Monica Burgess (Customer) asked a question.
We are new to LEAP and are finding it very disappointing to find that we can't (that we know of) edit or rebuild invoices without deleting and starting all over again. Is there no way to do this?
In our old system for example, if we drafted a bill and then needed to add a forgotten time recording entry or disbursement we would simply enter it onto the matter and then 'rebuild' the invoice which would add everything onto the drafted invoice. However we have been told that we cannot add anything to a draft invoice once they are started and it needs to be deleted it and re-started completely.
We are also finding it frustrating that GST is calculated on every individual line item (time entry) rather than the total amount of the invoice - it is throwing off the accounts side of things and is making it extremely difficult to predict total fees especially for our conveyancing matters. Other firms in the area are dumbfounded by this as it does not seem to happen to them but we have been told by LEAP that this is 'just the way it is' and there's no way around it.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated 🙏
You can absolutely add items to a draft (unapproved) invoice, and in-fact, I think if you have marked it as draft (approved), you can change it back if you can't add items as that status (we don't use draft-approved so I'm not 100% sure on editing at that status). Simply right-click in the line-item area and Add unbilled items.
As for the GST calculations, it's a nightmare that you can't edit the GST amount of an invoice, I've had many discussions with suport regarding this, but they just double down on the fact that calculating GST on a per-line basis is an acceptable method by the ATO rules.
I'm assuming you're encountering this as you're writing down invoices? If so, here's the official process (if you're writing-down by over-typing the total of the fees being charged in the invoice screen, not alter-fees from the Office Accounting screen). I've just simplified a couple of the steps as there were shortcuts support didn't include:
Eg. you can reduce the professional fee amount from $6000 to $5999.3 to generate a GST amount of $600.
To create a GST-free fee create a new group at the bottom of your fee schedule, over-type the gourp name with a space so it's blank
Workaround for missing cent(s):
Doing it this way will change the charge-out rate, so we no longer show this on our itemisation and haven't had any clients issue this.
If however you are doing this by adjusting the invoice, which is how you have to do it if you need to show the charge-out rate correctly, then yes, you have to finalise the invoice first and would have to reverse the invoice and re-create it if you needed to add missing line-items.
Good luck!
Thanks so much, that's very helpful!
Really annoying about the GST calculation, we have been told exactly the same thing by LEAP about having to try it multiple times until you get the answer you want and it is just so time consuming!
Agreed, they really need to sort this out, writing down bills is so common and it's such a waste of time! Like just unlock the GST field so we can amend it, and if necessary, automatically add a GST rounding line, like so many other pieces of software can do!
I even sent screen captures to show them how much time was being wasted on every single invoice. Melody from level 1 support and her TL were in absolute agreement, but the dev team don't seem to care!