Understanding Billing Realization Reports

In this article:

• Accessing the Report
• Entries Show in the Realization Report
• Realization Report Filters and Options
• Understanding the Realization Report
• Reports that Reconcile with Realization Report

Billing Realization reports show you the actual value of the time your firm bills, after considering any discounts or adjustments. These reports help you see how much revenue you truly "realized" from the original time recorded.

Accessing the Report

1. Go to Reports > Productivity > Realization.
2. Click the dropdown icon to open Realization Options window.
3. Select the View:
   • billreal client
   • billreal file
   • billreal resp lawyer
   • billreal work lawyer

Entries Show in the Realization Report

• Hours: Total billable hours billed within the period.
• Time Value: Total dollar value of the Hours and (flat) Fees.
• Adjustments: Time or Fees adjustments made at that period.
• Billed: Time Value + Adjustments
• % Realized: Billed / Time Value
• Effective Rate: Billed / Hours
  NOTES: 
  - The values are all based on when the entries were billed (i.e. the invoice date) not when they were entered. 
  - Both adjustments at the time the bill is created and after the bill is finalized are included in the Adjustments column. 

Realization Report Filters and Options

You can filter these reports to see specific information:

• (Billing) Date Range
• File
• Client (Contact)
• Working Lawyer
• Responsible Lawyer
• Area of Practice
  NOTE:  There are no options to allow to multi select any values in those fields. Leave it blank to run for all values or select one specific value to filter it by.

Additional Options:

• Exclude Flat Fee entries: Toggle on to remove flat fee amounts from the "Time Value" calculation.
• Treat provisional write-offs as finalized: If you use "Provisional Write Offs," turning this on will include those amounts in the "Adjustments." Be aware that if a provisional write-off is reversed later, the report values will change.
• Firm Totals Only: Toggle on to see only the summary totals for your entire firm.

Understanding the Realization Report

EXAMPLE 1: 
Using the following values from the Time Listing report as a starting point here is how it would display the information to the Realization report. 

 

In this example if there were no adjustments:
% Realized = $700.00 (Billed) / $700.00 (Time Value) = 100%
Effective Rate = $700 (Billed) / 5.00 (Hours) = 140.00 

EXAMPLE 2: 
Using the following values from the Time Listing report as a starting point here is how it would display the information to the Realization report. 


 

 
In this example, the total of Adjustments was $150, therefore:
% Realized = $550.00 (Billed) / $700.00 (Time Value) = 78.57% 
Effective Rate = $550 (Billed) / 5.00 (Hours) = 110.00

If flat fees entries were excluded, then:

In this example since the flat fee of $200 is excluded and the total of Adjustments was $150 therefore: 

% Realized = $350.00 (Billed) / $500.00 (Time Value) = 70.00%  

Effective Rate = $350 (Billed) / 5.00 (Hours) = 70.00 

 

Reports that Reconcile with Realization Report

Billed and Hours:

• These can be matched with the Billings Journal (found under Reports > Receivables > Receivables; set "View" to "billings").

• Ensure both reports cover the exact same period and "Balances as of End date" is specified.

Time Value:

Combine the hours from the Billings Journal (run with "Balances as of Billed" selected) with the hours from the Time Listing report with "Include adjustments during billing" selected.

Adjustments Value:
The total "Adjustments" can be matched by adding the dollar fee amounts from two reports run for the exact same date range:

• Adjustment Listing 

• Time Listing with "Include adjustments during billing" selected.