Calgary Consulting Firms: Turn Approved Work into Collectible Invoices

Separate three questions at the close

Ask what work has been performed, what can be invoiced under the contract, and what has actually been collected. Those answers belong in connected schedules, but they are not interchangeable. A timesheet documents effort; a signed milestone can support billing; a bank receipt confirms collection. Your accountant determines the revenue-recognition policy that connects them.

For a Calgary engineering or advisory firm, record the project code, purchase-order ceiling, fee basis, milestone evidence and client approver when a job starts. Include the name of the person who can resolve a rejected invoice. An accounts-payable portal status should not be the only explanation for an overdue balance.

Illustrative example: a scope change awaiting a signature

A Beltline consultancy has a $60,000 engagement. It has invoiced $30,000, collected $20,000 and prepared a further $15,000 milestone that needs written acceptance. Separately, staff have recorded $4,000 of proposed extra work that the customer has not approved.

The collection queue contains $10,000 already invoiced. The billing queue contains the $15,000 milestone awaiting acceptance. The $4,000 change belongs in an approval queue, with recoverability reviewed rather than assumed. Adding all three together as overdue debt would send the wrong message to both the owner and the customer.

Keep a weekly approval board

Use one row per pending item: project, amount excluding tax, work period, document needed, responsible person and next action date. Attach acceptance evidence before issuing the invoice, then retain the submitted version and portal confirmation. When an invoice is rejected, preserve the original and the correction history.

Compare billed and unbilled balances to the project report each month. Review old items individually instead of repeatedly changing the expected collection date. A cancellation, fee cap or unresolved scope dispute can require an accounting adjustment; it should not disappear inside a general sales account.

Give management a usable cash view

The next discussion is practical: which approvals can realistically be completed this week, what payroll or supplier payments arrive first, and which customers need a revised billing arrangement? The tools page can support a preliminary cash discussion; the signed contract and reconciled ledgers remain the evidence for actual decisions. An organized approval routine makes the monthly reports easier to trust.

Put this into practice

• Accounts receivable support →
• Professional and engineering bookkeeping →
• Cash and bookkeeping tools →