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SECRETS FOR BILLING SUCCESS
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Invoice Types --
There's One For Every Occasion
Clients & Profits
offers many different invoice types to choose from
depending upon your billing needs. All invoicing is
flexible; until it's posted, an invoice's amounts and
tasks can be edited as needed. And even after it's
posted, an invoice's printed style can be changed.
In addition to flexibility, invoices have varying degrees of
automation. Some agencies are only using the job billing invoice.
They aren't taking advantage of more automated choices, like
progress or estimate invoices.
Here are some of the various invoice types:
Advance: To bill clients before starting
work on jobs; based upon job's estimate. Credits
a liability account instead of income accounts.
As work progresses, subsequent job invoices are "paid" by
the advance.
Progress/Final: Very
automated. Creates invoice
based upon currently unbilled
costs. Invoice type used by
Auto-bill feature.
Estimate: Very automated.
Creates invoice based upon
job's estimate. Bill any percentage
of estimate, including change
orders.
Multi-Job: Includes
many jobs and job tasks. Especially
helpful when projects span
a number of job tickets.
Miscellaneous: Non-job
billing; a "client" invoice.
Used for consulting fees, commissions,
and service charges.
Retainer: Based upon
retainer schedule set up in
the Client file. Credits a
liability account instead of
income accounts. Any job invoice
for a client can be paid by
a retainer. |
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By Mindy
Williams
Billing seems an insurmountable task at times. How to get from
organizing all the elements that make up the billing to counting
the money that comes in as a result of it? The pre-billing process
does vary from agency to agency. But here are some general steps
that many shops have in common:
1. Check that everything's posted.
Post anything you're
considering for this month's billing. For many agencies,
this isn't difficult. Clients & Profits makes data
entry easy, so keeping up with entering time and costs
doesn't lag behind and goes everywhere it needs to go.
2. Print Work In Progress reports.
WIP reports show you how much is available to bill. They show totals
from unbilled tasks. Other pre-billing reports include Job Summaries,
Job Costs, Job Lists, and Open Purchase Orders.
3. Get necessary approvals.
Have people who know the job specs
and the clients review the pre-billing reports. Get their
input on what is OK to bill this month. |
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4. Update billing
status codes.
Using billing status codes makes it easy to generate invoices using the
Auto-bill feature and print reports from an accounting perspective.
5. Time to bill.
Generate the invoices. There are many invoice types to choose from and
many printing options. Print billing previews or an A/R proof list if
you need to get a final approval.
6. Proof, revise, and post invoices
-- then get them out the door.
Double-check for mistakes before
sending invoices. Errors are the biggest reason payments get delayed.
Mindy Williams is
a senior member of Clients & Profits Helpdesk. She co-teaches
the monthly new-user training classes |
Auto-bill is a powerful tool that makes
billing so easy, it almost defies gravity. Take off into the
rarefied air of billing bliss, but return to Earth when mailing
your invoices! (Postage is murder from outer space.) |
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