Work In Progress (WIP)
Work In Progress for a client is generated from the posted timesheets entered by the firm's staff.
Interim Balance
When you invoice the client and the WIP to be invoiced (including any previously created Interim Balance), and the Invoiced Amount is not equal, an Interim Balance will be created for the difference.
The Interim Balance that will be created by the current Invoice is shown in the Carry Fwd. column under the Job Details tab.
The current Interim Balance will always be the brought forward balance from the last invoice for this client only.
Billable Amount
The Billable amount is made up of the Work in Progress that has not been invoiced and the Interim Balance remaining after the last invoice for the client.
Understanding Interim Balances
When you invoice the client and the WIP to be invoiced (including any previously created Interim Balance) and the Invoiced Amount are not equal, an Interim Balance will be created for the difference.
When preparing an invoice for a client, Time+Billing will default to Invoice the client for the full Billable Amount (WIP not Invoiced and any Interim Balance left over from the previous invoice for this client).
Invoice where there is no previous Interim Balance:
Invoice that has an existing Interim Balance:
Adjust the balance of the invoice
If you need to adjust the balance of the invoice, there are a number of ways that you can do it; however, depending on how the change is made, an Interim Balance may be generated:
Untag any Jobs that you do not want to invoice. If the invoice amount and billable amount for the remaining tagged Jobs remain the same, there will be no Interim Balance.
Change the Invoice Amount so that it is not equal to the Billable Amount, if the difference is not written on or off for the exact difference an Interim Balance will be created.
If you change the Invoice Amount, go to the Fees from WIP section and untag the items not being invoiced (Recommended method), then go to the Job Details section and make any further adjustments. If the remaining tagged items plus any remaining Interim Balance from the previous Invoice are not equal an Interim Balance will be created.
WIP Ledger Entries by Invoiced to Client report
Invoice that has no previous Interim Balance.
Invoice that has an existing Interim Balance
Write off an Interim Balance
An interim balance can be written off in the same way as WIP.
In this example there is an Interim Balance of $150 on one Job and $200 on the other. The client has left you and the outstanding balance is not worth recovering from the client, you can adjust the balance back to zero in the following manner.
You will need to invoice the client and create a zero invoice by writing on and/or off the Interim Balances.
Notes:
Exercise care if you also have a WIP balance, as you will need to add this to the write-off amount so that the Invoice Total remains Zero and the write-off is for the Total of the Interim Balance and the WIP.
There is no need to clear Interim Balances for existing clients, as this balance forms part of your billable work and will appear on their next invoice.
For aesthetic and ease of reference purposes, you may want to add the Billable Column to your Client View in Time+Billing.