TurboLaw Time and Billing 1.10 Released
August 27, 2008
We are very pleased to announce our first major point release of TurboLaw Time and Billing - Version 1.10! This new version contains more improvements, enhancements, and new features than all of our previous minor releases put together.
The major new feature for this release is the addition of “matters.” Now you can organize individual “matters” (a.k.a. “jobs” or “projects”) for your clients and bill separately for each matter instead of having to enter the same client repeatedly.
We’ve also made the following improvements:
- Formatted to accommodate most international currencies
- New “Preview” button for Bills and Statements for one-click quick previews
- Improved update notifications ensure that you don’t miss out on important updates
- New icons on shortcut menus to help distinguish between choices
- Renamed “Reports” to “Graphs” to avoid confusion
- Improvements to the “Graphs” (formerly “Reports”) section
- Staff members’ names now display the same as clients - in “last name, first name” format
- Added some helpful “hint” text to the bottom-right corner of the main list window, letting you know that you can right-click on items for more options
- Added a “create statement” context-menu option for clients, so you can create a statement for just one client right from the list of clients
- All “list” windows now save based on how you’ve re-sized the columns so you don’t have to keep resizing them
- Removed some of the now-redundant columns from the “Clients” view so you don’t have to scroll right in order to see the client’s balance
- Changed the way you save Custom Templates to make it harder to overwrite the built-in templates by mistake
- Based on user feedback, the “Getting Started” screen has a button for entering your address rather than editing categories
- Updated the look of the built-in statement templates
- If two staff members have the same initials, the second staff member’s initials will automatically have a number appended to distinguish between them (e.g., “ABC2″, etc.)
- More “merge” field options for customizing Bill Templates
As always, we hope you enjoy this new version and the new and improved features. If you have any questions or suggestions please feel free to contact us!
TurboLaw Time and Billing: Always Improving
May 14, 2008
It’s been just under 2 months since we released TurboLaw Time and Billing, and far from resting on our laurels, we’ve been hard at work making constant improvements based on feedback we receive.
Some of the things we’ve improved are:
- Statements now more clearly show a positive balance/credit - as from when you have a retainer
- We now offer a 30-day trial period
- Statements don’t print out the “payment number” that is used internally to track payments (some people found it confusing)
- Bill numbers now start at 1001 instead of 1 (some people found the old behavior confusing)
- We changed the layout of the Choose Template window to make it easier to see the names of templates (especially if they are long names)
- The template editor has been enhanced to allow you to drag & drop merged fields to make customizing bill and statement templates even easier
- You can now change the headings for work/expenses on bills (look under Tools > Settings)
- You can now choose whether bill items are sorted oldest to newest or vice-versa (look under Tools > Settings)
These are just a few of the improvements we’ve made - and we’re always working on more! We take our responsibility to provide you with great software very seriously, and we always listen to what our customers have to say.
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions - feel free to drop us a line! You can email us at help@turbolaw.com, or call us directly at (800) 518-8726. We look forward to hearing from you!
What’s the difference between a bill (or invoice) and a statement?
April 25, 2008
Let’s face it - the English language can sometimes be imprecise. You get a cell phone bill, but you get a credit card statement. Both itemize the charges made to you - so which one is it, a bill or a statement?
While we can’t make the English language any better, we can at least shed some light on the distinction between bills (or invoices) and statements as they relate to TurboLaw Time and Billing.
In TurboLaw Time and Billing, a bill (also called an invoice) is just what you’d think it is - an itemized list of work done for the client, and how much they owe you for it. For example, a bill might have the following items on it:
- Spent 3 hours in court: $450.00
- Travel expenses to meet with client: $75.00
- On-site meeting: $250.00
- TOTAL DUE: $775.00
This is like a bill or invoice that you might get when you purchase something. We tend to call it a “bill” because you “bill” for your services, while you get an “invoice” for goods - but in practice the two terms are generally interchangeable.
A bill doesn’t say anything about money that might have already been paid - it simply lists the work or expenses you’ve done and how much they total up to.
On the other hand, a statement in TurboLaw Time and Billing is a “statement” of the status of the client’s account at a particular point in time. Each line item on a statement represents either a bill or a payment. As such, it doesn’t offer as much detail as a bill - but it does show payments made towards the account. Statements are often sent out on a regular basis (e.g., monthly - like your credit card statement) to show your clients where they stand (and if they still owe you any money). For example, a statement might have the following items on it:
- Balance forward: $85.67
- Bill #123: $290.00
- Payment #82: $50.00
- TOTAL BALANCE: $325.67
This shows that the client had a balance due of $85.67 from before the period of this statement (if you send out statements monthly, your statement period is usually “the last 30 days”) and that in that time, a bill for $290 was produced, but the client sent in a payment of $50, resulting in a final balance due of $325.67.
To see a sample bill and statement, click on the images below.
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- A Sample Statement
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- A Sample Bill
Hopefully this helps clear up any confusion about what the difference is between bills, invoices, and statements. As always, if you have questions about any TurboLaw product, you can call us at (800) 518-8726 or email support@turbolaw.com.
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