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Budgets

Law Firm Matter Budgets | Approving and Rejecting

When a budget is pending, company financial data reviewers must review the budget and approve, reject, or edit it.

Pending budgets

If a law firm provides a budget for a matter or edits an existing budget, the budget is considered to be pending, and the following occurs:
  • Display
    : The Budget Profile page displays the matter budget as pending.
  • Alerts
    : Designated budget reviewers receive an Action Items alert and email notification if the firm has submitted a required budget. The budget reviewer can then approve, edit, or reject the pending budget. For more information, see .
  • Law Firm's Ability to Post Invoices
    (if budget is required): When a required budget has been created, the law firm can post invoices on the matter. Tracker holds invoices only if the budget is overdue or has been rejected. Thus, even if the company has not approved the pending budget, the law firm can post invoices. For more information, see Pending budget is rejected section below.

Approve, reject, or edit a pending budget

Only designated budget reviewers can review and approve, edit, or reject a budget. If a budget is pending, a budget reviewer will receive an Action Items alert and email notification.
To approve, reject, or edit a budget:
  1. From your Action Items, click the
    Budgets & Accruals
     alert. You can also click
    Financial > Budget Review
     in the left navigation. The default view is to show matter s with data pending approval.
  2. Click the appropriate action (for example,
    Approve
    ,
    Edit/Reject
    ,
    More Info
    ) from the table row down arrow.
Events that occur when a budget is approved
When a budget is approved, the following occurs:
  • Alerts
    : The law firm will not be notified that the budget has been approved.
  • Invoice posting
     (if budget is required): The law firm is able to post invoices to the matter as soon as the firm creates a budget. It will continue to be able to post invoices after a company user has approved the proposed budget.
Events that occur when a budget is edited
Only a company financial data reviewer (designated budget reviewer) can edit a law firm matter budget. When a user edits a budget, the user will be required to provide an explanation of the changes. When a budget is edited, the following occurs:
  • Display
    : Law firm users will see the budget in comparison mode, with the original budget figures in gray strikethrough above the new figures.
  • Alerts
    : The law firm user will receive an Action Items alert (and an email alert if they have their email preferences activated). After a budget has been created or modified by a company user, a law firm user simply acknowledges the modification. Nothing happens if the law firm does not acknowledge the budget. For example, the law firm can still post invoices, and the budget modified by the company user remains in place. If you do not want the budget further modified, you should lock the budget after you have finished editing the budget.
  • Invoice posting
     (if budget is required): The law firm is able to post invoices to the matter as soon as the firm creates a budget. It will continue to be able to post invoices after a company user has edited the budget. Invoices are held only if a required budget is overdue or rejected.
Events that occur when a budget is rejected
Only a designated budget reviewer can reject a budget. When a user rejects a budget, the user is required to provide an explanation for the budget rejection. When a budget is rejected, the following occurs:
  • Alerts
    : The law firm users will receive an Action Items alert (and an email alert if they have their email preferences activated).
  • Invoice posting
     (if budget is required): The law firm is able to post invoices to the matter as soon as it enters a budget.If a company user rejects a budget that was required, however, the law firm will no longer be able to submit any invoices until it has edited the budget. Tracker will not hold invoices unless the budget was explicitly required, however. For example, assume a budget is required for a matter, and the law firm has submitted a budget, which was approved by a company user. That first budget was the only one required. If the law firm then edits the existing, approved budget, and a company user rejects the changes, then the law firm can still submit invoices for the matter. This is because the budget that was rejected was not a required budget—it was merely a modification of an existing budget that had already been approved.

This article applies to:

  • PRODUCT: Legal Tracker
  • Subject: Budget
  • Audiences: Firm