You can start Actionstep billing  immediately but we do recommend you go through this list to ensure you get the maximum benefit.
Each step is marked as required, optional or recommended.  The steps also provide a link to additional resources when necessary

1. Use the links below to learn more about New Billing functionality

New Billing functionality (Optional)

Actionstep has added all the new billing functionality below.  

New functionality includes:

• Fixed Fee Billing
• Streamlined Billing Process
• Mass Billing (Printing and Emailing)
• Bill customization at Matter Level
• General Retainer
• Client invoice Discounts and Quotes
• Write off functionality
• Track Fee Revenue by Lawyer
• Enhanced Productivity Reporting

• Improved data Import capabilities

2. Run Selected reports from your current billing and accounting system (Optional but recommended if you are moving over balances - manually or importing)

From your billing and accounting system run the following reports if possible:

• Work in Progress (all unbilled time and fees)
• Accounts Receivable Report (with lawyer fee allocations or at the very least a breakdown between fees, expenses and taxes)
• Trust balances for each client and bank account
• General Retainer (or credit balances) for each client 

For Accounting set up you should consult the userguide

• Accounting setup:  Accounting Setup 
• Accounting go live:  Accounting go live

Running these reports are optional but will be helpful if you are importing matter opening balances into Actionstep.  It can also be useful if you are going to manually enter opening balances for your matters.

3. Review Accounting method Cash or Accrual Accounting (Optional but recommended)

Consult with your accountant but US law firms typically use Cash method of accounting while other jurisdictions typically use Accrual. This setting will impact when revenue and expenses will impact the general ledger and your financial statements.

For more information go to: Accounting Method 

4. Pick your startup dates (Required)

Select a go live date from which you will start billing in Actionstep. There are 2 dates you can set including:

• Historic Data:

  This is important for existing Actionstep who may have time and expenses in Actionstep that has already been billed. Actionstep will ignore and time and expenses prior to this date when creating bills.  If you are a new user you can disable this option
  
  Go to Admin > Billing Settings > Historic Data
  
  
  for more infrormation, see Startup dates.
  
  

  If you are going to be importing accounts receivable balances you will need to set the date back far enough to allow the import of the oldest outstanding bill. 
  After the import has been completed you should set the date.  

  If you do not bill all matters at the same time and have unbilled and billed time in the same periods you may have to handle the billing of some matters on an individual basis.

  Example: You have been entering time on a matter (Matter A) for six months and will only bill when the case is complete.  You also have many have corporate matters that you bill on a regular monthly basis.  In this situation the date (in selection above) above will not work for all of your matters because setting the date to the end of the last regular billing period would cause any existing time entries on matter A entered prior to the last billing period to be ignored.   In this scenario you have a few options available including; deleting billed time, changing the date above temporarily until after you bill the matter etc. 
  
   Please contact support for the list of options available to you.

• Lockout Date:

No transactions can be created prior to this date through data entry screens or data imports. This means that accounting entries including but not limited to time, expenses, checks, payables, bills, receipts, trust activity and write offs would need to be dated after you 

Go to Admin > Accounting > Accounting Preferences > System Restriction

5. Setup or review Responsible Lawyer role (Required)

A responsible lawyer is a special billing designation that is required in order to bill any matters. You can run reports, get summaries and bill by responsible lawyer.

By default, the Responsble Lawyer role is associated with the "Attorney" participant type. This setting can be adjusted by an administrator.

Access: Admin > Billing Settings > Participant Type Setup

Resources: Admin > Billing Settings

6. Setup all System users / timekeepers (Required) 

Create logins for all your system users (timekeepers).  This will ensure you have everyone available to associate fee accounts for and for setting up responsible attorneys.

Resources: CreatingaLogin

7. Setup Lawyer Fee Allocation defaults (Optional but recommended)

By default, Actionstep is set to prorate fees. This means that each timekeeper will be credited with the dollar value of the work allocated to them. This setting can be changed on a system or matter level.

Select "Edit timekeeper fee income accounts" to change or review the income accounts associated with each timekeeper. Your timekeeper's income accounts will default to the gl account indicated under Admin>Billing Settings>Default Income Accounts>Fees. Setting a separate account for each timekeepr will allow you to view fee splits on your income statement. 

Access:  Admin > Bill Settings


For more information, please see Admin > Billing Settings.

8. Select default Income GL Accounts for fee and expense revenue (Optional but recommended)

When you receive payments from clients Actionstep credits revenue accounts for both fees and expenses. If timekeeper fee income accounts are not set up the system will credit the GL account shown below. For expense revenue the system will also default to one account.   Expense revenue includes income from expenses that you bill clients such as disbursements (soft cost), checks you write and accounts payable entries that are associated to matters (hard costs). 
We recommend you create a separate expense revenue GL account and associate here so you can differentiate between expense and fee revenue on your financial statements.

Access: Admin > Bill Settings


For more information, please see Admin > Billing Settings.

9. Select Income accounts for Hard Costs (Optional) 

If you want to control the GL account that is credited when you receive client payment against payables or checks that were associated to a matter you can edit the expense GL account (that you use when creating the check or payable) and designate an income account you want them to affect when client payment is made.

Access: Accounting > Accounts > Accounts List (pick Master Accounts and select GL account)

10. Set up General Retainer (Applicable to all Required only if you wish to use General Retainer) 

Not all jurisdictions allow for General Retainers which is the ability to hold unearned client monies in your operating account instead of a Trust account. This functionality also allows you to use that money to pay bills automatically or refund the funds to clients.  If you do not wish to use this functionality you can move to the next step. 

1. To use it 1. Enable it at Firm level by going to Admin > Bill Settings > General Retainer
   
   Once you have set this up then any newly created matter will have General Retainer enabled (this can be turned off at the matter level)
   
   

2. Once it has been enabled you now have some additional options including:
   Pick a liability account that will be used when creating general retainer transactions.
   

   You will need to first create a retainer liability account under Accounting > Accounts > Account List.  We recommend you create a liability account but you should consult with your accountant on which one is best to use.  Once entries have been made to this GL account you will not be able to change this

3. Choose what the retainer can be applied against at the time of billing.
   
   You can use retainer balance to pay only new charges or new charges and AR. Again this will be the new matter default which can be changed at the matter level. Note: You can still use retainer balances to pay AR through the receipt function.
   
   
4. Choose if payment is automatic or manual at billing time
   
   
   When creating a bill you can have the payment applied automatically or force the user to manually apply it.
   
   For more information please see Admin > Billing Settings.

11. Trust Accounting Billing Behavior (Optional but recommended if using Trust Accounting)

With EBM you now have some automation for applying trust funds at the time of billing. These controls allow you to dictate behavior at billing.
 

1. If you are new to Actionstep Billing you will need to enable trust accounting first.
   For more details see: https://actionstep.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/KB/pages/1835812/Trust+Account+Setup
   
   
2. Go to Admin >> Accounting > Trust Accounting
   
   
   
   1. To Pay – specify what trust balances will pay at billing time, options include new charges or new charges and AR. This will be the new matter default which can be changed at the matter level.
      
      Note: You can still use trust balances to pay AR through trust.
      
      
   2. Payment Automation: Choose if you want the payment from Trust is automatic or if you want the user to manually input the transfer.  This setting is for new matter creation but can be changed individually at the matter level.
      
      
   3. Combine multiple payments by  allows you to choose how many trust payments are created when using the Trust Make payment (multi) or Pay invoice (multi) options.
      
      
   4. Statement on Bill – If the bill template you use has a trust section you can have all historical trust activity appear on the bill or just new entries that have occurred since the last bill.

12. Setup Taxes (Required only if you use Taxes) 

This option is only available if you have taxes set up in your system.   If you do not have this set up and wish to set up taxes go to Tax Setup

Once this is setup you will have access to the tax settings under Admin > Bill Settings.  These options are the defaults for new matter creation.  These settings can be changed individually at the matter level.

1. Enable taxes so you can bill taxes on client bills. The default is not taxable.
   
   
2. New Matters are option allows you to indicate if newly created matters have taxes turned on or off
   
   
3. Using tax rate allow you to specify which tax rate is used by default on new matters.
   
   
4. Tax applies on – lets you choose what charges taxes are applied on. The default is fees and expenses. Note: Taxes can be changed individually at the matter level.
   
   Resources: Bill Settings for Taxes  

13. Bill Templates (Option but recommended)

Bill templates let you control what and how charges appear on a client bill. You have complete control over what appears on a bill.  Actionstep comes complete with five professional bill templates.  You can use one of these templates as is or modify them.  Most firms simply add their logo.  

Preview the bill templates to ensure that they meet your needs. You can easily do this by billing a single matter, changing the template and clicking preview.  You do not have to save the bill. 

1. You can quickly do this by going to Global Create Button > Bill > Preview
   
   
   
2. Matters can be set to an hourly or fixed fee billing profile and in the settings you can control the default template that is used when a matter is assigned one of the profiles.  This can be changed at the matter level. Additionally when you bill a matter you can  also overide the matter default on the billing screen.
   
   
   Resources:  
   1. Bill settings
   2. Resources: Data:  Document will be availble soon

Prepare check writing

New check writing and banking functionality will be available shortly.

14. Setup for Hourly and Fixed Fee Billing (Optional)

Actionstep lets you create a separate billing profile for hourly and fixed fee billing arrangements. When you create a billable matter, you can specify one of the billing arrangements and the matter inherits the settings from this screen. Each Billing arrangement comes complete with its own settings of which some can be changed at the matter level.

Access: Admin > Bill Settings > Hourly Invoice / Fixed fee invoices

For more information on these settingsm, see Matter Bill Options

15. Customize Email Templates (Optional)

Actionstep lets you email bills.  The email template lets you customize the subject and body of the email.  You can include balances, your firm’s logo and more on the email itself. 
Ensure that the default email templates used for Billing suit your needs. 

Access: Admin > Email > Email Templates

For more information  on email templates, see Email Templates

16. Setup Hourly Rates (Required)

As with any new timekeeping and billing system, hourly rates should be set up so that fees are properly calculated as staff enter time.

See Setting up Rate Sheets for more information on on how to do this. 

17.Setup Quick Codes (Optional) 

This option helps simplify data entry when doing time, receipts, tasks, write off etc. This can be used to categorize your entries as well as saving you on typing long descriptions.

Access: Admin > Timekeeping > Quick Codes


See Quick Codes for more information

18. Setup Individual Matters for Billing (Optional) 

Matters can be customized individually for billing. Each matter can be set up differently than the firm settings and there are specific settings that are unique to the matter itself including:

1. Option for printing or emailing bills
2. Billing rate overrides
3. Ability to have specify an evergreen retainer replenishment
4. Exclude from mass billing
5. Bill only expenses
6. Quote / Estimate / Discount
7. Indicate if matter is set for e-billing (UTBMS task codes)
8. Fixed fee schedule
   
   

Access:  Matter Details > Billing > Matter Bill Options


Resources:  Matter bill options

19. Import Work in Progress and Accounts Receivable Balances (Optional)

If you plan on importing opening balances for your files please ensure

1. All the accounting and billing restriction dates are set back far enough to so you are able to import the oldest outstanding balance (EBM Quick Start for new users#dates
2. Matters and contacts are created / imported first in your system.
3. Any attorney that will get fee credit or associated as a timekeeper for time should also be set up as a system user.
4. Lawyer fee allocations (GL accounts) are set up so we know what GL accounts to credit when payments come in.
   Alternatively, you can just have the fee allocations go to the default GL account (reports will still show the breakout).
   Fee Allocation

See Data Import Tool for more information.

20. After Import re-run Billing Reports from above (Required if importing balances)

Run Time and AR Reports (if you have imported data) to ensure it matches the balances you had from your past billing system.  Theykey here is that the work in progress and the Accounts Receivable balances match (and any other balances you may be importing like Trust balances).

The reports you should run are:

• Work in Progress 
  • EBM WIP Report
    Run for all dates.  
    
    
    The report willgive you totals for WIP
    
    If you want complete details on unbilled time you can run the Time and Fees Entries Report for all dates.
    
    
    On the advanced tab of the report be sure to select "unbilled" for Bill status.  
    
    The report totals should match the work in progress from your previous system if you attempted to import all the unbilled time.  
    
    If you already had time in Actionstep (and you didnt import time) your goal should be to ensure that the work in progress balances (if you have this in your existing billing and accounting system) should match Actionstep's WIP balance.  Remember all time in Actionstep (if you werent using classic billing) is considered unbilled.  We have instructions on how to do this handling unbilled time
    
    
  • Accounts Receivable Balances
    • Aged Receivables 
      run up untill today's date (unless you have postdated bills)
      
      
      The totals on this report should match your AR balances from the reprt from your previous system.   
      
      
    • General Retainer Balances
      If you have general retainer balances in your old billing / accounting system you should manually enter those into Actionstep.