Hi,
We've had trouble with some clients overpaying bills. The boss thinks it would be a good idea to have our bill refer to outstanding balances by invoice number so that it's harder to pay the same invoice twice. Makes sense.
I've added the following to a copy of our billing template. The tokens are in an Invoice History group:
"Payment on the following invoices is outstanding:
date of invoice invoice # amount owing on invoice interest total due on invoice
[AR Date] [Inv #] [Prnc Due] [Int Due] [Tot Due]"
It works... mostly. The problem is, it shows the entire invoice history. That ends up being a big long string of zeros. Is there any way I can only show invoices where there is an outstanding balance?
If no one is able to provide help on this can any of you recommend somewhere I might find an answer? Another forum? Or a consultant who's good at this type of thing?
Thanks very much!
I don't think there is a way to do what you are requesting. Perhaps a different approach might work. Maybe we can find a way to make the amount owed clearer. The ideas that come to mind are
(1) Changing the font for amount owed so it stands out
(2) Adding something at the end of the bill that states specifically what is owed. It could be something like a submit this with payment box that shows the amount due, the invoice number and a space for them to indicate payment amount enclosed
(3) A note at the top of the bill stating something like following is your invoice reflecting an amount due of $xxxx. This way they know what they need to pay before they look through the bill
(4) Not show past invoices on the bill, just balance due and generate a statement to show history.
Caren Schwartz (Moderator/CIC)
35-45 Consulting
& Time & Cents Consultants, LLC
Southport, CT
www.3545consulting.com / www.timeandcents.com
203-254-7736
Software for Managing Time, Money & Information
Time Matters, Billing Matters, Billing Matters Plus, PC Law CIC
Thanks very much for your help Caren. We already do your first and second suggestions. I will give your other ideas some thought.
Cheers,
Fraser Page
Consultant in Toronto? Barb Brown is who we recommend and she is also part of our team on projects. She was the training manager and worked for PCLaw (before they were acquired by Lexis). You can see her bio here: http://www.bblawinc.ca/Biography.aspx
To look at your question though, there are a few variables that anyone would need to know. If this billing for 1 matter where they have multiple outstanding invoices? If it billing for the client and you are billing many matter? Do you use the Client Summary? Do invoices age for very long or is it the pay a bit slowly so their payment and your next bill pass in the "mail"?
Matt
Matt Stone, LLB Premier CIC - Forum Administrator 7SecondSystem.comThe 7 Second Blog
LexisNexis Platinum Achievement Circle 2009 Top Sales Producer – Time Matters
We bill by client. For some clients we have many matters. Where there are outstanding invoices it is often the case that there are multiple outstanding invoices.
We don't use the client summary. I'm not really clear on what the benifit of this would be.
You asked: Do invoices age for very long or is it the pay a bit slowly so their payment and your next bill pass in the "mail"?
It's a bit of both. Some invoices age for a very long time. Other times a payment and a bill might pass in the mail.
I hope I've answered your questions satisfactorily. Thanks for your help!
The client summary is a listing of all matters within the client and a synopsis of the amounts billed and total owing. You can add this to any bill run on the options tab of billing. There is a default client summary but it can be customized.