How do we handle "work in progress" (WIP) aging? What report helps us identify billable hours that haven't been invoiced yet?

Identifying Uninvoiced Billable Hours

The primary report used to identify billable hours and expenses that have been logged and approved but not yet invoiced is the Work-in-Progress (WIP) Aging Report (often referred to interchangeably in various platforms as the Aged WIP Report or Unbilled Time Report).

This report tracks the "lockup" period—the gap between delivering work and sending the invoice—by categorizing unbilled amounts into aging buckets (e.g., 0-30 days, 31-60 days, 61-90 days, and 90+ days) based on the transaction or work date.

Handling Work-in-Progress (WIP) Aging Best Practices

Managing aging WIP requires a disciplined operational rhythm to prevent trapped revenue and declining realization rates (as work aged past 90 days suffers a severe drop in collection probability).

• Regular Monitoring Cadence : Review the WIP aging report at least bi-weekly or monthly at the firm or project-manager level to catch bottlenecks before they transition into long-term unbilled debt.
• Standardized Aging Thresholds:
  • 0-30 days: Healthy operational capture within a standard billing cycle.
  • 31-60 days: Warning stage; prompt project managers to clear missing descriptions, address milestone constraints, or finalize draft invoices.
  • 60+ days: High risk; mandate a strict business decision to either immediately bill, issue a change order for scope creep, or write off the unbillable time.
• Actionable Resolution : Use drill-down capabilities in your practice management or ERP software to convert aged unbilled hours directly into bulk draft invoices or formally write them off the ledger to keep financial metrics accurate.

If you share which accounting or practice management software your team uses (such as Deltek, Xero, LeanLaw, or Practice CS), I can provide the exact navigation steps to pull and customize this report.

“WIP aging” is essentially a way to age your unbilled billable work—how long time/fees have been sitting in WIP without being invoiced.

The report you’re looking for is typically called an Aged WIP Report, WIP Aging Report, or Unbilled/Uninvoiced WIP Report. It identifies:

• Billable hours and fees that haven't been invoiced
• Age of the WIP, commonly Current, 30+, 60+, 90+ days
• Client/matter/project and responsible timekeeper
• Often both hours and dollar value
• Items that need billing attention or may eventually need to be written off

For example, Deltek's Work-in-Progress Aging report specifically identifies time and expenses that haven't been billed and groups them into aging columns; LEAP's Aged WIP Report similarly identifies unbilled professional-fee entries by aging period.

How to manage WIP aging

A practical process is:

1. Run the WIP aging report at each billing cycle/month-end.
2. Prioritize older WIP first, particularly 60–90+ day balances.
3. Drill into the underlying time entries to determine why they're still unbilled—approval delay, missing billing information, client hold, etc.
4. Invoice, correct, or write off the WIP as appropriate.
5. Track total WIP and the amount in older buckets over time. A growing 60+/90+ day balance is an early warning that billing is falling behind.

So, if the question is “What report tells us which billable hours have been worked but not yet invoiced?”, the short answer is: the WIP Aging / Aged WIP report. If you just need the total unbilled work without aging, use an Unbilled Work or Uninvoiced WIP report.

The report you’re looking for is typically called an Unbilled WIP / WIP Aging report.

It answers two key questions:

• What billable work has been completed but not invoiced?
• How long has that work been sitting unbilled?

A good WIP Aging report should show client/project, hours, unbilled dollar value, transaction/work date, and aging buckets such as Current, 1–30, 31–60, 61–90, and 90+ days. Reports with these fields are specifically designed to identify billing delays and prioritize follow-up.

How to handle WIP aging

1. Run the WIP Aging report regularly — ideally weekly for operational billing and monthly for management review.
2. Focus first on the oldest WIP. Anything over 60–90 days should have a specific reason for remaining unbilled.
3. Assign an owner to each significant aged balance—typically the project manager, billing manager, or responsible partner.
4. Classify the reason: awaiting approval, milestone not reached, client hold, time-entry issue, scope dispute, or simply missed billing.
5. Bill it, resolve it, or write it off. Don't let old WIP remain indefinitely without an explicit decision.
6. Track WIP days and total unbilled dollars over time to see whether billing discipline is improving.

If your system uses different terminology, look for “Unbilled Detail and Aging,” “Aged WIP,” “Unbilled Time and Cost Aging,” or “Work-in-Progress Aging.” These are all variations of essentially the same report.

Bottom line: For “show me the billable hours we've worked but haven't invoiced yet, and tell me how old they are,” use the WIP Aging / Unbilled Time Aging report.

To identify billable hours and expenses that have been logged or incurred but not yet invoiced , the specific report you need is the Aged WIP (Work in Progress) Report (sometimes called an Unbilled Time Aging Report or WIP by Service Item Report).

The Report You Need

• Aged WIP Report: This tool groups uninvoiced billable work into standard aging buckets (e.g., Current/0–30 days, 31–60 days, 61–90 days, and 90+ or 120+ days) based on the date the work was performed. It details unbilled hours, hourly rates or cost rates, total unbilled revenue per client or project, and the responsible project manager or partner.

How to Handle WIP Aging Best Practices

Unbilled WIP is a silent cash flow drain; the longer hours sit unbilled, the lower their realization (collection) rate drops. Handling it effectively requires operational discipline:

1. Establish Standard Aging Buckets: Monitor your WIP like you monitor Accounts Receivable (AR). Flag any unbilled time crossing the 45-to-60-day threshold for immediate review. Data shows that WIP aging past 60 days suffers a steep drop in realization, and work sitting past 90 days is often only collected at a fraction of its value.
2. Conduct Regular WIP Reviews: Schedule bi-weekly or monthly reviews with project managers and billing partners. For every aging project on the report, force one of three decisions:
   • Bill Immediately: Generate and send the invoice or draft.
   • Resolve a Dispute/Blocker: Uncover if the delay is due to a client dispute, scope creep, or waiting on a milestone.
   • Write Off / Write Down: If the hours are unbillable due to internal error or scope creep that cannot be billed, write them off immediately rather than letting dead value clutter your books.
3. Reconcile WIP Monthly: Ensure your total unbilled WIP value on the aging report ties out to your balance sheet's unbilled work-in-progress asset account and general ledger.

If you share what accounting or practice management software your team uses (such as QuickBooks, Deltek, Xero, or a legal/agency specific tool), I can give you exact step-by-step instructions on how to locate or customize this specific report.

“WIP aging” is essentially a way to monitor billable work that has been performed but not yet invoiced, and to make sure it doesn’t sit unbilled indefinitely.

Report to use

The report you’re looking for is typically called an Aged WIP Report or WIP Aging Report. It shows uninvoiced billable time/costs grouped into aging buckets such as:

• Current / 0–30 days
• 31–60 days
• 61–90 days
• 91–120 days
• 120+ days

For example, Deltek’s WIP Aging report specifically identifies projects with time and expenses that aren't being invoiced timely and allows you to drill down to the underlying work and dates. help.deltek.com Xero likewise describes its Aged WIP report as showing the billable value of all uninvoiced actual time and costs, aged by when the WIP was recorded.

How I'd handle WIP aging

1. Run the Aged WIP report regularly — weekly for active billing management, at minimum monthly.
2. Sort/filter by oldest WIP first. The goal is to quickly surface 60/90/120+ day items.
3. Drill into the individual time entries and determine why they haven't been billed:
   • Not yet ready to invoice
   • Waiting for client approval/milestone
   • Billing hold
   • Missing time/expense approval
   • Incorrect project or billing code
   • Should be written off
4. Assign an owner and action for anything beyond your normal billing cycle.
5. Clear the WIP by invoicing it, formally holding it with a documented reason, or writing it off when appropriate.

If your specific question is “What report tells me exactly which billable hours haven't made it onto an invoice yet?”, look for Unbilled Time, Unbilled WIP, or WIP Detail. Those reports provide the transaction-level detail; the Aged WIP report is better for managing how long that unbilled work has been sitting. Financial Cents, for example, explicitly describes its Unbilled Time report as showing every billable hour that has not yet been invoiced.

In short: use Unbilled Time/WIP Detail to find what hasn't been invoiced, and Aged WIP to determine how long it's been sitting there.

Handling Work in Progress (WIP) aging effectively prevents revenue leakage, shortens cash conversion cycles, and ensures that earned revenue doesn't turn into uncollectible write-offs.

The Report You Need

The exact report to identify billable hours and expenses that haven’t been invoiced yet is the Aged WIP Report (often referred to in various systems as the WIP Aging Report, Unbilled Time Report , or Aged WIP & Expenses Report).

This report groups unbilled time and disbursements into aging buckets (e.g., Current/0–30 days, 31–60 days, 61–90 days, and 90+ days) measured from the date the work was actually performed. Depending on your platform (such as Xero, Deltek, LEAP , or specialized legal/agency practice software), it lets you drill down by client, project, or responsible team member.

How to Handle WIP Aging Best Practices

1. Establish Strict Aging Thresholds
   • 0–30 Days (Healthy): Normal workflow; hours are fresh and ready for standard billing cycles.
   • 31–60 Days (Warning Zone): Trigger a review with project managers. Look for missing billing milestones, scope creep, or delayed internal reviews.
   • 60–90+ Days (High Risk): Realization rates drop significantly for work sitting this long. Force a decision: bill immediately , execute a change order for extra scope, or officially write it off.
2. Conduct Bi-Weekly or Monthly Reviews
   • Move away from passive quarterly reviews. Have team leads or partners review their specific unbilled WIP every two weeks to clear bottlenecks before realization rates plummet.
3. Reconcile WIP to the General Ledger
   • Under accrual accounting, unbilled WIP sits on your balance sheet as an asset (unbilled receivables/contract assets). Regularly compare your Aged WIP total against your GL unbilled revenue account to catch discrepancies or cutoff timing errors.
4. Automate Draft Invoices
   • Use your practice management tool to bulk-convert unbilled time straight into draft invoices as soon as milestones are met, reducing administrative billing lag.

If you share what accounting or practice management software you are using (e.g., QuickBooks, Xero, Deltek, Clio), I can give you the exact navigation steps to pull and customize your WIP aging report.

WIP (Work in Progress) aging is the process of tracking how long billable time and expenses have remained unbilled. Instead of just showing the total amount of WIP, it categorizes unbilled work into aging buckets (for example, Current, 31–60 days, 61–90 days, 91–120 days, and 120+ days). This helps identify projects where billable work has been sitting too long without being invoiced, so managers can either bill the client or investigate/write off old items if appropriate.

The report typically used to identify billable hours that haven't been invoiced is the Work-in-Progress (WIP) Aging Report (also called an Aged WIP Report in some systems). This report shows:

• Unbilled billable time and expenses.
• How long each item has been outstanding.
• Aging by standard time buckets.
• Drill-down details by project, employee, phase, or transaction, depending on the software.

This report is especially useful for:

• Identifying overdue billable work.
• Prioritizing invoices that should be sent.
• Monitoring cash flow.
• Reducing the risk of revenue being delayed or written off.

Handling Work in Progress (WIP) aging effectively prevents revenue leakage, shortens realization lockup, and ensures that unbilled hours do not quietly turn into write-offs.

The Report You Need

The specific report used to identify billable hours that have not yet been invoiced—broken down by how long they have been sitting unbilled—is the Aged WIP Report (often called the Work-in-Progress Aging Report or Unbilled Time and Expense Report).

Most ERP, practice management, and accounting systems (such as Xero's Aged WIP Report, Deltek's Work-in-Progress Aging Report , or Canopy's WIP by Service Item ) organize this data into standard aging columns:

• Current / 0-30 days
• 31-60 days
• 61-90 days
• 91-120+ days

Best Practices for Handling WIP Aging

1. Establish a Routine Monthly Review
   • Do not wait for quarter-end or year-end. Schedule a recurring 30-minute monthly review where billing managers or project leads look at everything sitting past 45 to 60 days.
2. Monitor the "At-Risk" Threshold (>60 Days)
   • Realization rates plummet drastically once unbilled time passes 60 days, and work sitting at 90+ days is often only collected at a fraction of its value due to client friction or forgotten context.
3. Take Action on Flagged WIP Items
   For every stale or aging block of hours identified in your Aged WIP Report, you have three choices:
   • Invoice immediately: Push the draft to a final invoice if the milestone or cycle allows.
   • Resolve scope/disputes: Address why the project manager is holding back the bill (e.g., client dispute or pending scope change order).
   • Write it off: Formally write off unrecoverable time so your active WIP asset balance accurately reflects true realizable value.

If you'd like, let me know what accounting or practice management software you are using, and I can give you step-by-step instructions on how to locate or customize this specific report.

WIP (Work in Progress) aging is managed by monitoring unbilled time and expenses based on how long they've remained uninvoiced. The goal is to identify billable work that has been sitting in WIP for too long so it can be invoiced promptly or, if appropriate, written off. Aging is typically grouped into buckets such as Current, 0–30 days, 31–60 days, 61–90 days, 91–120 days, and over 120 days, making it easy to spot overdue WIP.

The report used to identify billable hours that haven't been invoiced yet is generally called the Work-in-Progress (WIP) Aging Report (or Aged WIP Report, depending on the software). This report helps you:

• View all unbilled time and expenses.
• See how long each billable item has remained in WIP.
• Prioritize projects or clients that need invoicing.
• Drill down into the underlying time entries and expenses.
• Decide whether to invoice, adjust, or write off old WIP.

In short:

• How is WIP aging handled? By reviewing unbilled work in aging buckets and following up on older WIP to ensure timely billing.
• What report identifies billable hours not yet invoiced? The Work-in-Progress (WIP) Aging Report (also known as the Aged WIP Report or Unbilled Time/WIP Report in some systems).

Handling Work in Progress (WIP) aging is crucial for maintaining cash flow, identifying billing bottlenecks, and preventing unbilled hours from turning into write-offs.

The Report to Identify Uninvoiced Billable Hours

The primary report you need is the Aged WIP Report (often also called the Work-in-Progress Aging Report or Un-Invoiced Billable Hours Report depending on your platform like Xero Central, Deltek , or legal/agency management tools like LEAP or Actionstep).

This report displays the billable value of all actual time and expenses that have been logged to a project or matter but have not yet been posted onto a final client invoice. It typically groups data into aging buckets (e.g., Current, 1–30 days, 31–60 days, 61–90 days, and 90+ days) based on the date the work was performed.

Best Practices for Handling WIP Aging

1. Establish a Regular Review Cadence
   • Review your WIP aging report at least bi-weekly or monthly . Waiting until quarterly or year-end reviews makes old time entries hard to justify or bill to a client.
2. Set Aging Thresholds & Triggers
   • Flag any WIP that sits unbilled past 30 to 45 days . Old WIP heavily correlates with lower realization rates—clients are far less likely to pay for or accept charges they’ve forgotten about.
3. Assign Accountability to Project/Account Managers
   • Distribute filtered segments of the aging report to the specific managers or partners responsible for those accounts. Require them to categorize aging items into three choices:
     • Bill Immediately: Push a draft invoice out the door.
     • Client Dispute/Hold: Address an ongoing scope or satisfaction issue.
     • Write-Down/Write-Off: Honestly recognize that the time won't be collected and clear it off the balance sheet.
4. Reconcile WIP to the General Ledger
   • Ensure the total value on your Aged WIP report ties back to your balance sheet's WIP Asset Account to catch any tracking discrepancies or untracked operational leakages.

If you share what accounting or practice management software you use (e.g., QuickBooks, Xero, Deltek, Clio), I can give you exact step-by-step navigation to pull this specific report.