WIP Aging Summary

The WIP Aging Summary report helps firms understand how much open Work in Progress (WIP) exists and how old that WIP is.

WIP represents the value of time that has been worked but has not yet been fully billed or otherwise cleared.

In Qount, WIP is generally calculated as:

WIP = Time Spent × Bill Rate of the Staff Member

The WIP Aging Summary then takes all open WIP and assigns it to aging buckets based on the date of the underlying time entry.

This report is useful when you want to answer questions such as:

How much open WIP do we have today?
How much WIP is more than 30 days old?
Which clients have the largest amount of aged WIP?
Are there clients where work was completed weeks ago but has still not been billed?

What Does WIP Represent?

WIP represents the dollar value of work recorded by staff that remains open.

For example:

A staff member records:

3 hours
Bill Rate: $250/hour

The WIP created from that time entry is:

3 × $250 = $750

If that time remains open and has not yet been billed or cleared, the $750 is included in the WIP Aging Summary.

How WIP Aging Works

WIP aging is based on the date of the time entry.

For example, assume today is August 14.

A time entry dated August 10 would fall into a relatively recent aging bucket.

A time entry dated July 10 would fall into an older bucket.

A time entry dated May would be substantially older.

The report therefore answers:

How long has this unbilled work been sitting in WIP?

This is different from AR Aging, which ages outstanding invoices. WIP Aging ages the underlying unbilled time entries.

Running the Report

Navigate to:

Reports → WIP Aging Summary

Select the desired Period and choose Run Report.

Available period options may include:

As of Today
YTD
Yesterday
Today
This Week
Other available reporting periods

For aging analysis, As of Today is typically the most useful view because it shows the firm's current open WIP position.

Understanding “As of Today”

When the report is run As of Today, Qount evaluates all open WIP that exists as of the current date.

The age of each WIP amount is determined from the date of its corresponding time entry.

For example:

Time entered 10 days ago → 1–30
Time entered 45 days ago → 31–60
Time entered 75 days ago → 61–90
Time entered 100 days ago → 91–120
Time entered more than 120 days ago → 121+

Understanding the Summary View

The WIP Aging Summary displays each client and distributes that client's open WIP across aging buckets.

Typical columns include:

Column	Description
Client	Client associated with the open WIP
Current	Most recent open WIP
1–30	WIP aged 1 through 30 days
31–60	WIP aged 31 through 60 days
61–90	WIP aged 61 through 90 days
91–120	WIP aged 91 through 120 days
121+	WIP older than 120 days
Total	Total open WIP for the client

Example with Mock Data

Assume the following open WIP:

Client	Current	1–30	31–60	61–90	91–120	121+	Total
Apex Advisory LLC	$1,250	$4,500	$1,000	$0	$0	$0	$6,750
Brightline Manufacturing	$500	$2,750	$2,000	$750	$0	$0	$6,000
Cedar Ridge Partners	$0	$1,800	$900	$600	$350	$0	$3,650
Delta Services Group	$0	$1,200	$0	$0	$0	$500	$1,700

This immediately helps identify whether WIP is:

Recent and expected
Beginning to age
Significantly delayed
At risk of becoming difficult to bill

Example of How a Time Entry Is Aged

Assume a staff member records:

Time Entry Date: July 10
Hours: 4
Bill Rate: $300/hour

The WIP is:

4 × $300 = $1,200

If the report is run on August 14, that time entry is approximately 35 days old.

The $1,200 therefore appears in the:

31–60 bucket

If the WIP remains open another month, it will continue moving into older aging buckets based on the original time entry date.

Why WIP Aging Matters

A large WIP balance by itself is not necessarily a problem.

Some recent WIP is normal because staff may be actively working on engagements that have not reached the billing point yet.

The more important question is:

How long has the WIP remained open?

For example:

$500,000 of WIP that is mostly 1–30 days old

may be normal for a busy firm.

However:

$500,000 of WIP with a significant amount older than 90 days

may indicate:

Billing delays
Work that has not been invoiced
Engagements that need Partner review
Scope or fee issues
Potential write-downs
Stale time entries
Work that may never be recoverable

Using the Aging Buckets

Current

Current WIP represents the most recent work.

This generally reflects work that has recently been performed and may still be actively progressing toward billing.

1–30 Days

This represents relatively recent open WIP.

For many firms, a large portion of normal WIP may sit in this bucket depending on the firm's billing cycle.

31–60 Days

WIP entering the 31–60 day range deserves closer review.

Questions may include:

Why has this work not been billed?
Is the engagement still active?
Are we waiting for additional work before invoicing?

61–90 Days

This represents increasingly aged WIP.

At this point, firms may want Partners or managers to review the engagement to determine why billing has not occurred.

91–120 Days

WIP in this bucket may indicate a material billing delay.

It may require decisions around:

Billing
Fee adjustments
Write-downs
Client conversations
Engagement cleanup

121+ Days

This represents the oldest open WIP.

This bucket is especially important for management review because work that has remained unbilled for more than four months may have a lower probability of full realization.

Drilling Down into WIP

Click an amount within an aging bucket to review the underlying WIP details.

For example, if a client has:

1–30 WIP: $3,095.50

the drill-down can be used to identify the time entries contributing to that amount.

This helps answer:

Which staff members recorded the time?
When was the work performed?
How many hours are included?
What bill rates created the WIP?
Which entries are driving the aged balance?

The summary tells you where aged WIP exists.

The drill-down tells you what created it.

Using Filters

Use the Filter icon to narrow the report to a more specific population.

Depending on the firm's configuration, filters may include:

Client
Client Labels
Role
User
Custom Fields
Other client-based filters

This makes it possible to review WIP for a specific portfolio.

For example:

Show WIP Aging for clients where John is the Partner.

or:

Show WIP Aging for Dallas Office clients.

or:

Show WIP Aging for Tax clients only.

Common Uses

Billing Review

Identify clients with WIP that should be invoiced.

For example:

Which clients have WIP older than 30 days?

Partner Review

Filter to a Partner's clients and identify aged WIP within that portfolio.

Example:

Show WIP over 60 days for clients where Sarah is the Partner.

Month-End Billing

Use the report before month-end billing to identify open WIP that should be reviewed before invoices are finalized.

Write-Down Review

Older WIP may require analysis to determine whether the firm expects to bill and realize the full amount.

This can help identify potential:

Write-downs
Fee adjustments
Scope issues
Engagements needing review

Operational Monitoring

WIP Aging can also expose process issues.

For example, if one department consistently has high 61–90-day WIP, the problem may not be individual clients—it may indicate a broader billing workflow issue.

WIP Aging vs. AR Aging

These reports answer different questions.

WIP Aging

Answers:

How old is the work we have performed but not yet billed?

WIP aging begins with the time entry date.

AR Aging

Answers:

How old is the money clients owe us after they have been invoiced?

AR aging begins after the receivable exists.

A typical lifecycle is:

Time Entry → WIP → Invoice → AR → Collection

WIP Aging focuses on the stage before invoicing.

AR Aging focuses on the stage after invoicing but before collection.

Why Both Reports Matter

A firm can have low AR but still have significant financial exposure if a large amount of work is sitting in WIP.

Similarly, a firm may bill quickly but struggle to collect, resulting in low WIP but high aged AR.

Looking at both reports provides a more complete picture:

Report	Primary Question
WIP Aging Summary	How long has completed work remained unbilled?
AR Aging Summary	How long have billed amounts remained unpaid?

Key Takeaway

The WIP Aging Summary provides a point-in-time view of open WIP and shows how long that WIP has remained unbilled.

The key concepts are:

WIP is generally calculated as Time Spent × Staff Bill Rate.
Only open WIP is included.
WIP is aged based on the date of the underlying time entry.
The report distributes WIP across aging buckets such as Current, 1–30, 31–60, 61–90, 91–120, and 121+.
Client totals help identify where open WIP is concentrated.
Older WIP can highlight billing delays, write-down risk, fee issues, or engagement cleanup needs.
Drill-downs help identify the specific time entries creating the aged balance.

Use this report whenever the primary question is:

How much unbilled work do we have, and how long has it been sitting in WIP?

Need Help?

If you have questions after reviewing the documentation, please contact our Help Desk.