Managing Child Time Entries on Parent Client Engagements

When managing client billing across parent-child relationships, firms often prefer to roll up time entries from child entities into the parent’s fixed-fee engagement without double billing. To support this, we’ve added a checkbox to the Client Engagement configuration screen that allows you to automatically mark matching child entries as Billable= No.

Important Notes

• This setting does not modify time entries preemptively. When the checkbox is enabled, any newly logged child time entries that match the engagement scope are automatically marked Billable = No at the moment they are saved. Previously entered items are not retroactively updated. Only time entries matching the engagement’s scope are impacted.
   
• Billable = No entries do not appear as line items in the PDF invoice View, but they are included in the invoice breakdowns.
   
• Firms that wish to bill child work separately should leave the setting unchecked. If your firm bills child entities separately, do not enable this checkbox, as it will mark child items as Billable = No when rolled up into the parent’s invoice.

Before using this setting, make sure:

1. Parent-Child billing relationships are established between clients.
   • How To - Add Billing Parent to Child Client
     
     

Enable Billable = No Status for Child Entries

• Mark matching child billable items as Billable = No checkbox logic applies whether you use auto-invoice, manually create invoices, or use Generate Next.

For New Engagements (Default Behavior)

1. Navigate to the parent client’s Billing tab.
    
2. Click Add a New Engagement.
   
   
    
3. Configure engagement Scope 
   
4. check Auto-Invoice(if applicable).
    
5. Notice that the new checkbox Mark matching child billable items as Billable = No is enabled by default.
    
6. Save the engagement.
   
   

Result: Any matching time entries logged for child clients will be included on the parent’s invoice and automatically marked as non-billable.

For Existing Engagements

1. Open the Client Engagement on the parent client.
    
2. Click Edit.
    
3. Scroll to find the new checkbox: Mark matching child billable items as Billable = No.
    
   • This setting will be disabled by default for existing engagements (to preserve current workflows).
      
4. Enable the checkbox.
    
5. Save the engagement.
    

Result: Future auto-generated and manually created invoices will now mark matching child time entries as Billable = No

 

What Happens When the Setting is Enabled

Scenario	Behavior
Parent auto-invoice is ON and checkbox is enabled	Matching scope child time entries are included in the invoice and marked Billable = No.
Parent auto-invoice is ON and checkbox is disabled	Matching child entries remain Billable = Yes, and additional child amounts are included on the invoice as-is (existing behavior).
Checkbox is unchecked after invoices have been created	No historical invoices or items are modified. The setting applies only to future invoice generations.