Billing methods in Practice CS

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Practice CS lets you bill clients in a number of different ways. Your options for creating invoices and the pros and cons of each method are below.

You do not have to choose one method. Instead, you can use all the methods below at any time and should choose the method that works best for the invoice you want to create.

Zero Bill

This option creates a $0 invoice that includes all WIP.

When to use it

  • To write off all WIP for a client.
  • To reconcile progress bills against unbilled WIP. For more information, see Relieving a progress bill.

How to do it

  1. Go to Actions > Billing.
  2. Mark the clients you want to bill. 
  3. Click the Zero Bill Selected button. 
  4. Click Yes.
  5. The invoice is now saved and available to print.

Pros

  • It's fast. You can bill multiple clients with a few clicks. 

Cons

  • Requires WIP from time and expenses.
  • You cannot pick and choose WIP items or progress bills. All available WIP and progress bills will be on the invoice.
  • You cannot edit the invoice before creating it. You can edit the invoice after it is saved.

Standard Bill

This creates an invoice with all available WIP and the invoice amount will match the WIP Amt you see before you bill.

When to use it

  • To bill all WIP using the billed amount already calculated by Practice CS. 

How to do it

  1. Go to Actions > Billing.
  2. Mark the clients you want to bill. 
  3. Click the Standard Bill Selected button. 
  4. Click Yes.
  5. The invoice is now saved and available to print.

Pros

  • It's fast. You can bill multiple clients with a few clicks. 

Cons

  • Requires WIP from time and expenses. 
  • You cannot pick and choose WIP items or progress bills. All available WIP and progress bills will be on the invoice.
  • You cannot edit the invoice before creating it. You can edit the invoice after it is saved.

Quick Bill

This creates an invoice with all available WIP and lets you choose the invoice amount.

When to use it

  • To bill all WIP and adjust the billed amounts. 

How to do it

See Using Quick Bill.

Pros

  • It's fast. You can bill multiple clients on one screen. 
  • You can make adjustments to the total billed amount or to the billed amount of individual WIP items. 

Cons

  • Requires WIP from time and expenses. 
  • You cannot pick and choose WIP items to include on the invoice.
  • You cannot edit anything other than the billed amount and invoice date when creating the invoice. You can edit the invoice after it is saved.

Detail Bill

This lets you create a completely customized invoice.

When to use it

  • To individually select WIP items to bill.
  • To make adjustments to billed amounts and carryovers.
  • To edit the text and layout of the invoice.
  • To see the details of WIP items while you bill.

How to do it

See Detail billing overview.

Pros

  • You have flexibility and control. You can adjust and customize almost every aspect of the invoice. 
  • You can access links, custom fields, biller's notes, and WIP history while billing.
  • Does not require WIP from time and expenses. 

Cons

  • You cannot bill multiple clients at once.
  • it takes time and effort to create an invoice.

Recurring Bill

This creates an invoice for a client with preset amounts. 

When to use it

  • Bill a client for the same amount repeatedly. You could use this to send a regular monthly, quarterly, or annual bill.

How to do it

See Recurring bills.

Pros

  • It's fast. Once you set up the presets for the client(s), you can create invoices for multiple clients with a single click.

Cons

  • Requires initial setup. 
  • You cannot edit the invoice or make adjustments before creating it. You can edit the invoice after it is saved.

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