A work in progress review that takes an hour

Work in progress is work the practice has done and not yet billed. It sits on a report, ages quietly, and loses value the whole time.

A firm reviewing it annually meets one large write off at the end. A firm reviewing it monthly makes small decisions.

Age it, because age predicts recovery

Time recorded this month bills at close to full value. The same time at six months bills at a discount, and at twelve it often does not bill at all.

Sorting the report by age rather than by size puts the urgent decisions first, and the urgent ones are rarely the largest.

Ask one question per matter

Whether this time will bill, and if not, why not. The answer is usually one of four.

• Ready to bill, and simply waiting for somebody to do it.
• Waiting on a milestone, which the fee arrangement requires.
• Over the estimate, so a conversation has to happen before a bill does.
• Not recoverable, and the write off should happen now rather than later.

Billing delays are mostly habit

A practice that bills monthly on a fixed day bills more than one that bills when somebody has time.

The work is the same; the discipline is what differs. A fixed billing date removes the decision from a busy week.

An overrun needs a conversation, not a discount

Time over the estimate quietly written off teaches nobody anything, and the same matter type will overrun again next month.

Raising it with the client while the work is fresh sometimes recovers it. Our guide to write offs covers recording the decision so the pattern is visible.

Unbilled time hides a scope problem

A matter consistently running past its estimate is telling the practice that the estimate is wrong or the scope has moved.

Both are fixable at the next matter of that type, and neither is visible without a regular review.

Write offs need a reason code

A write off with no reason is a number. A write off with a reason is information about pricing, supervision or scope.

Four or five fixed reasons are enough, and they turn an unpleasant report into the most useful one the practice produces.

The review belongs to the person who can act

A report sent to everybody gets read by nobody. The fee earner responsible for each matter needs their own short list.

A supervisor reviewing the exceptions, rather than the whole report, keeps the hour genuinely an hour.

The output should be a decision on every matter, not a discussion about several. A list that ends unchanged has cost an hour and moved nothing.

Fixed fee matters still need the review

A fixed fee matter records time that never bills directly, and that time is the only measure of whether the fee works.

Ignoring it, on the grounds that no bill follows, removes the one signal that prices the next matter of that type.

Look at the matters with no time at all

A matter open for months with no recorded time has either finished, slipped somebody's mind, or run without records.

All three deserve attention, and the last one is the most expensive to discover late.

The same report also finds matters that should have closed months ago, which carry storage and review obligations for no benefit.

What to change first

• The report sorts by age before anybody looks at size
• Each matter gets one question and one of four answers
• Billing runs on a fixed monthly date
• An overrun triggers a client conversation while the work is fresh
• Every write off carries one of a few fixed reason codes
• Each fee earner reviews their own matters, not the whole report