Billing in Clio Manage turns the time and expenses your firm records into client bills and tracks what each client owes. The billing tools move work from unbilled activities through bill generation, delivery, payment, and adjustments. Configuring your billing preferences first means every bill your firm produces applies the correct rates, taxes, payment terms, and format from the start.
Understand the billing lifecycle
Every bill in Clio Manage moves through a set of states. Each state determines whether the bill appears on client ledgers and accounts receivable, and whether the underlying activities remain editable.
- Draft:
The bill is editable and does not yet affect firm revenue reporting or the client balance.
- Pending approval:
An optional review state for firms that require sign-off before a bill is finalised.
- Approved (unpaid):
The bill is finalised, the underlying activities lock, and the balance records as owed to the firm.
- Paid:
-
The finalised bill is collected, which records the revenue as realised.
Review billing settings
Billing settings live under Settings > Billing and control how your firm values work, applies charges, and formats bills. Configure these settings before you generate bills:
| General | Sets currency, time rounding, cover pages, and default delivery options. |
|---|---|
| Automated bill reminders | Schedule follow-up notifications for outstanding balances. |
| Autocharge | Creates a schedule to collect bill payments from stored payment methods. |
| Bill message templates | Store reusable email and text messages for bill delivery. |
| Bill themes | Configuration-based bill appearance. |
| Payment profiles | Per-client payment terms: grace periods, interest, early-payment discounts, and due dates. |
| UTBMS codes | Redirects to general settings, where your firm enables LEDES billing and selects UTBMS code sets. |
| Expenses | Set rules for hard and soft cost expenses. |
| Protected funds | Safeguard matter funds from automatic application to bills. |
| Billing templates | Visual, drag-and-drop bill design. |
| Reports allocation | Defines how payments distribute across users and activities for reporting. |
Understand how bills sync to your ledger
The Billing tab works as a sub-ledger that tracks what each client owes the firm. These records sync to your general ledger, such as Clio Accounting or a connected accounting integration, to update the firm's overall financial position, including bank reconciliation and tax reporting.
Up next
Configure General Bill Settings: Set your firm's currency, rounding, and default bill options.