Step by step
Run the month-end billing
Draft bills from the work in progress, write a fee down or up with the reason, have a partner approve each bill, then invoice it to the client's account.
At the end of the month the firm turns its work in progress into bills. Practice › Billing does it in stages: “Work in progress drafted as bills, reviewed and approved by a partner, then invoiced to the client’s account with eTIMS.” Each stage can be done by a different person, as at Mizani Associates: the engagement manager drafts, a partner approves, and billing and credit control invoices.
Draft the bills
Open Practice › Billing. Work in progress lists each client with unbilled work: the billing partner, the age of the oldest work, what the client owes, and each engagement’s hours, time, disbursements and milestones. Choose a partner’s clients with Every partner, then tap Draft on a client, or tick several and tap Draft … selected, or Draft all. Kila says, for example, “1 draft bill made.”
Review the draft, and write it down if need be
Open the bill from the Draft bills tab. The Narrative is “Printed on the invoice; up to 300 characters.” The lines are as they will be invoiced. Under Write down or up, type the fee to bill for an engagement and the Reason: “The fees to bill for an engagement (time and milestones), with the reason. Disbursements are billed as they are.”
Tap Save changes
Kila says “DB-… changed.” The fee line shows the write-down, such as less KES 3,000, and the bill reads At standard KES 27,000 · to bill KES 24,000. Pro forma prints the bill as “not a tax invoice”, for the client to see first: “A tax invoice with its eTIMS number follows when the bill is issued.”
A partner approves it
A partner opens the bill and taps Approve: “A partner approves this bill before it is invoiced (not the person who drafted it).” Kila says “DB-… approved.” The bill shows Approved, by the partner’s name.
Invoice it
Billing and credit control, or a manager, opens the approved bill. Choose whether to Email the invoice to the client, then tap Invoice. Kila says:
The bill shows Invoiced, with its invoice number.
Not available yet
Invoices go through eTIMS in test mode: “Kila’s eTIMS test service confirmed it. KRA has not seen it.” They carry test numbers and are not valid fiscal receipts until Kila’s KRA connection is ready.
A partner tries to approve their own draft
Link to this section: A partner tries to approve their own draftAsk another partner to approve it. Kila keeps drafting and approving apart: whoever drafted a bill never approves it.
The bill should not go out
Link to this section: The bill should not go outTap Cancel on the draft. Kila says “DB-… cancelled. Its work is back in the list.” The work waits under Work in progress for the next run.
Needs a manager
The owner chooses whether a partner approves each bill, under Settings on Practice › Engagements: “A partner approves each bill before it is invoiced (not the person who drafted it)”. Mizani Associates has it on.
- Invoice unbilled time and expenses: invoicing one client’s work straight from the Unbilled tab.
- Record a withholding tax certificate: the Tax withheld tab on the same page.
- Engagement partner and Credit controller: their part in the run.
Next: collect what is owed: Remind a client about overdue invoices.