Uku Billing Update: AR Aging, Partial Payments, Retainers

Billing at an accounting firm is three jobs, not one. You send the invoice. Then you chase it. Then, sooner or later, a client writes back: “What exactly am I paying for?”

Uku already takes care of the first job for more than a thousand firms. Invoices build themselves from the time and task data your team logs anyway. The next billing release is about the other two jobs: knowing what went on every invoice, knowing who still owes you, and getting paid the way clients actually pay.

Everything in this article is coming soon. None of it is live yet, and we are not putting a date on it. We would rather ship it right than ship it on a calendar. If you want to see what billing in Uku does today, jump to what you can do today.

Every invoice line, backed by the work

The awkward email is always the same. A client looks at the invoice and asks what the $1,800 line was for. Someone opens the time report, filters by client, scrolls, copies, pastes, and replies two days later.

With the new release, you see whose time sits behind each invoice line before the invoice goes out. When a client asks what they are paying for, you already have the answer.

• See who did what behind every invoice line.
• Discounts and write-downs keep the reason on record, so six months from now you still know why you took 20% off.
• Move work to next month without losing it. Work you decide not to bill yet stays on the list, instead of quietly disappearing.
• Know which tasks are billed and which are not. Unbilled work is the easiest money a firm leaves on the table.

Know who owes you, and since when

Most firms we talk to can tell you their revenue to the dollar. Ask them who is 60 days late and they open a spreadsheet.

The new accounts receivable view puts every open invoice in one place: who is late, by how much, and for how long. You know who to call first.

• AR aging report by client, in 30, 60, 90 days and over.
• Average days to pay (DSO) for every client, so you can see who pays in a week and who pays when they feel like it.
• Statements of account, sent to one client or to all of them at once.
• Invoices, payments and contracts for a client in one place.

Cash flow problems at a firm rarely come from not billing. They come from not noticing who stopped paying. An aging report you actually look at fixes that.

Partial payments and retainers, handled

Clients don’t always pay the way invoices are written. They pay in installments. They pay a deposit up front. They pay half now and half after the tax return is filed. Today that often means a note in someone’s head and a reminder that goes out for the full amount anyway.

The new release records it all and shows your client exactly what is left to pay. No more “didn’t we already pay this?” emails.

• Partial payments recorded as they arrive.
• Retainers and prepayments deducted from the final invoice.
• Clients see what is left to pay, in the Client Portal and in payment reminders.
• Tax handled correctly on prepayment invoices, with nothing counted as revenue twice.

If your firm works on retainers, or you have wanted to start asking for deposits on big engagements, this is the piece that makes it practical.

More coming to billing

The three changes above are the big ones. These come in the same release:

• Credit notes and write-offs. Correct an invoice in full or in part, with the credit note linked to the original. When a client won’t pay, write the debt off and Uku stops chasing it.
• Proof of work with every invoice. Attach a clear list of the work done, so clients see what they are paying for before they ask.
• Rates by person and role. Set billing and cost rates per person, role or service. A raise counts from the day you choose, not from the day someone remembers to update a spreadsheet.
• Price changes without the risk. Update your standard prices once and roll them out, without overwriting the deals you made with individual clients.
• Invoice approvals (Elite). Have a partner sign off before any invoice goes out.
• Profit sharing (Elite). See who earned what on every invoice, partners and outside contributors included.

Everything in this article comes with every plan that includes billing, except invoice approvals and profit sharing, which come with Elite. You can compare plans on the pricing page.

What you can do in Uku today

None of the above replaces what already works. If you use Uku for billing now, or you are thinking about it, this is live today:

• Invoices generated automatically from tracked time and task data, so your team doesn’t retype anything.
• Six pricing models, from hourly and fixed fee to per-item and combinations, on the same invoice.
• Up to three automatic payment reminders that stop themselves when the client pays.
• Missed-billing recovery for work that was delivered but never made it onto an invoice.
• Clients pay in the Client Portal, via Stripe or your own payment page.
• Two-way sync with Xero, QuickBooks, Merit, e-conomic, Fortnox and more.
• Credit notes for a full correction. What is new in the release is the partial credit note linked to the original invoice.

The full picture is on the automated billing page.

What this means for your firm

Billing software usually stops at the invoice. That is the easy part. The hard part is the conversation after it: the client who wants to know what they paid for, the one who paid half, the one who hasn’t paid at all.

This release is our answer to that conversation. Less time explaining invoices, less time chasing them, and a clear view of which work actually makes money.

If you want to see how billing works in Uku today and where it is heading, book a demo and we’ll walk you through it with your own numbers in mind.