Glossary
Work in Progress (WIP)
Also known as: WIP, unbilled revenue
In a services business, work in progress (WIP) is the value of work performed but not yet invoiced — hours recorded against engagements, waiting for billing review, milestone completion or the month-end cycle. WIP is earned revenue in limbo: real cost has been incurred, no cash has been requested.
WIP ages badly. The longer worked hours sit unbilled, the harder they are to invoice at full value: memories fade, the client's budget cycle moves on, and the entries become exactly the vague, stale lines that get written off at review. Firms that bill within days of work completing realise measurably more of their WIP than firms that bill quarterly.
WIP is also a cash-flow lens. Salaries fund the work today; the invoice may follow forty-five days later, and payment thirty days after that. Measuring WIP in days — how long value sits between being earned and being billed — tells you how much working capital the billing process itself consumes.
The practical disciplines are unglamorous: contemporaneous time capture so WIP is complete, prompt approvals so nothing queues behind a reviewer, and a billing cadence tied to work completion rather than the calendar where contracts allow.
How Workclave handles this
Workclave keeps WIP current and defensible: sessions recorded as they happen, approved inline, and reportable by client the moment billing runs. Approved-but-unbilled hours are visible as a queue, not discovered as an aged surprise. project time tracking with approvals.
Related terms
Realisation rate is the percentage of hours worked on client engagements that is actually invoiced to the client. It is calculated as hours billed divided by hours worked. A firm that works 120 hours for a client but invoices 102 has an 85% realisation rate — the other 18 hours were written off before the invoice went out.
Read definition →A write-off is recorded work removed or reduced before invoicing — hours the team spent that the client is never asked to pay for. Write-offs happen at billing review, when a partner or account lead trims entries that overran the estimate, look indefensible, or would trigger an awkward conversation. The difference between hours worked and hours billed is the firm's realisation gap.
Read definition →Billable hours are the units of work time that can be charged to a client under a contract or engagement. They exclude internal activities like admin, training, or bench time that the client does not pay for. For services firms, billable hours are the direct link between effort and revenue.
Read definition →A manager approval workflow is the defined path by which attendance, leave, or time entries are reviewed and approved by the right manager before they become official. It turns self-reported data into an authoritative record. Approvals create accountability and an audit trail for payroll and billing.
Read definition →