Glossary

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Account credit

Money a client has with you that isn’t applied to anything yet, such as an overpayment. It’s applied to their next invoice on its own. See Payments.

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Activate

Turning an engagement on. An admin clicks Activate. Nothing runs until then. See Engagements.

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Agreed price

The price recorded on a service, with the date it took effect and a history of changes. See Pricing.

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Available work

The list of tasks nobody owns yet, ready for anyone to claim. See My Work & Available work.

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Bill rate

What an hour of a person’s time is billed at: their level’s rate, or their own. Admins set it under Configure → Bill rates. See Pricing.

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Billing arrangement

How a service gets billed: fixed price, time & materials, payment plan, subscription, or retainer. Every service needs one. See Pricing.

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Billing group

The unit that gets one invoice. Usually the client. Each entity belongs to one billing group. See Billing groups.

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Billing period

The stretch of time one invoice covers for a billing group, set by its invoice frequency. It can gather several work periods, such as three months of work on one quarterly invoice. See Billing periods.

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Blocked

A task that can’t be started or finished yet, because earlier work isn’t done or it’s on hold. See Task rules.

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Budget

The money ceiling for a project. Billing won’t go past it without telling you. See WIP & budgets.

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Budgeted hours

An estimate of effort for planning. It never stops billing.

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Cadence

How often a service repeats: weekly, twice a month, monthly, quarterly, twice a year, annually, or one time. See Service templates.

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Category (time)

The kind of time on an entry: billable, non-billable, or admin. Client time is billable or non-billable, set with the $ switch; admin time picks its category. Also called a time code. See Time.

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Chained due date

A task due date counted from when the task before it finishes. It fills in once that task is done. See Service templates.

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Claim

Taking a task from Available work so it becomes yours. Claim ahead reserves a task that isn’t ready yet. You can also claim a whole group of tasks at once. See My Work & Available work.

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Client

The firm’s customer. A client is made up of one or more entities. See Clients & entities.

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Creation trigger

The rule for when Flows makes the next project for a service, such as when the period starts or on November 20. See Service templates.

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Credit note

The way to reduce or cancel an issued invoice. A separate document that offsets the original. See Credit notes & voids.

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Cutoff

The last day of work a bill includes. It can be earlier than the end of the period. See Billing periods.

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Draft

An engagement that isn’t turned on yet, or an invoice that isn’t issued yet. Both can be changed freely.

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Due date

When a project or task is expected to be done. Usually worked out from a rule, not typed in. See Projects.

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Engagement

The standing agreement with a client: which entities, which services, how each is scheduled and priced, and who is responsible. A client can have more than one. See Engagements.

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Engagement letter

The document a client signs to agree to an engagement. Not built in Flows yet. See What’s not in Flows yet.

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Entity

A specific person or company you do work for, such as John Smith or Smith Holdings LLC. See Clients & entities.

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Extend (due date)

Moving a project’s deadline later for a real reason, such as an IRS extension. Open tasks move with it and the reason is saved. See Projects.

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Fiscal year

A client’s year when it doesn’t end in December. Yearly work can follow it.

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Hold (on hold)

Pausing a task for a reason outside the project, such as waiting on the client. It comes off when someone logs time to the task. See Task rules.

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Invoice frequency

How often a billing group is invoiced: monthly, quarterly, or annually. See Billing groups.

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Issue

Making an invoice final. It gets its number, is frozen, and is sent. See Issuing & sending.

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Memo line

A line that prints on an invoice but doesn’t add to the total. See Drafts & review.

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My Work

Your list of assigned tasks. See My Work & Available work.

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One-off project

A project made by hand for work outside the regular schedule. See Projects.

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Payment plan

An agreed total split into scheduled payments. See Pricing.

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Period

A shared, named stretch of time, such as Sep 2026. Projects and invoices point at the same one. See Periods.

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Pre-bill

Billing for work before it’s done, limited by the project’s pre-bill cap. See WIP & budgets.

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Project

One service, for one entity, for one period. The dated job that tasks and time hang off. See Projects.

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Realization

How much of the standard value of the work you actually bill. Shown to the firm only. See Drafts & review.

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Redo

A copy of a finished task, made when a reviewer sends work back. See Task rules.

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Relationship roles

The seats on an entity (Partner, Tax Manager, CAS Manager, and so on) that say who plays which part for that client. See Clients & entities.

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Retainer

Money paid ahead and drawn down as work is done, squared up from time to time with a true-up. See Pricing.

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Same as group

The default Assign to choice for a task: it goes to whoever its group goes to. See Task rules.

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Scope

What a billing arrangement covers, and whether it’s the only thing that bills that work (exclusive), bills on top (supplemental), or picks up what’s left (residual). See Pricing.

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Service

One service on an engagement for one entity, with its own schedule and price. Monthly bookkeeping for Smith Holdings is a service. See Engagements.

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Service template

The firm’s reusable recipe for a service, with its default schedule, due date rule, and task list. See Service templates.

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Stage

A group of tasks marked as a step in the workflow, such as Review. Stages run in order. See Service templates.

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Standard value

What the work is worth at your bill rates: hours times each person’s bill rate. Realization compares the bill with it. See Pricing.

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Subscription

A set amount billed on a schedule until cancelled. See Pricing.

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Sub-task

A smaller task under a task. See Task rules.

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Task

One step of work in a project, with an owner and a due date. See Task rules.

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Term

How long an engagement lasts: Evergreen, Annual, or One-time. See Engagements.

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Time-tracked

A task that needs time logged before it can be marked done. See Task rules.

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True-up

A charge or credit that squares what was paid ahead against the work actually done. See Pricing.

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Unassigned

A task nobody owns. It waits in Available work for someone to claim it. Unassigned is also an Assign to choice. See My Work & Available work.

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Untracked

A badge on a time-tracked task that was marked done with no time logged. See Task rules.

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Void

Cancelling an issued invoice that has no money applied to it. See Credit notes & voids.

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WIP (work in progress)

Work done but not billed yet. It can be negative when you’ve billed ahead. See WIP & budgets.

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WIP relief

The moment work stops counting as unbilled: when the invoice is issued, or when the cash settles. See WIP & budgets.

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Work period

The period a piece of work belongs to. Set by the service’s cadence. See The two clocks.

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Write-down / write-up

Billing less (or more) than the standard value of the work. See Drafts & review.