Batch invoicing

Batch invoicing bills many matters at once. Instead of building invoices one at a time, Esqase gathers every matter that has unbilled billable work into a single screen, lets you review and choose what to bill, then generates all the invoices together in one step. This is the fastest way to run an end-of-month or end-of-cycle billing cycle across your whole firm.

Before you begin

• Access. Batch invoicing uses the same permission as creating a single invoice. If your role includes Create access for the Invoices area (or you are a firm owner), you will see the Batch invoices button. If it does not, the button is hidden and the screen shows a no-access message.
• Unbilled billable work. The screen only lists matters that have billable, un-invoiced time entries and expenses. Work that is not marked billable, or that is already on an invoice, does not appear. To learn how activities are recorded and marked billable, see Time and expense tracking.
• A client on each matter. An invoice is always tied to one client, so a matter can only be billed if it has a client on it. Matters with no client show No client and cannot be selected. To add a client, open the matter first; see The matter workspace.

Open the batch invoices screen

1. In the sidebar, open Invoices.
2. At the top of the page, click Batch invoices (next to New invoice).
3. The Batch invoices screen opens and lists every matter across your firm that has unbilled billable activities.

If nothing is waiting to be billed, the screen shows No unbilled activities and lets you know that all billable time entries and expenses have already been invoiced.

Review the matters and their activities

Each matter appears as its own expandable card. Everything is selected and expanded by default, so you can see the full picture the moment the screen loads.

1. A short line above the table tells you how much is currently selected, for example "24 activities across 6 matters selected". It updates as you change your selection.
2. Each matter row shows its identifier and title (for example "M-0007 - Smith v. Jones"), its Client, how many owners contributed the work, and the matter's Total.
3. Click the arrow at the start of a matter row to expand or collapse it. Expanding shows one row per activity, with the activity's category, its owner (the person who recorded it), the quantity (hours for time, count for expenses), the rate, and the line total.

Choose what to bill

You do not have to bill everything the screen found.

• To leave a whole matter out, untick the checkbox on its matter row. This clears all of that matter's activities at once.
• To leave out a single activity, expand the matter and untick just that activity. The matter's total continues to reflect everything, but only the ticked activities are billed.
• Use the checkbox in the table header to select or clear everything at once.

Generate the invoices

When your selection looks right, you create all the invoices in one step.

1. Click Generate at the top right of the screen. This button stays disabled until at least one activity is selected.
2. The Generate invoices dialog opens. Its heading summarizes what you are about to bill, for example "Billing 24 selected activities across 6 matters".
3. Choose how to Split the work into invoices (see below).
4. Choose an Approval option (see below).
5. Set the Issue date. It defaults to today.
6. Click the Generate button, which shows how many invoices will be created (for example Generate 6 invoices).

Esqase creates the invoices together, giving them sequential invoice numbers, and returns you to the Invoices list. A confirmation message tells you how many invoices were created, and notes any matters that were skipped for having no client.

Choose how to split

The Split option decides how the selected work is grouped into invoices. Each choice shows a live count of how many invoices it will create, so you can compare before deciding.

• One invoice per matter (the default) puts all of a matter's selected work on a single invoice, no matter who recorded it. You get one invoice per matter.
• One invoice per owner creates a separate invoice for each person's work within a matter. If two attorneys both logged time on the same matter, that matter produces two invoices, one for each of them. Use this when different owners need to be billed or reviewed separately.

Choose an approval option

The Approval option decides the status the new invoices start in.

• Auto-approve (the default) finalizes the invoices right away when you are a firm owner, so they become Pending and are ready to send and collect on. When you are not an owner, the invoices go to the approval queue as In review instead, the same as submitting a single invoice.
• Send for approval always queues the invoices for review as In review, even if you are an owner. Use this when you want someone to check the batch before it is finalized.
• Save as draft creates the invoices as Draft only. Drafts are never sent, and the underlying activities stay unbilled, so you can keep editing before you commit.

Set the issue date

The Issue date is the date printed on every invoice in the batch. It defaults to today (in your firm's time zone) and applies to all of the invoices created in this run.

After generating

The new invoices behave exactly like invoices you create one at a time. From the Invoices list you can open any of them, edit ones that are still Draft or In review, approve or decline those awaiting review, generate a payment link, and email them to the client. Batch invoicing does not send anything to clients on its own, so you send each invoice when you are ready. See Creating and sending invoices.

Common questions

Why is a matter greyed out and showing "No client"? An invoice needs a client. A matter with no client on it cannot be billed, so it is shown for visibility but cannot be selected. Add a client to the matter, then return to the batch screen.

I generated the batch but some matters were not invoiced. Why? Matters with no client are skipped, and the confirmation message tells you how many were skipped for that reason. Everything else you selected is billed.

Can I bill only some of a matter's activities? Yes. Expand the matter and untick the activities you do not want to bill yet. The unticked ones stay on the matter and remain available for a future invoice.

What invoice numbers do the batch invoices get? They receive your firm's next invoice numbers in sequence, following the same numbering as invoices you create by hand. See Document and record numbering.

Do the batch invoices get sent to clients automatically? No. Generating only creates the invoices. You send each one, with a payment link, from its own page when you are ready.

Related

• Creating and sending invoices
• Time and expense tracking
• Invoice templates and the builder
• Recording and managing payments
• The billing overview dashboard