Open a project for a client

Every hour, expense and invoice in a professional firm belongs to a project for one client. Open the project first: then the team can log time on it, and Kila keeps its budget, cost and what is still unbilled up to date.

Kila calls a project by your firm’s word: an engagement at an accounting firm, a property at a property manager, a project everywhere else. The pictures are from Mizani Associates, an accounting firm.

Before you start

• The client is already in Kila. A new client is added under Customers, or with Practice › New client at an accounting firm.

Steps

1. Open the projects page

   Open Practice › Engagements (Projects or Properties in your firm’s words). The page is called Clients and engagements: “Each engagement with its budget, the time and expenses on it, what is billed and what is not.” Tap New engagement.

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2. Name the work and choose the client

   Type a Name that says what the work is, such as “Tax advice on the new water bottling plant”. Under Client, type the first letters of the client’s name and choose them from the list.

3. Choose how it is billed

   Under Billed by, choose Time and expenses (the hours at the team’s rates, plus expenses), Fixed fee (milestones) (an agreed fee billed in stages) or Monthly retainer (a fee each month that includes some hours).

4. Set the budget and the lead

   Both are optional, and worth it: the Budget in shillings and Budget hours, and the Lead, the person who runs the work. Bill time as chooses the service the invoice names: “Without one, time is billed as Professional fees.” See Set a project’s budget and rates.

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   Steps 2 to 5 on one form.

   

5. Choose its type

   If your firm keeps types of work, choose one under Type. Kila adds the type’s checklist of tasks to the project, and says under the form how many tasks it adds.

6. Tap Save

   The project’s own page opens, with its number and billing (PRJ-… · Time and expenses), the client and who leads it, the budget used so far, and Log time for the team.

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For your business

For accounting firms

Types of engagement. The Type list is Tax compliance, Audit, Bookkeeping and payroll, Company secretarial and Advisory. Each type brings its checklist of tasks.

For property managers

A property for a landlord. Tap New property: the client is the landlord who owns it. Then add its units: see Add a property and its units.

Steps differ for accounting firms and property managers. Choose your businessNothing here differs for your business, .

What if

The client is not in the list

Kila shows:

No customer matches. Check the spelling or add them first.

Check the spelling, or search by another part of the name. If the client is new, add them first, then open the project.

Kila refuses the dates

Kila shows:

That did not go through

The engagement cannot be due before it starts.

Change Starts or Due so that the work is due after it starts, then tap Save again.

Save stays grey

Kila needs a Name of at least two letters and a Client before it saves.

Needs a manager

Opening projects is for the people who run the work: the owner, engagement partners and managers, project leads and property managers. Associates and consultants log time on the projects they work on.

Related

• Set a project’s budget and rates: what an hour is billed at, and the warning before the budget runs out.
• Put the team on a project: who works on it.
• Professional services: how Kila works for a professional firm.

Next: the team logs time on it: Record your time.