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Hourly Billing In Canopy

  • ~ minute read

Hourly billing offers flexibility and transparency for your firm.

It's ideal for one-time projects or ongoing services where the workload isn’t clearly defined. Benefits include the ability to adjust for actual time spent, reducing the risk of underestimating time, and providing clients with a clear view of how their money is used.

Track Time 

If you choose to bill by the hour, you’re likely already doing a great job tracking your billable hours. As a quick refresher, here are a couple of ways to create a time entry in Canopy.

 

Add a Time Entry

Time Entry.gif

  1. Click on the Global Plus Button 
  2. Select Time Entry 
  3. Add client information 
  4. Choose a service item 
  5. You can also add details for tasks, subtasks, and notes.

You can also choose to start a timer

start timer.gif

  1. Click on Time in the global navigation bar
  2. Select Start New Timer
  3. Add client information 
  4. Choose a service item 
  5. You can also add details for tasks, subtasks, and notes. 
  6. Save your time when you are done. 

To learn more about tracking billable time in Canopy, check out this video. 

After tracking your time, you’ll likely want to view all of your unbilled work in progress (WIP).

 

To view your WIP report:

WIP Report.png

  • Select Time in the global navigation bar
  • Choose WIP Report. 
  • This page will summarize at a high level all the hourly billing in progress. You can filter down by clients, service items, and time frame. You can learn more about WIP reports in this video.

Send Invoice 

Create Invoice 

Let's create an invoice from your WIP Report. 

Wip to new Invoice.gif

  1. Select one of your clients. 
  2. Use the check box to select the time entries you wish to add to an invoice. 
  3. Click on the blue Add to Invoice button.
    1. You have two options - Create new invoice and Link to an existing invoice.
  4. Select Create New Invoice. 

The best practice for hourly billing is to create a new invoice. This will automatically add your tracked time with the rates you've set. We’ll cover linking to existing invoices in more detail in the next lesson.

Adjust and Send Invoice 

Now, in the invoice window, you can make any adjustments as needed. A few things to note: 

Invoice Numbered.png

  1. In your settings, you can choose to have your line items separated or grouped. When service items are grouped you are unable to edit the quantity.
    • You can edit the rate for each individual item by expanding the service item. To expand click on the arrow next to the service name. 
  2. You can choose the Rate Type for each service.
    • By selecting service from this drop-down is another way to change from an hourly-based rate to an item-based rate. 
  3. You can make any adjustments to the amount billed using the WUWD  (write up/ write down) column. 
  4. Use the + add time and expenses to add any additional time entries or expenses. 
  5. Add service items by clicking + Add line item 
  6. When completed, preview your invoice, and when ready send it! 

In the next lesson, we will take a closer look at the tools designed to help with fixed-rate billing, as well as how to track and manage your payments. 

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