Tag Archives: email second round

Lesson #76

Payables – Sales Tax function

If you provide taxable services to clients in states or other areas that charge a tax on receipts, enter the sales tax rate in the firms’ listings and flag which service items are taxable. RB9 automatically calculates sales tax on invoices. This report lists all invoices with sales tax charges generated for a specific period.

How sales tax works in RB9

You enter the appropriate total sales tax rate (state + locality) in every firm listing in RB9 that is located in an area/state that charges sales tax on receipts. Then you mark service items as taxable in RB9’s Service Items Master or in individual billing rate tables.

RB9 calculates the sales taxable amount by adding all of the service items on the invoice that are marked as “sales taxable.” Then RB9 multiples the sales taxable amount by the sales tax rate for the client.

Using this report

The default Sales Tax report lists all invoices generated today that include a sales tax amount. It includes each invoice’s:

• Number
• Date
• Amount
• Amount of sales tax charged
• Bill To Firm
• Job number
• Job date
• Case
• Related business unit

You can generate reports for different dates or date ranges, and for specific business unit(s) in your company.

You can sort your results in the grid by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function RB9 will revert back to the default order). The report in RB9 is not editable but you can export it as an Excel spreadsheet or CSV file to save, share, work with in other applications, and/or print.

NOTE: This is an RB9-only function. It is not included in RB Lite.

TL;DR: View all invoices having sales tax charges generated for a specific period. Export the report as an Excel spreadsheet.

RB concepts in this lesson

Billing rate tables: Amounts that you charge for services are organized into tables, so you can charge different clients different amounts for the same service items by applying different billing rate tables. More >

Bill To Firm: The firm responsible for paying the invoice for a job.

Business Unit: One of your company’s revenue centers or any entity in your business that you want to track separately.

Firm: Business you provide services to — usually law firms.

Service items: Regular charges that you bill to your clients.

Service Item Master: List of your company’s services. More >

Lesson #72

Payables – Sales Commission Report function

In RB9, you can pay sales commissions to 2 groups of people:

• Sales representatives/account executives (Sales Rep resources)
• Resources who bring their own clients to your business and should receive commissions on the revenue generated from their clients’ jobs, or are assigned to receive commissions on jobs from specific cases (Client Of resources)

The Sales Commission Report report lists all invoices that include a commission, grouped and subtotaled by Sales Rep or Client Of resource. A commission is automatically generated from invoices on jobs initiated by a Sales Rep/Client Of resource’s client.

The default report list all invoices posted today that include sales rep commissions. It includes commissions on both originals and copies — and doesn’t deduct resource expenses from commission calculations.

Customize report views

You can view reports:

• For different days or date ranges.
• By payment post date instead of invoice post date.
• For Client Of resources.
• For a single sales rep or Client Of resource.
• For originals only if you do not pay commissions on copy sales.
• For copy sales only.
• Excluding resource costs if you pay commissions based on RARE (Revenue After Resource Expenses) or NIBO (Net Income Before Overhead).
• For one or more of your company’s business units.

Depending on your search conditions, RB9 lists all of the relevant invoices as a report, grouped by Sales Rep/Client Of resource, with each having their own page(s) and a grand total page of all commissionable amounts and commissions. The report’s footer will display which Date Type and date range you used to generate the report.

The report breaks out ordering firm and contact, invoice number and date, whether a commission is for an original transcript or copy, job number and date, commissionable amount, commission, case name, and Sold To firm. In addition to the report subtotaling commissionable amount and commissions by resource, each resource’s total is further broken down into subtotals for ordering contacts and firms.

You can search for a word or phrase in the onscreen report. RB9 will highlight all instances of your searched word/phrase in the report and list them in a scroll box along with the page number where they occur.

Using the report

Besides looking up details about sales commissions, you can use the report to help you adjust commissions in the Override Sales Commission function, and in other ways:

Voided invoices and invoices for which you have issued credit memos or debit memos are listed at the end of each person’s commissions as adjustments so you can void, decrease, or increase the commissions if desired. (You also have the option when voiding or issuing a credit/debit memo on an invoice to not alter the commission, then that invoice will not appear in the Adjustment list.)

Export the report to save it, give to resources, edit in another application, or print.

NOTE: This is an RB9-only function. It is not included in RB Lite.

TL;DR: View all invoices that include a commission grouped and subtotaled by Sales Rep or Client Of resource. Invoices that may require an adjustment to the commission — such as voids — are listed separately for each person.

RB concepts in this lesson

Business Unit (BU): One of your company’s revenue centers or any entity in your business that you want to track separately.

Client Of: Resource that receives a commission for jobs their clients scheduled or that are part of a case the resource was designated as the Client Of resource.

Contact: Person who works for a firm you do business with.

Date Type: Depending on the function you are using, you can choose to see results for different date categories — such as the date an invoice or client payment was posted.

Firm: Business you provide services to, usually law firms.

Ordering Contact: Contact at the firm that is responsible for a job with your company.

Ordering Firm: Firm that is responsible for a job with your company.

Resource: Person or thing that provides your business with a service — such as reporters.

Sold To Firm: Usually the Ordering Firm on a job.

Lesson #71

Payables – Print 1099 Forms function

If you provide your independent contractors with 1099s, use this function to generate PDF federal 1099-NEC forms to print.

When entering resources into RB — or at anytime before issuing 1099s — you can designate if they should be eligible to receive 1099s from you in their resource listings. Not all resources require 1099 forms — for example your conference rooms — so you select which resources should be included in the potential pool of 1099 recipients. If you didn’t designate which resources should be issued 1099s when setting up resources, you can use RB’s Bulk Update tool to designate all potential 1099 recipients at once.

Default settings might be all you need

The Print 1099 Forms function defaults to all potential 1099 recipients for last year who earned more than $600 from any of your company’s business units (BUs). You can :

• Change the date range.
• Restrict the resources to a specific pay group or groups.
• Raise or lower the cutoff earned amount to be included.
• Choose to view resources paid for specific BUs’ jobs.
• View the results for a single resource.

You can sort your results in the grid by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function, RB9 will revert back to the default order). Export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

Before printing 1099s you can click on any resource listed to view/update their RB listing.

In the list of eligible 1099 recipients you select which resources should receive 1099s, then which BU will be issuing the 1099s. RB9 creates a PDF file of the 1099 information to print on preprinted laser-compatible IRS forms. If you use Chrome as your browser for RB9 printing, you can print directly from the browser. Otherwise the PDF automatically downloads, then you print it from Adobe Acrobat.

If the information doesn’t print correctly on the IRS forms, you can make adjustments in RB9 to the margins to align the RB9 output with the 1099-NEC form’s fields.

NOTE: This is an RB9-only function. It is not included in RB Lite.

TL;DR: View summaries of your independent contractors’ taxable pay. Then print out their miscellaneous income information on preprinted laser-compatible IRS 1099-NEC forms.

RB concepts in this lesson

Business Unit (BU): One of your company’s revenue centers or any entity in your business that you want to track separately — such as branch offices, other companies you own, affiliates, and profit-sharing operations.

Resource: Person or thing that provides your business with a service — such as reporters, videographers, interpreters, scopists, account executives, other agencies that cover jobs for you, or a conference room.

Lesson #69

Payables – Print Checks function

After closing payroll and printing a final copy of the Resource Pay Statements report, the last task is to cut checks. You have 3 options in RB9 for generating paychecks:

1. Print resource payroll checks from RB9.
2. Export checks in NACHA format for direct deposits.
3. Transfer checks to QuickBooks.

You do not have to use the same method for all resources — you select which resources get paid via which method when cutting checks.

In the Print Checks function the current pay date (that was just closed) automatically appears in Pay Date — you can select a different closed pay date if desired. RB9 lists all of the resources being paid in the selected payroll along with their check amounts.

You can sort your results in the grid by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function, RB9 will revert back to the default order). Export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

Print checks

If you want to pay by check, you select which resources to pay. Then enter the starting check number — and a memo field message if desired.

RB9 creates a PDF file of the checks to print from Adobe Acrobat, then enters the check numbers and date in the paid resources’ listings in the results grid. RB9 creates the PDF according to your settings to print on your own voucher or standard business checks — including Quickbooks-compatible laser checks. Printed checks include the resource’s billing address instead of their home address if there is one in their RB9 profile.

Direct deposit

You can skip the hassles of printed checks, by direct depositing pay in your resources’ accounts instead. To prepare for direct deposit you must do 3 things:

1. Sign up for direct deposit with your bank.
2. Set up your RB9 system preferences for direct deposit payables. (Some of this information is from your business account, the rest you can get from your bank when you sign up for direct deposit.)
3. Enter your resources’s banking account number, routing number, and account type in their RB9 profiles.

When paying resources you select which resources in the Print Checks function you want to direct deposit paychecks for, export a NACHA-formatted file, and send it to your bank. They will transfer the funds for you. (NACHA stands for National Automated Clearing House Association, which has a system for electronic funds transfers — such as direct deposits — from one bank account to another.)

When you choose to export a NACHA-formatted file, you select the effective date of the deposit (default is two days from today). If any resource doesn’t have banking information in their profile, RB9 will stop the export and alert you to missing information. You can click a resource’s name in the Print Checks screen and add the information to their profile.

RB9 exports NACHA-formatted files with the file name “NACHA-[today’s date].txt” to send to your bank for processing.

QuickBooks checks

If you use QuickBooks to print resource payroll checks and deduct the amounts from your checking account, export pay information here to import into QuickBooks.

Select the resources in the current payroll whom you want to pay through QuickBooks and RB9 will export a file in QuickBooks IIF format to your desktop so you can import it into QuickBooks.

TIP: If you pay resources through QuickBooks, you can skip a step with RB9’s QuickBooks Integrator. By using the QuickBooks Integrator in Tools, you can import payroll directly into QuickBooks and eliminate the need to export payroll first.

NOTE: This is an RB9-only function. It is not included in RB Lite.

TL;DR: You can print paychecks directly from RB9, direct deposit checks, or export them to use in QuickBooks.

RB concepts in this lesson

Resource: Person or thing that provides your business with a service — such as reporters, videographers, interpreters, scopists, account executives, other agencies that cover jobs for you, or a conference room.

Lesson #67

Payables – Send Resource Pay Statements function

After closing payroll archive a copy of the final version of the Resource Pay Statements report for your reference, then either email or print and mail resources their individual pages of the report.

This function looks like the Pay Resources function where you generate draft pay statements and close payroll. Here you select the current pay date that you closed in Pay Resources and the screen displays the Pay Group and cutoff date associated with the pay date selected — so you can double-check that you selected the correct pay date.

The results list all resources to be paid in the current payroll along with the amounts to be paid. You can deselect any resource listed whom you do not want to pay at this time. You can click any resource to view their details — for example to check that they have an email address in their listing.

You can sort your results in the grid by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function RB will revert back to the default order). Export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

Generate a report for your records

After reviewing the on-screen results, you can generate the report for your records: The report lists each invoice (to be paid for the specified payroll) grouped and subtotaled by resource with each resource starting on a new page. The last page of the report lists the grand total amount for all resources included in the report.

You can search for a word or phrase in the onscreen report. RB will highlight all instances of your searched word/phrase in the report and list them in a scroll box along with the page number where they occur. Export the report in a variety of formats to save and/or edit in another application, or print it.

After making a final copy of the Resource Pay Statements report for the office, send resources their pay statements from the same results list.

Provide pay statements in the format resources want

You can email resources their pay statements or print and mail/hand out the statements along with their paychecks. If you will email some pay statements and print others, you will need to send pay statements in 2 separate batches. And you probably don’t have to produce pay statements for any resources that are not people — such as your conference rooms.

In addition to having the email/print option for pay statements you can also choose to send either summary or detailed pay statements. Summary statements only include invoice totals. Detailed pay statements break down invoice totals to include their service items’ details (number of units, pay rate, and subtotal).

Email

To email statements you select which resources will receive the emailed statements, then select which version — summary or detailed — the selected resources will receive. Before sending the statements you can preview and/or edit each pay statement email, change the sender, and attach additional files. Or if you want to make global changes to the pay statement email template update it in System Preferences.

When the statements have been emailed RB notes the outcome for each resource in the Result column. Any statement that failed to send displays the results in red so you can easily see what is wrong. RB also generates an automatic entry in each resource’s Notes Log recording the date, time, and user who sent the email. And RB9 records the emails sent in the Email Log function in Tools so you can refer back to them later.

Print

If you want to give resources their pay statements with their pay checks select which resources will receive the printed statements, then print out the static report in either summary or detailed form.

Online

Save time and money with online statements. If you have RB Connect, resources can view their pay statements (current and past) online — eliminating the need to print or email statements.

TL;DR: After closing payroll send resources their pay statements via email or by printing and handing out/sending as snail mail. Plus archive a final copy for your records.

RB concepts in this lesson

Cutoff Date: Last date for invoices to be included in a pay date. Default is the date of the invoice, but you can use the date invoices were paid for a single resource or all resources tied to a business unit/multiple BUs in your company.

Pay Groups: Categories of time periods your company uses to pay resources, e.g., Monthly, Weekly, On Demand.

RB Connect: Online repository, calendar, and access to your office for clients and resources, including interactive transcripts, downloadable invoices and e-commerce for clients, and online turn-in, one-touch job acknowledgements, and downloadable pay statements for resources. More >

Resource: Person or thing that provides your business with a service, such as reporters, videographers, interpreters, scopists, account executives, other agencies that cover jobs for you, or a conference room.

Lesson #66

Payables – Pay Resources function

Before you can pay resources or send them pay statements you must close (i.e., finalize) payroll. Closing payroll ensures that no changes can be made to the payroll data after you distribute checks and pay statements to your resources.

Before you use this function to close payroll and pay resources you must set up pay dates in your RB System Preferences and enter individual resources’ pay information — such as how long they wait to get paid for an invoice — in their RB listing.

After these initial preparations Pay Resources is where you set payroll for an open payroll date — including reviewing scheduled payments to resources and updating which invoices will be included in payroll. It is also where you close payroll.

Review current payroll

The first step in paying resources is to run the Draft Resource Pay Statements report for review. The Draft Resource Pay Statements report lists each invoice — selected for the specified pay date — grouped and subtotaled by resource. If you or your resources find any errors or missing information, you can modify the current payroll before closing payroll.

To generate the Draft Resource Pay Statements report you select a pay date from the list you set up previously. The Pay Group (i.e., pay period) and Cutoff Date (last date for invoices to be included) associated with the pay date are displayed. (You designate the Pay Group and Cutoff Date when setting up pay dates.) Choosing from a set list minimizes the chance of running the wrong payroll: All open pay dates are listed along with their cutoff dates in chronological order with the earliest one first to make it easier to select the correct pay date.

RB calculates payroll for the selected pay date and shows every resource that has eligible outstanding pay amounts. Clicking any resource listed opens a sub-listing of all of their outstanding invoices with invoice amounts, dates, balances, pay amounts, and other relevant information displayed. Beneath the list of invoices RB lists any pay adjustments not specifically tied to an invoice that will be included in the payroll.

Modify payroll

Click one or more column headers in any sub-listing to sort the order of payments listed in ascending or descending order by those criteria. Only invoices that are checked in the sub-listing are included in this payroll. You can override which invoices to include. You cannot change or remove the non-invoice pay adjustments listed in this function. IF you need to update those use the Pay Adjustments function.

RB automatically selects which invoices to pay based on the Original Term and Copy Term settings for each resource. Terms include the number of days you wait before paying a resource on an invoice and whether the wait period starts from the invoice date or the date the invoice was paid. You can have different terms for originals and copies.

Before closing payroll you can review and modify RB’s selection of invoices for any resource. For example if a reporter asks for more money than is currently due, you can add more invoices to the current pay sheet instead of giving an advance. As you add or remove invoices for a resource the total pay for the resource adjusts on the screen.

If a resource’s list of invoices is too long to see what you want easily based on invoice number, you can click one or more different column headers to sort the list by those columns in ascending or descending order.

You can export the list of resources and their invoices as an Excel spreadsheet to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

Review payroll as a report

You can review this information in its final form as a report and have your resources review their upcoming payroll before closing payroll. Choose summary or detailed draft pay statements which you can print or email to resources. Draft pay statements have the word “Draft” splashed across every page so you don’t accidentally send or archive a draft statement instead of the real thing. If you choose a print version, you can print the report or export it in a variety of formats to view elsewhere or archive.

Draft pay statement reports compile the current payroll into a draft report with one resource per page and a grand total payroll as the last page. Each invoice listed under a resource includes:

• Invoice number and date
• Whether the invoice is for an original or copy
• Pay amount
• Job number and date
• Case name or description
• Sold To Contact
• Resource’s reference number

You can generate 3 versions of the draft pay statement:

• A detailed version for your office that includes the most information listing each invoice broken down by service item, including the billing rate, number of units, pay rate, pay percentage, and pay amount. This is the best draft report to select for verifying pay because it is the most complete.
• A detailed version of the report to either print out or email to resources which lists pay by service item for each invoice included in this payroll. Similar to the detailed office version except it does not include billing rates or pay percentages.
• A summary report which only lists pay amounts by invoice with no further break-downs by service item. This is the draft of the report you either print out or email to resources if you prefer to give them pay statements with no details.

Reset payroll when there are mistakes

If there are any mistakes in the Pay Resources results grid or a draft pay statement, you reset payroll which deletes all entries in the current payroll, then start the payroll over again after correcting the errors. If you find the errors are due to incorrect pay info settings in the resources’ profiles (such as original term or copy term) correct those settings first before resetting the payroll.

Close payroll

After verifying payroll use this function to close payroll. RB finalizes payroll so all checked invoices are included in resource pay for this payroll and will no longer appear as outstanding obligations in payroll. Then use the Send Resource Pay Statements function to make a final copy of the Resource Pay Statements report for your office and send resources their pay statements.

TIP: You can also generate a report in Pay Resources that includes all resources who are owed money on outstanding invoices — whether they are scheduled to be paid on this pay date or not — for your records.

TL;DR: Review a specific pay date’s invoices, grouped and subtotaled by resource. Review and modify RB’s automatic selection of invoices for any resource. You can also reset (restart) an incorrect payroll.

RB concepts in this lesson

Pay Group: Category of time period your company uses to pay resources, e.g., Monthly, Weekly, On Demand.

Reference No. (for resources): If a reporter or other resource (such as an agency which works for other agencies) bills you for work done, enter their invoice number as the reference number when turning in jobs so they will know which of their invoices you are paying on their pay statements.

Resource: Person or thing that provides your business with a service — such as reporters, videographers, interpreters, scopists, account executives, other agencies that cover jobs for you, or a conference room.

Sold To Contact: Person who ordered the services on the invoice. Usually the Ordering Contact on a job.

Lesson #65

Payables – Pay Adjustments function

Before closing payroll adjust resource earnings in the current payroll for amounts not tied to specific invoices — such as a bonus or repayment of an advance. You can also apply recurring deductions to the current payroll, make pay adjustments to other open payrolls, and look up pay adjustments made in closed payrolls.

The default Pay Adjustments results show all resources with outstanding pay adjustments. Important information about each adjustment is displayed in the main grid.

Searching pay adjustments

You can choose to view open or closed pay dates (if you want to check previous payrolls for overlooked pay adjustments). If looking at open pay adjustments you can choose to see all open adjustments or only those for a specific pay date. If checking previous payrolls you can search a date range. You can also view pay adjustments for a single resource. (Pay Groups and cutoff dates are designated when setting up pay dates.)

Listings in the results grid display:

• Pay Date
• Pay Group
• Resource
• Amount paid/deducted
• Any remarks/notes

The cutoff date (last date for invoices to be included) for the pay date appears in the search criteria but is uneditable.

You can sort your results in the grid by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function RB will revert back to the default order). Export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

Adding pay adjustments

To add one-off adjustments you select the resource then enter the amount and any notes you want. To include recurring deductions set them up first in the resource’s RB listing by entering the recurring amount and the start and end dates for the repayments. Then Pay Adjustments will list all resources with pay adjustments eligible for the selected payroll so you can easily select one, some, or all of them and apply the deductions to the current payroll automatically.

If you add a pay adjustment without a defined pay date the adjustment is automatically set to the next payroll. However if the open pay adjustment is a negative amount, it is set to the next payroll only if the amount can be deducted. Otherwise it remains an open pay adjustment. And if you reset payroll the pay date is automatically cleared for open pay adjustments which will be set again to the next payroll.

Pay adjustments vs. pay overrides

Use Pay Adjustments when you want to increase or decrease a resource’s payroll amount for a reason not related to a specific job or invoice — such as a bonus or a repayment of an advance on outstanding invoices. This includes recurring amounts — such as if a resource is paying back an advance in installments.

Use Override Resource Pay when you want to increase or decrease the amount a resource is paid for a billable service item tied to a specific job/invoice, add new service items to invoices to pay resources for but not bill clients for, or change which resources to pay.

TL;DR: Before closing payroll, adjust resource earnings for the current payroll including applying recurring deductions.

RB concepts in this lesson

Pay Groups: Categories of time periods your company uses to pay resources, e.g., Monthly, Weekly, On Demand.

Resource: Person or thing that provides your business with a service — such as reporters, videographers, interpreters, scopists, account executives, other agencies that cover jobs for you, or a conference room.

Lesson #64

Payables – Override Resource Pay function

If you forgot to include resource pay when calculating an invoice or you used the wrong pay rate so the pay amount is wrong, you can manually change resource pay amounts on posted invoices as long as you haven’t paid the resource yet. (If you have paid the resource but want to adjust pay tied to a posted invoice you will have to reset payroll.)

Use this function to correct pay amounts for specific service items on posted invoices. You can also:

• Add pay for miscellaneous charges you are not billing to the client but want tied to the invoice, such as mileage or parking at the deposition.
• Add pay for other resources for miscellaneous charges you are not billing to the client.
• Change the resource for specific service items.

Overriding resource pay does not change the invoice for the client because the invoice has already been posted. This function only affects the amount paid by your office and/or the payee for work related to the invoice.

Correct the pay side of invoices

Look up the invoice that needs resource pay corrected by either its invoice number or job number. RB displays the invoice broken down by resource with the associated witness(es) listed beneath each resource. You can export the list as an Excel spreadsheet to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

Billed services are listed for each witness. If the resource has not been paid yet the services are editable.

If you made a mistake on a resource’s pay for a service item listed you can correct the pay rate, the pay rate type (either flat rate or percentage), and the minimum pay for the service item.

If you want to pay resources for miscellaneous services not charged on posted invoices or add additional resources to pay for miscellaneous charges you are not billing to the client, you select:

• The current resource or one from your RB database. You can also look up resources by task assignments.
• A miscellaneous service item and how many units to bill.
• A pay rate table to generate pay automatically or manually enter the rate to multiply the number of units of the service item. If the resource you are paying has a pay rate assigned to them that pay rate will appear as the default but you can use a different pay rate if desired.

If the wrong resource is listed for payment on an invoice you can delete the resource and select a new one if you have not posted the invoice yet.

Any new additional pay entered appears as a line item on the invoice in RB. You can export the updated invoice to use in other applications, print, and/or archive.

Pay overrides vs. pay adjustments

Use Override Resource Pay when you want to:

• Increase or decrease the amount a resource is paid for a billable service item tied to a specific job/invoice.
• Add new service items to invoices to pay resources for but not bill clients for.
• Change which resources to pay.

Use Pay Adjustments when you want to:

• Increase or decrease a resource’s payroll amount for a reason not related to a specific job or invoice, such as a bonus or a repayment of an advance on outstanding invoices.
• This includes recurring amounts, such as if a resource is paying back an advance in installments.

TL;DR: Add or change resource pay amounts for individual service items on posted invoices. Add pay for service items not charged to the client such as parking. Change the resource to pay.

RB concepts in this lesson

Additional pay: Payment to resources for miscellaneous services not charged on posted invoices. For example, you pay a resource for parking at a deposition without billing the client but you want the payment tied to the job’s invoice.

Resource: Person or thing that provides your business with a service, such as reporters, videographers, interpreters, scopists, account executives, other agencies that cover jobs for you, or a conference room.

Lesson #62

Receivables – Collection Forecast function

When a client promises to make a payment at a future date on an outstanding invoice, record it in their RB9 records. Then you can project increases in your cash flow based on the promised payment dates and amounts of outstanding invoices.

The Collection Forecast lists all of the clients with payment-promised dates and amounts for a specified period so you can forecast cash inflow to your business.

Customize your forecast

The promised date defaults to today but you can select any date range to view. You can also narrow results to clients tied to a single collector in charge of collecting their overdue payments — for example if you want to see only those accounts that are your responsibility. Based on the amounts and dates promised by clients for outstanding invoices, you can forecast cash inflow to your business.

Listings in the results display the firm name, the promised date and amount, and the collector. A total amount of all the listed amounts is included at the bottom.  You can sort your results in the grid by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function, RB9 will revert back to the default order). Export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

View & update individual collection activity

You can also monitor your collection progress with clients, document new attempts, and view graphs of clients’ account activity by clicking a hyperlinked firm in the Collection Forecast results to view the firm’s collection history and account overview.

NOTE: This is an RB9-only function. It is not included in RB Lite.

TL;DR: Project changes in your cash flow based on the promised payment dates and amounts of outstanding invoices listed in this function.

RB concepts in this lesson

Firm: Business you provide services to, usually law firms.

Lesson #56

Receivables – Send Statements function

RB can generate monthly statements that summarize clients’ overdue invoices. Send these monthly statements and/or open (overdue) invoices to clients either by email or regular mail.

Attorneys receive separate statements unless their firm is flagged to consolidate statements in which case the consolidated statements would be sent to “Accounts Payable” at the firm’s billing address.

Statements list overdue invoices including the date, number, balance due, related job number and date, witness, and case for each invoice. Overdue invoice listings are color coded on statements to make older invoices stand out.

Statements can include copies of the invoices that show any payments, credits, finance charges, and the invoice’s current balance. Invoices can be stamped PAST DUE in red to enforce your message. If you or your clients prefer, you can send only the current invoices instead of the statement.

You can include insurance claim numbers on statements. And you can customize your company’s statements including color coding, graphics, text, and payment options. If you send statements by email you can customize the subject line and message of the email that accompanies the PDF statement. You can edit individual emails before sending them and attach additional files if desired.

Generate list of overdue clients

Enter a client’s preferred method of receiving statements — email, print, or don’t send — in their RB firm listing. Then when generating statements in Send Statements you can search for only those clients whose sending method matches the method you are using to send statements. You can choose to search for only email, print, or don’t send clients, or any combination of the three options.

You can search for all open invoices over 30 days old or pick a different date range to include. You can search for all clients with open invoices, search for parent companies to send statements to, or narrow the results to a single firm or parent company.

You can restrict results to specific firm classes (if you rank or rate law firms), firms tied to a single case, and/or firms tied to one or more of your company’s business units.

The results returned list all of the firms that meet the specified search condition(s) along with their outstanding amounts. You can sort your results in the grid by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function, RB will revert back to the default order). Export the results list of clients with overdue invoices as an Excel or CSV file to archive, share, print, or use elsewhere.

Send statements

From the results returned you can select one, some, or all of the firms to send statements to. Then select the send method such as email statement, statement and invoices, or open invoices only. You have the same options for printing to send via regular mail. For “don’t send statement” clients you can use the print options to generate reports you can export or print for your records or to use otherwise.

If you email statements RB records the emails sent in the Email Log function in Tools (RB9 only function), so you can refer back to them later. RB also makes an entry in the client’s Notes Log that includes the receiver’s email address.

TL;DR: Monthly statements summarize each client’s overdue invoices. Email or print customized statements with or without invoices, or email/print the open invoices without a statement.

RB concepts in this lesson

Business Unit (BU): One of your company’s revenue centers or any entity in your business that you want to track separately.

Firm: Business you provide services to, usually law firms.

Notes Logs: Un-editable internal-use only notes entered either by a user or automatically by RB appear in chronological logs in the database record where they occurred. More >

Parent Firm: Headquarters of a multi-branch corporation.