1. Set and hold a time approval cutoff
Invoices can only be as complete as the timesheets behind them. Pick a cutoff, such as noon on the first business day after month end, publish it, and hold it. Time entered after the cutoff rolls to next month rather than delaying every invoice.
- Remind people two days before the cutoff, not after it.
- Managers approve their team's time before the cutoff, so billing works from approved hours only.
- List anyone with missing days at the cutoff and chase them individually.
2. Collect and code expenses
Reimbursable expenses that miss the month are often never billed. Close expense reports on the same cutoff as time, and make sure every billable expense is coded to a project and marked billable.
- Check that receipts are attached for anything the contract requires backup for.
- Apply the contract's expense markup, if any, consistently.
- Confirm subconsultant invoices received this month are coded so they can be passed through.
3. Review percent complete on fixed-fee work
For each fixed-fee line, the project manager confirms percent complete. Billing then follows from arithmetic, not from a guess at the invoice stage.
Worked example: an $80,000 fixed-fee task reported at 40 percent complete, with $28,000 previously billed. Earned is $80,000 x 40% = $32,000, so this invoice is $32,000 - $28,000 = $4,000.
4. Draft invoices and route them to project managers
Draft every invoice, then have the project manager review it before it goes out. The manager knows things the billing team does not: a client concern, a scope question, an hour that should not be charged.
Check every time-and-materials invoice against any not-to-exceed limit. Worked example: 62 approved hours at $150 is $9,300, but the contract has a $50,000 not-to-exceed with $44,000 already billed. Only $50,000 - $44,000 = $6,000 can be billed. The remaining $3,300 is either held for a change order or written down, and the project manager decides which.
- Look for hours charged to the wrong phase or project.
- Look for work outside the contract scope that needs a change order before it can be billed.
- Record any write-down with a reason, so realization can be tracked over time.
5. Send on a fixed day
Clients pay faster when invoices arrive predictably. Pick a target day, such as the fifth business day of the month, and send every approved invoice by then. An invoice held for one open question delays the whole payment cycle; send what is ready and follow up on the rest.
6. Follow up
Sending is not the end of billing. Confirm the client received each invoice, ask early whether anything blocks approval, and follow up on a schedule as invoices age.
- Within a week of sending: confirm receipt and that it reached the right approver.
- At the due date: a short, polite reminder.
- Past due: the project manager calls the client contact; the billing team follows up with accounts payable.
- Review days sales outstanding monthly to see whether the process is getting faster.
Where Hubity fits
Hubity previews each month's invoices from approved time, expenses, retainers, and contract progress, then drafts them for a person to review and send.