The 'Retain Non-Billable Time Entry Totals' toggle will support your firm in improving its reporting related to non-billable records. This article will go over how to enable this feature and how it works.

Non-billable time refers to the hours spent on tasks that cannot be directly invoiced to your clients. This encompasses a wide array of activities vital to your legal practice but not directly tied to generating revenue.

PracticePanther supports the option to track the Rate and Total Amount value of your non-billable time. Although these non-billable hours are not applied on invoices, they will still appear on the grid and count towards totals on the grid.

Tracking non-billable time allows your firm to monitor essential aspects of your practice such as administrative tasks, client consultations, professional development, pro bono work, marketing efforts, and internal meetings.

Tracking non-billable time enables firms to gain insights into the true costs of operation, assess productivity and efficiency, fulfill ethical obligations, and demonstrate the value provided beyond billable hours. It also aids in making informed decisions regarding pricing strategies, resource allocation, and overall practice management, contributing to the success and sustainability of your legal practice.

Many firms also offer 'Flat Fee' pricing instead of hourly rate pricing. In these cases, it's still vital to record your time accurately and track all of the totals that the time could have earned your firm in the form of non-billable time. Actively tracking the total dollars that could have been earned from your time can help flat fee firms insure they are charging the right amount for the work they are committing to. Firms may find that they are doing way more work than their flat fee pricing is being valued for, and may want to increase their flat fee prices on future similar matters.

To enable tracking of non-billable time entries in your Settings Menu, navigate to 'Company Settings' and then under 'Other Settings' enable 'Retain Non Billable Time Entry Totals?'. Then, click 'Save'.

Non-billable time will display in your Time Entries page when the status selected is 'Any' or 'Not Billable'.

Non-billable time will not display when time entries are filtered by 'Billable', 'Billed', or 'Paid'.

You can get a clear side-by-side breakdown of all your billable and non-billable time by viewing your Time Entries by Status report.