Submitting Accruals (Unbilled Estimates)

A legal department's definition for "accruals" is an estimate of fees and expenses for services that have not yet been billed. This is sometimes referred to as "work in progress" (or WIP). 

Once a client enables accruals in SimpleLegal, firms receive monthly requests to submit accruals for each reporting period. It is important to submit these numbers in a timely manner as it helps you and your client keep and report accurate records for planning purposes. 

Every month, your firm's appointed accruals contact(s) will be notified via email that it is time to submit the estimate of unbilled work. The estimate can be submitted from the time the request is received until the due date specified in the notification email. If the estimate is not submitted after the first notification, the accruals contact(s) will receive up to two additional reminders. 

NOTE: Accrual contacts from your firm do not require CounselGO access to submit estimates. For more information on how to set up accruals contacts for your firm, click here.

Here is an example of an accruals request email:

If there is no unbilled work to report, click We Have No Unbilled Activity so that the client gets a "zero" estimate. Once a "zero" estimate is submitted, the accruals contact(s) will not receive any subsequent requests for that monthly period. 

NOTE: If there are no active matters at the time the request is scheduled to be sent, the designated accruals contact(s) will not receive the email requests. 

How to Submit an Accrual Request

CounselGO provides space to enter unbilled amounts for the month that is closing soon. Depending on your client's configurations, you may also have the option to enter unbilled activity for a previous month. You do not need to be logged into CounselGO to complete the steps below. 

1. Click the link in the body of the accruals request email or the Submit Unbilled Amount button. 

2. From the page that opens, enter unbilled amounts for each matter listed (or enter 0 if applicable) and add any comments. The amount is based on the worked dates of the invoice line items regardless of the invoice date or the invoice submitted date. 

3. Confirm or change the currency at the bottom of the page.

4. Click Submit Unbilled Amount.