About set and agreed fees in invoices

Set fees are most suited to jobs that span multiple months and are invoiced on a regular basis at the same set price each time. For example, you could have a client Consulting job set up for the calendar year and each month you want to invoice the client at a set price.

When you open the related job that has a set fee against it, there is nothing immediately obvious to indicate that there is a set fee. However, once an invoice is created for the job, the draft invoice indicates the set fee. Depending on the current WIP on the job, the system either sends a WIP debit or credit back to the job, which will be used against the next monthly invoice. When the next invoice is created the following month, the invoice amount is at the set fee rate. At the end of the job period, the final monthly invoice is created, and you can use the Subtract Previous Invoices option. This changes the layout of your invoice to identify the total amounts charged for the year. Once the invoice is finalized and printed, you can see the total amount charged for the year, less previous invoices, and the total owing.

Agreed fees are most suited to jobs that tend to be invoiced once only, when the job is completed and the fee is set at an agreed rate. For example, you could have an Annual Accounts job set up for the calendar month and you want to ensure that the job is charged at a specific rate.

When you open the related job with the agreed fee against it, the system indicates the agreed fee within the job details. Once the invoice is created, the system will manage any write-ons or write-offs against the job. When the invoice is reviewed and finalized, you can check the job information to see that the job is now closed and that the Agreed fee has been reached. There is no further opportunity to create additional invoices from this job due to the Agreed fee being reached.

How Practice Manager manages agreed fees in invoices depends on the agreed fee setting. By default the system considers all WIP items when calculating invoices and this includes disbursements.

• When an agreed fee is in place, the system will automatically deduct any previously invoiced jobs, but only up to the agreed fee amount.
• If the WIP amount is over the agreed fee it will do a write off.
• If the WIP amount is under the agreed fee it will automatically add an additional amount to invoice in advance or write-on, depending on your settings.
• You can reduce the WIP line amount below what has already been set, but it will give you a warning.
• You cannot increase the WIP above to any greater than that agreed fee. You would need to remove the agreed fee from the job to do this (remove any draft invoices first and then set the agreed fee).
• If you add an agreed fee after a job has been created, the amount has to be equal to or greater than any existing WIP on the job.
• If the total invoices on that job match the agreed fees, you cannot create any more invoices (the only exception is in the WIP center, where an invoice can be created but it will be zero).