General professional services

Any firm that sells its people's time and expertise to clients, billed by the hour, a fixed fee or a monthly retainer, works the same way in Kila.

For a professional firm that is not a consultancy, an accounting or law firm, an agency, an IT firm or a property manager, Kila works the same way: the work is organised in projects for clients, the team records its time, and the time, expenses and milestones are invoiced to the client’s account.

What is special

Kila gives the firm the same Practice section as a consultancy: My day, Projects, Time, Client requests, Billing, New client and Practice reports. Start with Open a project for a client. The owner can rename what a project and a client are called, under Settings on the projects page.

There is no demo firm of this kind yet. Mizani Associates, an accounting firm, shows the same projects, time and billing screens.

How Kila sets it up

The main screen is Clients and projects.

Rules it follows:

None. Kila's standard rules apply.

Its words:

Most businesses	General professional services
customer	client
sale	invoice
receipt	invoice
staff	team member

Its set-up steps

Business details and KRA PIN
Services and rates
Team members and rates
Clients
First project or retainer

Its home page

Each card shows only where the firm uses what it counts, and to the people whose role may see it.

My day
Client requests outstanding
Billing this month
Lock-up and realisation
Unbilled time and expenses
Invoices due and overdue; cash received
Withholding certificates to collect
Over budget
Fees billed by fee earner this month
Team utilisation
Retainers billing this month
Payments waiting for confirmation
Approvals and reviews waiting
Licences, permits and returns due

Roles it starts with

Billing and credit control: Issues the approved bills, sends statements, chases overdue clients and collects withholding tax certificates.
Project lead: Runs projects and retainers: the team, the budget and scope, retainer hours, and the month’s bills.
Consultant: Works on the projects on their team: tasks, client requests and their own time and expenses.

Where to go next

Professional services: everything a professional firm needs.