It is common for firms to compare the Timekeeper Productivity Report and the Billed & Collected Report and expect the totals to match. These reports are not designed to reconcile with one another because they answer different business questions and pull data from different places in the system.
At a glance
| Report | Primary purpose | Date used | What it reflects |
|---|---|---|---|
| Timekeeper Productivity Report | Review timekeeper productivity, billing realization, and collection realization | The time entry date; the flat fee date | Time, flat fee, and amount recorded on the Time Entries and Flat Fees tabs |
| Billed & Collected Report | Review invoiced fees and payments | Invoice issue date for billed amounts and payment date for collected amounts | Amounts that were actually billed and collected |
Why do these reports not reconcile?
1. They use different dates
The biggest reason these reports differ is that they do not look at the same date field.
- The Timekeeper Productivity Report uses the time entry date and flat fee date.
- The Billed & Collected Report uses the invoice issue date for billed totals and the payment date for collected totals.
That means time entered in one period may be billed in a later period, causing the totals to appear different.
2. Invoiced status affects the reports differently
By default, the Timekeeper Productivity Report may include time entries whether or not they have been invoiced, unless a filter is applied to only show invoiced entries.
The Billed & Collected Report only includes fees that have been invoiced, since its data is based on invoices and payments rather than unbilled work.
This is another reason the totals may differ.
Why does the Billed column look high?
The Billed column on the Billed & Collected Report is based on the issue date of the invoice.
It does not reflect:
- The time entry date, or
- The flat fee date.
Instead, it reflects when the invoice itself was issued. As a result, multiple older time entries may appear as billed in the same reporting period if they were included on an invoice issued during that timeframe.
How is realization reflected?
If you are reviewing realization, the most important fields to look at in the Timekeeper Productivity Report are:
Adjusted Time
Adjusted Amount
Realized Amount
Realization Rate
What this means
Billable Time and Billable Amount show what was originally recorded on the time entry
Adjusted Time and Adjusted Amount show the invoiced totals after billing adjustments were applied
So, when evaluating realization, firms should focus on the Adjusted Amount, Realized Amount, and Realization Rate columns rather than expecting the original Billable values to match the Billed & Collected Report.
What is the difference between Realized Amount and Collected Amount?
- The Realized Amount column in the Timekeeper Productivity Report reflects only the portion of payments specifically allocated to the time entries included in the report. It does not represent the firm's total collections. Rather, it shows the amount collected and attributed to those billable activities after adjustments and write-offs.
- The Collected Amount in the Billed & Collected Report reflects the total gross payments received for time and fees that were applied to invoices within the selected date range. Unlike the Productivity report, this figure includes payments applied to any invoice during this period, even if the underlying time entries or flat fees were recorded in prior months or years.
Why the same payment can appear differently in each report
Example:
- Time entered in January
- Invoice generated in February
- Payment received in March
In the Timekeeper Productivity Report, the realized amount is associated with the January work. In the Billed & Collected Report, the invoice appears in February and the collection appears in March. As a result, the same dollars can appear in different reporting periods, causing the reports not to reconcile.
Best practices:
Use each report for its intended purpose:
Use the Timekeeper Productivity Report to:
Review timekeeper activity and productivity
Analyze time entries and flat fees by work date
Compare original billable values to adjusted invoice values
Use the Billed & Collected Report to:
Review what was invoiced during a period
Review what was collected during a period
Track billing and payment activity by invoice and payment date
Summary
The Timekeeper Productivity Report and Billed & Collected Report are designed for different purposes and are not expected to reconcile directly.
- The Timekeeper Productivity Report focuses on work performed, productivity, and realization by timekeeper.
- The Billed & Collected Report focuses on invoicing and payment activity.
- Because each report uses different date criteria and data sources, matching totals between them is generally not expected.