Billing Best Practices |
11:00am July 2, 2008 PST (#1 of 6)
Typically, we bill once a month, at the end of the month. Due to the large number of jobs, this is a process that takes 10+ days. We are now required to complete our billing in less than 5 days after the month end.
Barring cutting the month off early, we're looking to understand how other agencies bill such that our billing can be completed in less than 5 business days, ie:
Do you auto bill the unbilled time?
Do you bill a percentage at the job start and the balance at job end?
Do you accrue all the unbilled time every month, reverse and bill the job once the status shows as complete?
Does your client service staff see a preview invoice before it is mailed?
Do you physically distribute 'hard copy' job folders? (or is all data in C&P? And the client service staff are expected to refer to C&P.
How do you deal with time transfers if 'hard copies' of the job costs are not provided to the client service staff?
We realize this is not an easy question and will require thoughtful responses that take time, but we will greatly appreciate all input.
Thank you for your time.
Regards,
Pam Brosch
02:12pm July 2, 2008 PST (#2 of 6)
I would never be able to handle billing once a month. I do my billing every day. I input payables every day. I cut checks once a week and I do the retainer billing the first of every month. Keeping an even flow of work is important for me and I don't let things sit in my office we keep everything flowing daily through each department. Most of our projects are completed in less than a month so this works fine for me.
Yes I do auto bill the unbilled time.
I usually bill 100% of the job at the end, unless it is a long project then the AE lets me know when to Progress bill and at that time I bill 100% of the time and costs incurred at that time.
I bill our retainers on the 1st day of each month. I bill our production jobs daily as they are completed and I bill media as I get it in from the vendor.
Only the AE sees the preview of the invoice before it is mailed and they have to sign off and make any changes and notes.
We physically distribute the job folders and some of the info is in C&P so I would say it is a hybrid situation.
The AE sees the job costs and is the one to decide if a job cost transfer is necessary. At that point it is seen by the AE and the AE is the only one in client service that needs to see this.
02:19pm July 2, 2008 PST (#3 of 6)
I hope this helps!
Do you auto bill the unbilled time?
NO
Do you bill a percentage at the job start and the balance at job end?
We bill the larger jobs or new clients one-third at the beginning and progress bill until completion. The retainer jobs and the jobs being billed in increments are billed in the first 10 days of the month. I start the billing process for month end around the 20th in order to close out by month end.
Do you accrue all the unbilled time every month, reverse and bill the job once the status shows as complete?
No
Does your client service staff see a preview invoice before it is mailed?
Yes, the AEs review the invoices before mailing
Do you physically distribute "hard copy" job folders? (or is all data in C&P? And the client service staff are expected to refer to C&P.
The norm is that the job file folders are not distributed. If there are questions then we pull that file for the AE.
02:24pm July 2, 2008 PST (#4 of 6)
SEE ANSWERS BELOW:
Typically, we bill once a month, at the end of the month. Due to the large number of jobs, this is a process that takes 10+ days. We are now required to complete our billing in less than 5 days after the month end. Barring cutting the month off early, weÍre looking to understand how other agencies bill such that our billing can be completed in less than 5 business days, ie:
OUR COMPANY BILLS ONCE A MONTH. I TRY TO START BILLING BY THE 5TH OF THE NEXT MONTH SO PREVIOUS MONTH JOB TICKETS ARE TURNED IN AND AE'S HAVE ENTERED TIME ON THE JOBS. (WE JUST BEGAN ENTERING TIME INTO C&P LAST YEAR. BEFORE THAT WE HAD TO ENTER TIME DIRECTLY FROM THE JOB TICKETS AT THE END OF THE MONTH WHICH MOVED BILLING BACK ANOTHER WEEK OR SO). ALSO, MOST OF THE VENDOR INVOICES FOR THE JOBS HAVE ARRIVED TO BE INCLUDED WITH BILLING. IT TAKES APPROXIMATELY 5 DAYS TO COMPLETE BILLING FOR 120-160 JOBS.
Do you auto bill the unbilled time?
I USE AUTO BILLING FOR ALL OUR LARGE CLIENTS AND PROGRESS/FINAL BILLING ON OTHERS. (JUST HAVE TO REMEMBER TO CHANGE STATUS CODE ON ALL JOBS THAT ARE NOT READY TO BILL SO THEY WILL BE AUTO BILL AND THEN HAVE TO BE DELETED).
Do you bill a percentage at the job start and the balance at job end?
MOST OF THE TIME WE DO NOT BILL AT THE START OF A JOB.
Do you accrue all the unbilled time every month, reverse and bill the job once the status shows as complete?
NO
Does your client service staff see a preview invoice before it is mailed?
ONLY THE MANAGER OVER THE AE'S REVIEWS ALL BILLING PREVIEWS AND MAKES ADJUSTMENTS, SOMETIMES CHECKING WITH THE STAFF.
Do you physically distribute hard copy job folders? (or is all data in C&P? And the client service staff are expected to refer to C&P.
YES, WE OPEN JOBS IN C&P AND THEN HAND OUT JOB JACKETS. AE'S USE THEM TO COLLECT PAPERWORK SOMETIMES THAT MAY BE HELPFUL IN THE BILLING PROCESS. I DON'T BILL UNTIL RECEIVING THE JOB JACKETS BACK. THIS LETS US KNOW THE JOB HAS BEEN COMPLETED.
How do you deal with time transfers if hard copies of the job costs are not provided to the client service staff?
N/A
We realize this is not an easy question and will require thoughtful responses that take time, but we will greatly appreciate all input.
I ADMIRE THAT YOU HAVE THINGS ORGANIZED WELL ENOUGH TO BILL AT THE END OF THE MONTH. I WOULD ONLY BE ABLE TO BILL 1/2 TO 3/4 OF JOBS WITH ALL TASKS AND SPACE ENTERED FOR BILLING. I THINK WE BRING MONEY IN SOONER IF WE WAIT THOSE FEW DAYS. ONE THING THAT HAS REALLY HELPED OUR COMPANY IS THAT WE CHANGED OUR DUE DATES FROM 30 TO 15 DAYS NET. BEST OF LUCK.
Gwen Freeman
Bookkeeper
The Bell Group
Versailles KY
04:44pm July 7, 2008 PST (#5 of 6)
At Austin & Williams, all billing is prepared by the Accounting Department. It is the responsibility of the Account Executive to keep track of the progress of their client jobs and generate billing. We bill every day.Some projects require progress billing. In those cases we might bill a percentage at the beginning, a percentage in the middle and a final percentage. All billing is reviewed and approved by the Account Executives. I hope this information is helpful. Thank you.
Sandra Drucker
CFO
Austin & Williams
Hauppauge, NY
02:53pm July 10, 2008 PST (#6 of 6)
We bill weekly and do progress bill one half of the job at the beginning and the remainder upon completion.
The unbilled time is not billed each month and only the project manager previews the invoice before it is mailed by accounting. We do keep a hard copy job folder as a back up, as well as in C&P, which is filed at the job completion. The folder includes sketches, and other information not included in C&P. Time is handled by the project manager and they let the staff know how much they should spend on a job and in what task.
Charlotte Thomas
Madison Design Group
http://madison-design.com
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