Billing an IP engagement

Use one project for an engagement, record the work there, and carry its reference onto a clear invoice. This example follows Northwind's instruction for NOVA trademark clearance and filing.

Start with the instruction

Have the client's billing details, the agreed charging basis and your client-safe engagement code to hand. Keep any separate PO or instruction number the client requests alongside them.

Create the engagement's project

1. Open the client and choose New project.
2. Name it NOVA clearance and filing. Choose Hourly, Fixed fee or Retainer to match the agreement.
3. Choose Add project reference and enter IP-2026-041. This reference appears on invoices and estimates, so use a code the client can see.
4. Save the project. Its name describes the work; its code helps you recognize it in lists and pickers.

Choose a grouping that matches how you agree and bill the work. An engagement may cover several marks, or separate instructions may each have their own project. The projects guide explains setup and daily work.

Record the work against the project

For a fixed fee, use milestones for the stages you invoice separately, such as Clearance advice and Filing services. For hourly work, log time against the project or its tasks and review the time and agreed rates before invoicing. The time guide follows that workflow.

Record chargeable third-party spending through expenses. Describe the cost clearly and review its invoice treatment separately from professional services. Keep the original evidence and agreed accounting treatment with your records.

Give each reference its own place

• Project reference: your engagement code, IP-2026-041.
• Your reference: the client's PO or instruction number, such as LEGAL-8921.
• Invoice number: the identity of this invoice.

1. Choose Create invoice from the project and select the work to bill.
2. Check descriptions, amounts, tax and recipients. Enter LEGAL-8921 in Your reference when the client requests it.
3. Review the project reference on the paper. Work sharing one project and saved code prints it once in the header. Mixed projects keep the references beside their own lines.
4. Open the client preview and follow the ordinary send flow.

A manual line continues a draft's single saved project reference. In a mixed or unassigned draft, choose its reference explicitly if it belongs to the engagement. No project reference leaves the line without a printed code.

Find the work later

Search projects by their current reference. Search invoices or estimates by the reference saved on the document; global search labels that match as Reference on invoice or Reference on estimate.

Editing the project's code preserves existing document snapshots. A draft offers Review references so you can keep its saved code or deliberately use the current one. An invoice copied from an accepted estimate keeps that estimate's reference. New recurring invoices capture the project's current code when generated.

Hand over a useful record

The Invoice Details CSV and Excel exports keep one row per invoice line, with Invoice ID, Line ID, Reference project ID, the saved Project reference and Your reference in separate columns. Use the reports guide to filter the period and export it, then agree the reconciliation format with your accountant.