current period. - System Date EOM – Sets the date to the lesser of the current System Date or the last day of the current period. |
Approver | Choose either System Assigned (based on your approval settings) or select a specific Approver , again according to your approval settings. |
Auto Adjust Time & Disbursements | If this is ticked, any adjustments made to WIP will be automatically written up or written off.If it is unticked, the differences will be carried forward.This setting can be changed within the Billing Wizard. |
Debtor details
Client | Choose your client by typing their name or client code. |
Biller | Defaults to the Client Partner. You can change this if needed. |
Office | Defaults to the Processing Office selected above. |
Service Line | Defaults to the Service Line linked to the Biller. |
If a client has a Billing Client linked to their profile, the billing system will prompt you to either switch to the Billing Client or continue billing the child client directly.
Once you've selected your client record and you've updated all of this information, you click on the Wizard button to start the Billing Wizard.
Billing wizard
Within the wizard there are several features, which are explained below.
Filtering WIP
The first item is the WIP Client.
In this example, Bondi Rental is the Billing Client for several other clients. Those clients are linked to Bondi Rental for billing, which means their WIP can be displayed and included on a fee raised for Bondi Rental.
If you identify a client that you don’t want included on this invoice, remove it by clicking the X next to the client code.
When you select the client code, the drop-down list expands to show the full client name. You can then add any connected clients back in using this drop-down.
The next section is the field selector , which controls what information is shown in the WIP table below.
When you first open this section, only the Client field will be displayed. Once you’ve chosen your display, the Billing Wizard will remember your last layout. For example, if you change the display, that view will be used for the next fee.
You can add up to four of the following items for filtering in the wizard, in any order you like. The first item you select will determine how the data is initially grouped and displayed:
Task | Task on the client WIP entry. |
Type | The Type of transaction can be: - Timesheet - Disbursement - Timesheet – Pending - Disbursement – Pending - Timesheet – Estimated (e.g. interim fee) - Disbursement – Estimated (e.g. interim fee) |
Transaction | Displayed in date order including the date and narration on the timesheet entry. |
Activity | Activity recorded on the client WIP entry. |
Employee | Employee the WIP entry created by or is connected to. |
You can remove, add, or reorder fields using the X next to each selected item in the box. Once you’ve chosen the items you want to display, click Apply to update the filters.
To set a date filter, click in the Date box and use the date pickers to choose the From and To dates:
You can clear the dates and then reset them using your required start and end dates.
When you change any of these settings, click Apply to apply your changes.
This is the running total area.
When applying auto-adjustments to WIP, you can do this using one of three options available:
Pro-rata – apportioning the adjustment across all the WIP entries selected, or
FIFO (First In, First Out) to automatically allocate the oldest transactions first, or
LIFO (Last In, First Out) to automatically allocate the most recent transactions first.
Under the column headings, you have filter options available as per your settings when selected.
For example, you can filter for a specific client within the billing group by selecting the client’s name from the filter drop-down. The filter will apply, and you can review that client’s transactions on their own. You can also apply multiple filters to view only the WIP you need and allocate it step by step.
To return to all clients, select the blank option at the top of the client filter.
Similarly, for the Task filter, if you select Bookkeeping 2022 it will display all transactions for that task. To view all tasks again, choose the blank option at the top of the Task filter.
Allocating amounts to a fee
You can allocate time to a fee in several ways and can mix methods as you build the fee.
As you apply filters, they will affect the Available WIP , Selected WIP , Total Fee , and Total Adj fields at the top of the wizard. When you remove the filters, you’ll see the overall totals for the fee.
Selecting WIP – Option 1
As you review the transactions, tick the checkbox to the left of the Client Name for each transaction you wish to include on the invoice.
As you select transactions, the Selected WIP and the amount next to Allocate update at the top of the wizard.
In the example below, you’ve selected $3,600 of WIP but want to charge $5,000 (a $1,400 write-up). Type 5,000 in the Allocate box and click Allocate.
The wizard will apply the write-up using your chosen method (Pro-rata/FIFO/LIFO) and will either carry forward any remaining WIP (negative, in the case of a write-up) or automatically adjust it to NIL if Auto Adjust Time/Disb is ticked.
Type the amount you wish to fee (e.g. $5,000) in the box, then click Allocate.
When a WIP line is brought back to NIL , it will be highlighted green. If you are part-billing a WIP line and carrying a balance forward, it will be highlighted orange.
You can check the Total Fee and Total Adjustment amounts at the top right of the wizard.
If you need to add more WIP, continue filtering and selecting WIP, then clear all filters to review your overall totals before proceeding.
Selecting WIP - option 2
The other option for selecting WIP it to use the + icons under the Fee and Adj columns.
If you click the + under the Fee it will add the entire amount to the Total Fee.
If you click the + under the Adj it will write off the entire amount.
If you have Auto Adjust ticked, you can type the amount you would like to bill in the fee column, and it will automatically adjust the line with a write off/up. If you wish to change the amount billed simply change the fee amount (you won’t be able to change the Adj column amount)
If you do NOT have Auto Adjust ticked, you can enter an amount in either the Fee or Adj column and it will calculate the balance to carry forward.
When you are happy with your selected fee amount and adj amount click the next button
Invoice Detail
In most cases, you won’t need to make any changes in this screen. The information is prefilled from the previous screen and summarised to show the invoice total will be $5,000 plus GST, the adjustment was a write up of $1,400 and to WIP transactions billed was $3,600.
Correcting or changing your fee amounts
If you have made a mistake, select the previous button at the bottom of the screen and adjust in the Billing Section.
You will need to make a final check that everything is still in balance. If not please make appropriate adjustments to correct. It is important that the Client and Task align correctly to the WIP selected. You can make changes in the Fee Time, Adj Time, Fee Disb, Adj Disb cells if required.
GST free items
If you have items, usually disbursements, that you are passing onto the client and you don’t wish to charge GST on these, you will need to separate them in this screen.
Start by adding a New Item. Complete the Client, Task and Allocation the same as the Bill Item you are going to move an amount from. If the Disbursement was for $100, put 100.00 in the Fee Disb box. Then change the GST Code to the relevant code you wish to use.
You will need to minus 100.00 from the original Bill Item the Disbursement was sitting in.
When all amounts balance there will be no red boxes displaying.
Once complete select Next
Narrations
The final tab within the wizard is the narration area. You can add Standard narrations or use the narration builder to select narrations from recent fees raised for the specific client or by the user.
Note that any GST Free amounts will need to have their own paragraph and the net amount will show separately on the fee. This is due to the need to show the GST in each narration box.
You can choose to show subtotal balances for each paragraph in the fee or just show the entire amount under 1 paragraph/Bill Item.
In the example, we have chosen to bill $2,000 for the Tax Preparation.
You will notice at the top our invoice totals do not balance to our previous adjustments. Select New Item to add another narration paragraph to the fee. In this example we will invoice $3,000 for Financial Services Consulting.
Once balanced you can ‘Finish’ and your will be back on the summary screen for the fee in progress.
If you are satisfied with the summary screen, you can then submit the invoice for approval or simply ‘Save & Close’ to allocate to the ‘Not Ready’ status to be completed at a later date.
Select yes, confirming your submission.