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Budget and accruals setup

Accruals Setup | Overview and Checklist

Accruals Setup | Overview and Checklist

If your company plans to generate accruals using Tracker, this topic will help you activate the Tracker accruals functionality. If your company does not plan to generate accruals using Tracker, you do not need to have the Accruals module activated.
When the Accruals module is activated for your company, Tracker sends an announcement email that provides instructions on how to enter unbilled amounts to all affected law firms.
Before you begin, keep in mind the following:
  • Depending on what time the module is enabled, the accrual announcement email may be sent the same night, so you should be prepared to complete the setup on the same day the module is activated.
  • If your company's accrual options will be set up so that for some accrual periods the accruals will be derived from budget data, you should also review the budget setup options at the same time you review the accrual setup options.
  • Before activating the Accruals module, International Functionality must be enabled for your company. The international setting enables currency conversion, VAT tracking, and several other features related to multinational companies. If your company is only doing business in a single country, to simplify system management, this setting is usually not enabled. This setting is managed by Thomson Reuters when it sets up your company's database, and is not editable by company users. If the setting is not enabled and you would like the setting to be enabled, please contact Tracker Support.
Step 1: Review the accrual module setup options
  1. Select
    Settings
    in the left navigation.
  2. In the
    eBilling & Financial Setup
     section, select
    Budget & Accrual Setup
    .
  3. Answer the questions on the page.
  4. Scroll down to
    Setup Analysis
     at the bottom.
  5. Select
    View a cumulative burden analysis of your budget and accrual selections
     to generate an analysis of your selections. This will help you evaluate whether the cumulative effect of your selections will be overly burdensome for users.
  6. Take a screen capture of this page. You will review this analysis with your Client Success Manager or Tracker Support in the next step.
Step 2: Review your accrual and budget setup with your Client Success Manager
Email the screenshot you made in the previous step to your Client Success Manager or Tracker Support and review the analysis.
Step 3: Review the calendar of events
You will set up the calendar of events, but the timing depends on when the firms enter their unbilled amounts. The dates that are established in the calendar of events apply to all required actions in your system.
The four key dates that determine when to update the calendar of events are as follows:
Date
Description
Law firm input start date
The date when firms can begin entering unbilled amounts.
Law firm input due date
The last date that firms can enter or edit unbilled amounts.
Company input start date
The date when your company can begin entering unbilled amounts. Only relevant if:
  • You have set your system up so that company users review the firms' unbilled amounts.
  • Firms enter unbilled amounts before the end of the accrual period.
Company input cutoff date
The last date that your company can enter or edit unbilled amounts. Only relevant if:
  • You have set up the system so that company users review the firms' unbilled amounts.
  • Firms enter unbilled amounts before the end of the accrual period.
  • If you require firms to enter unbilled amounts before the end of the accrual period, you should set up the calendar of events before the accruals module is activated.
  • If firms enter unbilled amounts after the end of the accrual period, you will not be able to edit the calendar of events until step 5.
Step 4: Coordinate with your Client Success Manager or Tracker Support regarding when Tracker will update your accrual settings.
You should be prepared to complete steps 5-9 on the same day your settings are updated in Tracker. This is important to ensure that the correct emails and alerts are sent.
A Tracker Database Administrator will update your accrual and budget settings. You should coordinate with Tracker regarding when this should occur, but you do not need to do anything until you are notified that the update has occurred.
Step 5: Review and update the calendar of events
You should update the calendar of events on the same day that Tracker updates your accrual settings.
Step 6: Turn off unbilled amount requirement for selected firms (if necessary).
When the Accruals module is activated, the default setting is that all firms and vendors are required to enter unbilled amounts. In this step, deactivate the requirement for any firm or vendor from which you do not need to receive unbilled amounts. The easiest method is to use the bulk update functionality. (
Users > Bulk Update
in the left navigation.)
If you deactivate the requirement in the firm profile, the firm/vendor will not be required to submit unbilled amounts in any matter. Remember, however, that there are other ways to turn off the unbilled amount requirement. For example, instead of deactivating the requirement for the firm in all matters, you can also deactivate the requirement for one or more matters.
Step 7: Turn off accrual or unbilled amount requirement in selected matters (if necessary)
There are two issues to consider with respect to this step. First, Company System Administrators can turn off accruals for specific matters. In other words, when your law department sends its accruals report to the finance department each month, specific matters will be excluded from the report because no accrual will be recorded for the matter.
Second, rather than turning off accruals for a matter, you can instead deactivate the requirement that some or all of the firms/vendors submit unbilled amounts.
Step 8: Review Matter Group Options (if necessary)
If you have set up matter groups in Tracker, you may need to modify the matter group options with respect to accruals. Specifically, the default settings are that accruals are generated at the matter group level, and that law firms are required to enter unbilled amounts in each matter assigned to the matter group.
Most of the matter group options must be individually modified, meaning they cannot be modified using the matter bulk update functionality. The only option that can be bulk updated is whether or not to generate an accrual for each matter group.
Step 9: Send out Accrual Announcement Email
The accrual module includes an announcement email to assist in your communication and rollout of the accruals functionality.
The accrual announcement email can be sent as an automated mass email, or a manual email to a specific firm.

This article applies to:

  • Product: Legal Tracker
  • Audiences: Company