When staff log time against a task outside a client's engagement scope, the automation drafts an add-on fee line from the firm's rate card. A partner approves, edits or waives it in Slack, and approved lines go onto the client's next monthly invoice.
Typical results
100%
Out-of-scope time entries seen by a partner
Under 1 min
Partner time per add-on decision
Monthly
Add-ons billed on the regular client invoice
Figures reflect typical results for this kind of automation.
The challenge
Clients on a fixed monthly fee often ask for extras, such as a loan application pack, a tax audit response or a second set of accounts for a bank. Staff do the work and log the hours, yet nobody compares them with the engagement letter, so most of these extras are never billed and quietly eat into the fixed fee.
Before and after
Share of out-of-scope hours billed
5.3×Hours of extra work absorbed per month
−77%The automation
Each client's engagement scope is stored as a list of included task types. When staff log time in the practice management system against a task type outside that list, a Make scenario prices the hours from the rate card and drafts an add-on fee line. The partner approves, edits or waives it from a Slack message. Approved lines go onto the client's next invoice in the accounting software, and waived ones are logged as write-offs for the year-end fee review.
How it works
- 01
Scope stored per client
Each client's engagement scope is kept as a list of included task types, taken from the engagement letter.
- 02
Time logged as usual
Staff log time in the practice management system and choose the task type for each entry.
- 03
Out-of-scope check
Entries with a task type outside the scope, such as a loan application pack, are priced from the firm's rate card.
- 04
Partner decides in Slack
The partner gets a Slack message with the hours and the draft fee line and taps approve, edit or waive.
- 05
Invoice or write-off
Approved lines are added to the client's next invoice. Waived ones are logged as write-offs for the year-end fee review.
Starts from
- Logged time entries
- Engagement scope per client
Delivers
- Slack approve, edit or waive
- Add-on line on next invoice
- Write-off log for fee review
The impact
Extra work that would otherwise disappear into the fixed fee is billed or deliberately waived. Billed fees rise by about 5%, partners spend a few seconds per decision in Slack, and the year-end fee review starts from a full list of write-offs per client.
Questions about this automation
How does the automation know what is in scope?
Each client's engagement letter is translated once into a list of included task types, such as monthly bookkeeping, VAT returns and the annual report. Any time entry with a task type outside that list is treated as out of scope. When an engagement changes, the office updates the list and the checks follow.
Does every out-of-scope entry turn into a charge?
No. The partner sees each draft fee line in Slack and decides whether to approve it as is, edit the amount or waive it, for example as goodwill for a long-standing client. Nothing reaches an invoice without that decision, and waived items stay visible in the write-off log.
Which systems need to be connected?
The practice management system supplies time entries and task types, Slack carries the partner's decision, and the accounting software holds the invoices where approved lines are added. The rate card and the scope lists sit in a Google Sheets file. This is a multi-step build, usually rolled out in stages.