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CounselLink Answer Center for Law Firms

Accruals

  • Updated

Clients use accruals to estimate and record legal expenses that span fiscal periods. This ensures that expenses are recognized when incurred, rather than when they are billed. For most companies, this process occurs quarterly, and for some, monthly.

At the end of an accounting period, clients report to their finance teams the expenses incurred but not yet invoiced. To support this process, they may request that your firm submit details of work performed but not yet billed. The client will then review, adjust, and forward your submission to their accounting department.

Generally, the process is as follows:

  1. Client creates an accrual.
  2. Client then requests the law firms submit incurred expenses with a due date.
  3. Law firms gather incurred expenses for all their matters from their time and billing system and submits the accruals before the due date provided by the client.
  4. Client reviews the accruals and accepts or edits them as needed.

This article covers the following:

Accruals Search Page

The Accrual Search page shows all accruals for which you have access. To find it, click on one of the Requested or Submitted link in the Billing panel on the homepage.

Search criteria such as the Accrual name, Law Firm Office, Client Contact Office, or the Accrual Contact may be used for searching. Clicking on the name of an accrual takes you to its overview page.

Accrual Overview Page

This Accrual Overview page allows you to add, edit, or delete a comment. You can also tag another user in a comment.

Viewing the Top Section of Overview

The Details area displays high-level information about the accrual, including date it was created, threshold, contacts, and periods.

Viewing the Tabs on the Overview

Tab Description
Amounts This section displays the amounts approved on invoices for the current fiscal year, the previous year, and the total matter spend.
Comments If the matter uses one or more budgets, you can find information about them in this section. You can click on the budget title or period to access that information on the Budget Overview page. You can also view the high-level details regarding the current budget spend.
History This section displays a snapshot of all historical billed fees and expenses on the matter. If populated, this section display amounts carried over to the matter prior to your client entering it into CounselLink. This section will appear blank on matters created after your client implemented CounselLink.

Add Matter(s) to Accruals

Both clients and law firms can add matters to an accrual. When a matter is added, it's added for all of the offices that are included. You will need to add a matter to an accrual before you can edit it.

  1. Click on one of the Requested or Submitted link in the Billing panel on the homepage.
  2. Click the name of an accrual on the Accruals Search page.

  3. Click the +Add Matter button under the Amounts tab.

    The Add Matters window displays.

  4. Place a check mark in the check box for all matters to be added. Use the search features as necessary.

    If you have multiple offices, use the Law Office Name filter to narrow down results for the office(s) you are searching for.

  5. Click the Add Matters button.

Entering or Editing Accrual Amounts

You can enter or edit accrual amounts for one or more offices. All matters added to the accrual period for the selected office(s) will become available.

You cannot edit accrual amounts after the Due Date has passed for that period.

  1. Click on one of the Requested or Submitted link in the Billing panel on the homepage.
  2. Click the name of an accrual on the Accruals Search page.

  3. Under the Amounts tab, place a check mark next to the accrual to be edited. The actions that can be performed are displayed.

  4. Click Edit. The Edit Accrual Amounts page displays.

  5. Enter or edit an accrual amount in the Amount field.

    Depending on what fields were created with the accrual, you may have more field options available, including Service Start Date/End Date, LF Invoice Number, or Invoice Date.

  6. Optional: Use the Currency drop down to select the appropriate currency type.

  7. Optional: Click the More Actions (three vertical dots) icon at the end of the matter's row to perform various actions. See further in this article for more on how to perform these actions.

    Action Description
    Add Comment Click to add a comment to the accrual.
    Edit Comment Click to edit a comment on the accrual.
    Delete Comment Click to delete a comment on the accrual.
    Add Row

    Click to add an additional row to the matter. The Matter Title, Matter ID, and Law Firm Matter ID will be copied down to the new row. Users can add up to 12 rows per matter. 

    The Add Row option is not available for Accruals that do not utilize any of the optional columns (Dates of Service, LF Invoice Number, or Invoice Date).
    Remove Row Click to remove a row on the matter if it has two or more rows.
    Add Unassigned Matter Click to add an unassigned matter to the accrual. This will display an empty row where you can enter the Matter Title and ID.
  8. Click Save.

Submitting Accruals

Users can submit accruals for one or more Law Firm Offices. 

An Accrual amount greater than 0.00 for at least one matter is required before the Submit button can be enabled.

  1. Click on one of the Requested or Submitted link in the Billing panel on the homepage.
  2. Click the name of an accrual on the Accruals Search page.
  3. Under the Amounts tab, place a check mark in the check box(es) that's associated with the accrual being submitted.

  4. Click the Submit button.

    The Submit Accrual for Review window displays.

  5. Click Yes, Continue.

Your client will receive an email notification that the accrual has been submitted for review.

Importing and Exporting Accrual Entries

Users can use an excel template to import amounts. An excel template is provided for download.

  1. Click on one of the Requested or Submitted link in the Billing panel on the homepage.
  2. Click the name of an accrual on the Accruals Search page.
  3. Under the Amounts tab, place a check mark in the check box(es) that's associated with the accrual being submitted.

  4. Click the More Actions (three vertical dots) icon for the appropriate matter.

  5. Perform actions as appropriate:

Import

  1. Click the Import button.

    The Import Accrual Entries window displays.

  2. Click on the Template File link to open and display the file.

    The .xls file is listed at the bottom of the screen.

  3. Click the Open file link for the Accrual Import Template file.

    The .xls file displays.

  4. Optional: Click on an appropriate tool tip to understand requirement(s) and formats for that field / column.

  5. Once completed, click Choose a File to select a file from a directory.
  6. Select the file to be imported as applicable.

  7. Click Import. The Import Accrual - Status page displays.

  8. Click the View Status Report button. The Import Accrual - Status Report page displays.

  9. Highlight / place the cursor over a line number item to view the status of the items to be imported.

    The Line # identifies the line number of the item as it can be found in the .xls file.

    The Description field identifies the action to be performed on the particular line item.

  10. Click the Print Report button as applicable to print the report, or click Cancel to exit.

Export

  1. Click the Export button.

    If multiple law firm offices are selected, an additional column with the Law Firm Office name is added to the file. Otherwise, the "Matter Title" displays in the file..

  2. Optional: Click the Accrual Export File link in the lower left corner of the screen to open and display the file.
  3. Click Close (X) to exit the file.

Removing a Matter from an Accrual

The matters added to an accrual can be removed by the law firm.

Law firm users cannot remove matters added by client users.

  1. On the Accrual Overview page, click the Amounts tab.
  2. Select the Accrual from the list.
  3. Click the More Actions button.
  4. Click Remove Matters.

  5. The Remove Accrual Matters screen displays.

  6. To remove a single matter, select the check box for the matter you want to remove.
  7. To remove multiple matters, select the check boxes for each matter you want to remove.
  8. Click Save.