How to finalise an interim invoice?
Article ID
ias-6928
Article Name
How to finalise an interim invoice?
Created Date
30th September 2008
Product
IRIS Time and Fees
Problem
How to finalise an interim invoice?
Resolution
Contents
- Introduction
- Background to interim invoices
- Set your write out options to Gross in the Fees options
- Run a billing decisions report
- Step by step guide to finalising interim invoices
- Write out options to finalise an interim
Introduction
This knowledge base article is part of the ‘interim invoicing articles’, which provides assistance for posting and finalising interim invoices:
KB IAS-7152 : Introduction to Interim Invoicing
KB IAS-6344 : Example of using interim invoicing
KB IAS-6927 : How to post an interim invoice
This article will include a background to interim invoices and provide a step by step guide to finalising interims
Background to Interim Invoices
Invoices can be posted in Time & Fees as interim or final. The difference between an interim invoice and a final invoice is how they affect the clients WIP in the Time Ledger.
Set write out options to gross in your fees options
Before posting the invoice it is recommended that you set your Fees options to Write out Gross amounts of the final invoice. This only needs to be set once:
- Log on to Fees as MASTER.
- The Fees Ledger will be displayed. Click on Options and select Fees Ledger from the sub menu.
- The Fees Ledger options screen will be displayed. Click on the WIP write out tab and in the section ‘Write out amounts on Final invoices’ select ‘Gross’.
- Click on the OK button to save
Run a billing decisions report
To start the process of finalising interim invoices, it is recommended that you run a billing decisions report. This can be used to identify any staff time that you wish to write out and the interims that you wish to finalise.
To run a billing decisions report:
- Log into Time
- The Time Ledger will be displayed. Click on Reports, Client reports, Billing decisions.
- On the options tab, ensure instructions sheet and WIP breakdown are ticked.
- Click on the selections tab and type the client identifier in the client id field.
- Click on the OK button.
- Print the report.
The report will display the staff postings outstanding on the client and value of interims posted. In this knowledge base article, the client has £1500 of WIP posted and £1100 of interim invoices, giving a WIP balance of £400 (1500 less 1100 equals 400).
On the billing decisions report instruction sheet you may enter how much you are intending to bill the client. You may also add how you wish to reduce the WIP balance, such as interim bills and staff time. Once you have made these decisions you can then post your final invoice.
In this example, a partner decides he wants to invoice the client a further £500 that the clients WIP balance should be reduced to zero. To do this he wants to clear all WIP balances and interim invoices. We are now ready to post an final invoice to achieve this aim.
Post a final invoice
You can post a final invoice to clear interim invoices and WIP from your clients WIP account. Below is an example of how to post a final invoice.
To post a final invoice:
- From the IRIS main menu, Log on to the Fees Ledger.
- The IRIS Fees Ledger will be displayed. Click on Enquiries and then select Client Summary from the drop down menu.
- Type in the client you wish to invoice. For example, A001.
- Click on the billing button.
- The Client Billing Decision screen will be displayed. Ensure that interim invoice is not ticked
- Ensure that the date and reference of the invoice is as required.
- In the Grid in the centre of the screen, enter the value of the invoice in the bill column next to the required job. For example, invoice £500 for Accounts work by typing 500 in the Accounts Row and Bill column. Note: The invoice figure does not affect your WIP balance
- In the write out column, enter the value of WIP that you wish to reduce your WIP balance by. For example, if you have £1500 of time on job type accounts and you wish to reduce this balance to £0, then type 1500 in the write out cell.
- Click on the bill now button.
- Select the required Fees period (This will only appear if you have the relevant staff permissions when a period is in reconciliation)
Tip: If you do not wish to write out any time but want to finalise the interims, then enter 0 in the write out cell.
Tip: Posting a final invoice will automatically finalise all interims outstanding on the clients account.
Tip: When you post a final bill to finalise the interim the billed amount on the final bill does not affect your WIP balance. It is only how you enter the write out details on each job that will influence how your WIP postings and interims invoices will be matched.
How the ‘Write Out’ field reduces WIP and finalises an interim
When you post a final invoice, entering details into the ‘write out’ field will automatically finalise interims that are present on the client account. For example, if you write out to a date on job ‘Accounts’ then all WIP up until that date is written out and ALL interims are also cleared for the job accounts.
Below are some ways that you may wish to reduce your staff time and automatically clear your interim invoices:
- Write out to a value
By entering a value in the write out field you can reduce the staff time by a value and automatically clear the interim bills present. For example, you have a balance of staff time of £800. You want to post a final invoice, clear all interim invoices and carry forward a WIP balance of £100. To do this you would enter 700 in the write out field. (800 less 700 equals 100)
Tip: The value of the interims is not relevant when writing out to a value when finalising interim invoices.
For further details on writing out to a value see KB IAS-6709
- Date
When you enter a date in the write out field you can reduce staff time up until a certain date and you will automatically clear all interim invoices present on the client account. For example, on client job Tax you have a staff postings up until 18th November 2008. If you enter a date 18/11/2008 in the write out field then all time on and before 18th November 2008 will be written out and all interim invoices will be cleared.
- All
When you type ‘all’ in the write out field you will reduce the current value of staff WIP to zero. For example, if there was £600 of staff time then this would be written out and the clients account would be reduced to zero. All interim invoice would automatically be finalised.
For further details on ‘write out all’ see KB IAS-6711
- Unspecified
You may wish to finalise you interim invoices without writing out any staff time with your final invoice. When you post your final invoice you may enter 0 in the write out cell. This will not reduce the staff time on the client account but will finalise all interim invoices.
For further details on unspecified write outs see KB IAS-6706
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