Use recurring bills

Use recurring bills if you bill a client for the same amount on a regular basis. Recurring bills are often used for billing retainers.
The recurring bill process removes the need to go into the
Billing
screen and manually enter the billing amount against Work-in-Process (WIP) entries. Otherwise, billing and invoice printing works the same as when using the regular billing process. The following are some considerations when choosing which method to use.
  • The recurring bill process doesn't give you a chance to do certain things that are available during the regular billing process. For example, you can't write the text of the invoice during billing. Also, billing amounts are automatically spread proportionally across all WIP in the specified engagement, and this breakdown can't be edited.
  • Recurring billing doesn't change the behavior of the invoice printing process. In other words, the detail region of the invoice will appear as usual. The descriptions are based on the invoice format (such as By Activity) and the WIP billed by the recurring bill. The recurring bill doesn't automatically create an invoice with a single, simple description unless you have specifically created a custom invoice format for that purpose.
  • Unless specifically setup to do so, a recurring bill doesn't eliminate the need to actually enter WIP before you can bill in a month. If there are occasions when no WIP is entered for a client in a given period, only the progress bill method would let a recurring bill be created. You would then need to perform some more steps at some point in the future to close out the accumulated progress bills against any accumulated WIP (as the billing amounts don't directly relieve these transactions).
  • If the approval or posting process is enabled for billing, using a recurring bill doesn't eliminate the requirement to go to the
    Review
    tab and approve or post the invoice.
If any of these considerations is an issue for your firm, a better option may be to use the regular billing process and enter the amount you want to bill manually.

Set up recurring billing

Before you can generate a recurring bill for a client, you'll need to complete the setup steps.

Generate a recurring bill

  1. Select
    Actions
    , then select
    Billing
    .
  2. Select the
    Generate Recurring Bills
    tab.
  3. You can filter the list by various criteria, including any recurring bill descriptions you have set up.
  4. In the
    Generate using invoice date
    field, select the date you want to use as the invoice date.
  5. Mark the checkboxes for the clients or engagements you want to bill.
  6. Select
    Generate Selected
    . Practice CS automatically creates and saves a bill for the recurring amount.
  7. If your firm uses the approval/posting process for billing, select the
    Review
    tab to approve and post the invoice. You can print the invoice from either the
    Review
    tab or by selecting
    File
    ,
    Print Invoices
    , then
    Statements
    .

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