Billings 2 Review

I have been spending some time reviewing Billings 2 from Marketcircle, the makers of my favorite calendar, contact and case management program, Daylite 3.

I have to say that I am impressed and like Billings 2 a lot. It was very easy to get up and running with the program. It has a seamless import feature included. This enables you to import information directly from Daylite.

Billings 2 is an easy-to-use time and expense billing application for the Mac. With Billings 2, you can create and send great looking invoices or estimates in less than 5 minutes. Billings 2's timesaving features include Address Book integration, fully customizable PDF estimates and invoices, and automated tax calculations for 120 regions globally.

"Create invoices, track time and expenses with ease. Free yourself from slow, mundane tasks and say goodbye to being held captive by expense spreadsheets and unappealing Word or HTML based invoices. The simple design and speed-tuned performance of Billings 2 gives you the power to create professional looking invoices from eye-catching templates, which can be fully customised to match your image. Use template slips to streamline regular item invoicing. Billings 2 is designed to save you time and help you prosper straight away."

I was able to set up custom categories to fit my own law practice. This enabled me to have the information in an invoice that explains in simple terms the task I did for the client. And it is convenient. You can track time while in any application using the Billings menubar timer, with instant access to all active slips.

I like this program so much that I have officially started to use it for my billing program. My only concern is the fact the data base is not accessible over a network. Not an issue for myself as I am the only one using it. But, for those small firms who have more than one time keeper, it will be an issue. I hope that Marketcircle will consider this in a future update.

Comments

[Ted]

I am also testing this out and it is truly amazing how efficient it is. A few gripes however: 1. it does not seem to be able to show discounts on the actual invoice. I oftentimes discount my fees for certain clients and I would like to show them that I am extending this courtesy to them. Thus far it does not seem capable. I suppose one could insert a credit, but this seems redundant as Billings2 does offer a discount feature for invoices already. I am just asking for it to show up. The templates are just beautiful, but does require a color printer for best effect. I do not have a ton a invoices, so for me this is not a major issue, however, it is something to consider for those firms who do (not that you could not just print them out in grayscale).

Great blog.

I am now trying to find a suitable back-end. Again my practice is fairy simple and I tend not to have retainers and most of my work is done on a flat basis. I do have Quickbooks 6.0 which is okay. I was using QB for years on the PeeCee and the Mac version is notably lacking.

[Mark Jakubik]

I have been testing this program out based on Grant's recommendation, and concur with his judgment that it is a great piece of software. It is by far the best billing solution available for Mac using lawyers at this moment and, given the history of delays on certain Mac based billing projects, is likely to be the very best we will see for a while. It is easy to use, readily customizable and very robust. I recommend it enthusiastically.