A key factor for firms who invoice professional services is to invoice as quickly as possible. The longer you delay sending the invoice from the time that the service has occurred, the harder it becomes to collect. When this happens, you typically need to include a more detailed description within the invoice to remind the client of the work that was completed. Another issue is that sometimes you may also receive more pushback or disputed charges from the client since it is no longer top of mind of the details of the work done.
This is why we believe that a Work In Progress (WIP) Aging Report is essential in managing your project-based business. By having a clear overview of your WIP, you will be able to see how long certain transactions have been waiting to be invoiced and this could help better align your finance team for the upcoming billing period. By invoicing more quickly, this will in turn reduce the number of discrepancies and write-offs with your client therefore maintaining your project revenue at your projected levels.
Something that you should keep in mind is that faster billing cycle requires a commitment from the entire organization. You can only bill as quickly as the information is entered into the system and approved by the appropriate managers, so everyone in the company must be ready to do their share to ensure a speedy billing process.
One step in that direction is to try and eliminate as many instances where you may be duplicating entries. Having a system where the information can automatically flow from the timesheet application to the financial system is the first step in improving the speed of the entire billing process. An ERP solution that can integrate all of your different steps this will help reduce the amount of time spent entering information, speed up the validation and approval process as well as will decrease the number of potential errors.
This is just one type of report that may help you more efficiently manage your project-based business. Download our eBook to learn more about the other reports on our list at .
By JOVACO Solutions,
