Manage fees on a matter

Working with commercial models on a work item

Nikki Chapman

October 23rd, 2026

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Working with commercial models on a work item

Manage fees on a matter overview

A fee earner never sees a fee template. What they see on a work item is a commercial model.

What a commercial model holds

Estimated fees. The projected fees for the work, also referred to as the quote.
Time recording rates. The charge-out rates available when a fee earner records time against the work item.
Controls on allowed actuals. Which fees can be recorded, and how many of each.
Notes. Held on the commercial model and apply to the whole model, not to individual estimates.

An example journey

One way fees can run on a matter. The steps vary with how the fee template is configured.

See Routes onto a work item for how a commercial model reaches the work item in the first place.

An estimate is optional

A fee template does not have to produce an estimate. A section can be targeted at actuals only, which gives a commercial model that controls what can be recorded without quoting anything. This is common on time and materials work and on legal aid, where the firm records against agreed rates rather than quoting a figure.

The widget therefore supports three views: estimate only, actuals only, and both side by side.

Phases, states and statuses

Three separate states govern a commercial model and the fees on it, and they move independently of each other.

State	Sits on	What it governs	What moves it
Phase	The commercial model	Whether the estimate is locked, whether fee actuals can be created, and whether time can be recorded.	A user progressing the model, or an approval outcome. Draft, Pre-Approved, Active, Approving, Updating, Finalised. See Phases and approval.
Lifecycle state	Each fee actual	Whether that fee can still be changed, and the chart of accounts posting status behind it.	A user progressing the fee, one at a time or in bulk. Draft, Submitted, Approved, with Revising off Submitted. An hourly fee mirrors its time entry instead. See Record fee actuals.
Billing status	Each fee actual	What has happened to the fee commercially: whether it has been billed, written off, or is mid-process.	Billing, write-off, and the public override API. It starts at unbilled. See Record fee actuals.

A fee actual can only be edited where its lifecycle state and its billing status both allow it. So a Draft fee that has already been billed is locked, and so is an Approved fee that is still unbilled. See Editing rules.

Which configuration decides what a fee earner sees

Almost everything a fee earner can and cannot do here is set somewhere else. This is where to look for each part of it.

Question	Decided by
Which tabs appear in the widget?	The widget settings on the portal page, the user's read permissions, and whether the model holds anything to display. See Configure the widget and list views.
Which fees are on the estimate at all, and what they cost?	The base template: its sections, its elements, and their amounts. See Sections and elements.
What a fee earner may change on the estimate?	Element settings on the template: the requirement level, whether the amount can be overridden, and whether multiples are allowed. See Elements.
Whether an estimate needs approving, and by whom?	The approval model, from the site default or the work type. See Work type settings.
What a fee earner can book time to?	Which sections have time booking on, and the phase the model is in. See Sections.
Which bulk actions are available on the fee lists?	The bulk action menu named in each list view's configuration. See Configure the widget and list views.

How to view fees on a work item

Fees display on a work item in three places. Each one is a widget or a list, placed on a portal page by a configurator, so what a fee earner can reach depends on how the work type has been set up. Setting them up is covered under Configure the widget and list views.

1. The commercial models card on the matter dashboard

The matter dashboard carries a card listing the commercial models attached to the work item.

Open the matter.
Find the commercial models card on the dashboard. By default it is headed Fee Structure.
Select a commercial model. This opens the Commercial model view blade, which carries the same tabs as the full Fee Structure screen described below.

Two display rules are worth knowing, because they explain cards that look inconsistent.

Zero values are hidden along with their label. A label only displays where the amount is not zero, and the remaining labels shuffle up so there is no empty row. A model with nothing on its estimate therefore displays no figures at all.
Sections excluded from estimated totals are not counted. Where the base template excludes a section from the estimate total, that section's values do not display in these figures.

The figures on a card are always net. Tax displays only in the detailed estimate view.

2. Finance menu > Fee Structure / Finance icon > Financial Framework

This screen holds everything about the fees on the work item. Access it from either:

Finance > Fee Structure in the left navigation of the work item.
Finance icon on toolbar > Financial Framework

Commercial model list

On a work type with a purpose of Commercial Agreement the left half splits into Default Models and Alternative Models, each with its own +. On an operational work type there is one list, with + in the title bar.

Commercial model view

Three things decide whether a tab displays: the widget setting, the read permission, and what the commercial model actually holds. All three have to allow it.

The commercial model title and its notes stay editable after the model goes active. Notes apply to the whole commercial model rather than to an individual estimate, so they are not tied to a particular estimate version. Notes moved from the estimate to the commercial model for exactly this reason. Held on the estimate, they locked as soon as the template activated.

Finalising a commercial model closes it and blocks title editing, so the design intent of editable in every phase does not hold at the end of the lifecycle.

3. The fee lists

Beneath the commercial model detail on the Fee Structure screen sit three work lists. They cut across every commercial model on the work item, so they answer questions the model-by-model view cannot, such as what has been billed this month or what has been written off.

Actual fixed fees	Every fixed fee actual recorded against the work item, whichever model it belongs to. Record fee actuals covers what can be done from here.
Actual hourly rates	Every hourly rate actual, which is to say the time recorded against the work item priced at its charge-out rate.
Write-offs	The write-offs raised against the work item. Each one is a work item in its own right with its own approval route. See Writing off fees.

Attach a model to a work item

Most commercial models are inherited from a statement of work, copied down when the matter is created. Adding one is the exception rather than the routine, and it happens where the work type allows it and the matter needs an arrangement the statement of work did not carry.

Add a commercial model

Open Finance > Fee Structure on the work item.
Select + in the widget's title bar.
The + displays only where the user holds the permission Finance - Commercial Model - Add, Fee Structures is enabled on the work type, and either the work type allows multiple fee structures or the matter has no model yet. A matter carrying its inherited model on a work type that allows only one has no add action.
The Add Commercial Model panel opens, listing the available Fee Templates, which can be searched (see more details below).
Select the link icon next to the template required.
The commercial model is created straight away, titled with the template's display name. Clio Operate builds the estimate and actual structures at this point. Where a model of that name already exists on the work item, a naming dialog opens first. Where the work type requires unique titles a different name has to be entered, and otherwise it is only a warning and the name can be kept.

What the Add commercial model panel offers

The panel displays up to two sections. Related Commercial Models holds the commercial models from the statement of work. Fee Templates holds the published catalogue. Which of them displays depends on Restrict available templates to those specified on the commercial agreement, read on the work type of the work item the commercial model is being added to, not on the statement of work.

Restrict	The panel displays
Off	Fee Templates only, holding every published template. The statement of work is never looked at, so its commercial models are not offered.
On	Related Commercial Models only, holding the statement of work's default and alternative commercial models. The Fee Templates section and its search are hidden.

So Restrict decides where the choice comes from. With it off, a user picks from the published catalogue and the statement of work has no say. With it on, a user picks only from what the statement of work carries.

Restrict is also ignored, and the catalogue offered in full, where the work item's own purpose is Commercial Agreement, or where no statement of work can be found for it.

Nothing marks the default

Related Commercial Models lists the commercial models alphabetically by title, and the panel is not told which is the default. A fee earner can only tell from the name, so it is worth titling commercial models so the intended one is obvious.

What is offered, and what is not

Both sections are limited to the work item's currency. A commercial model whose template is in another currency is left out, so a statement of work can appear to have none at all.
Fee Templates lists enabled templates on their current version only.
Search in Fee Templates matches the version's display name and the template description. It does not match the template title, so a template whose version carries its own name cannot be found by typing the template's name.
Related Commercial Models is not searched or paged, and is not filtered by phase.
Where both sections come back empty, the panel displays No available commercial models or templates found for this work item.

For how the configuration behind this is set up, see Fee templates on work types overview.

What happens at the moment of attachment

Adding a template does not simply copy it onto the work item. Only the fees that apply to that work item are built.

Clio Operate checks each element against the work item. Elements whose rate card rules do not apply are dropped, along with sections left with no elements.
The estimate is built from what is left, along with the list of fees that can be recorded as actuals.
Where nothing survives, the attachment is refused with a message and no commercial model is created.
Otherwise the commercial model is created. Nothing is part created: if any of it fails, no model is left behind.
The title defaults to the template version's friendly name where none is supplied.
A template with auto-create elements produces fees on the work item as soon as the commercial model becomes active. Any elements flagged Automatically create fee have their fee actuals created, an audit record is written, a creation event fires, and the work item is re-indexed.

Because resolution happens per work item, the same template can build successfully on one matter and produce nothing on another. Rate card rules are usually the cause: elements whose rules do not apply are dropped, empty sections go with them, and a template left with nothing is refused. SeeTroubleshooting.

Alternative arrangements

A commercial model can be flagged as an alternative option, which lets an alternative fee arrangement sit alongside the real one on the same work item. Both display in the list, and the estimate values of an alternative are visible for comparison.

Removing a commercial model

A deleted commercial model is deactivated rather than removed, so the fee history of the work item survives. A user needs the permission Finance - Commercial Model - Delete to do this.

A commercial model that carries recorded actuals cannot be deleted. Where a model has to be taken out of use after fees have been recorded, finalise it rather than deleting it.

A model in a read-only phase cannot be deleted either, with Pre-Approved the exception.

A model that looks empty can still refuse deletion

The actuals check counts zero-amount fee actuals, which the fee actual list views hide. So a commercial model whose actuals list displays as empty can still be undeletable.

Work the estimate

While a commercial model is in draft, the estimate can be adjusted. What can be changed comes entirely from the base fee template.

Where the default values come from

How the model was added	Where the estimate values come from
Created from a statement of work	The default values from the statement of work's current estimate structure. Where the statement of work value was adjusted, the work item inherits the adjusted value, not the original template value.
Added directly to the work item	The default values from the base fee template.

Values and rules come from different places

The amounts may come from the statement of work, but the base template always decides what can be changed. A template whose elements are all mandatory and locked produces an uneditable estimate even where the amounts were inherited.

What a fee earner can change

Three element settings on the base template decide this. The three work independently. A mandatory element whose amount cannot be overridden can still be added a second time where allow multiple is on.

Setting	Effect on the estimate
Requirement level	Mandatory elements are on the estimate and display without a delete action. Recommended elements are on the estimate and display with one. Optional elements are not on the estimate and are added using the plus action.
Allow multiple	Whether the element can be added to the estimate more than once. Adding a second instance is often the only lever available where everything else is locked.
Allow override of amount	Whether the amount can be changed. Available on fixed fee, fixed fee tiered and disbursement elements.

Adjust the estimate

Where every element is mandatory and none allows override, there is nothing for a fee earner to do. In that case the template should have Auto-activate and lock estimates on, so nobody has to open and approve an estimate they cannot change.

Select the commercial model in the list, then open the Estimate tab.
Select the + against a section to add an optional element, or a further instance of an element that allows multiple.
Select the delete action against a recommended element that does not apply.
Change any amounts that allow override.
Save.

How the estimate displays

Sections display in the order set on the template, each with its own display for that section type.
Fixed fees and disbursements have a quantity column, so several instances of the same fee can be grouped.
Where a section is configured to specify the estimate as a range, its elements capture a from and a to amount, and the estimate displays a range rather than a single figure. Firms use this on time and materials work where an exact figure is not meaningful, quoting a bracket instead of breaking the work down by job role. A ranged element cannot be set to auto-create its fee actual, because the amount to create is not known. Recording one manually prompts the fee earner to enter an amount within the estimated range.
A total displays under each section. Sections excluded from estimated totals display no section total.
A grand total displays beneath all sections, split into fees and disbursements. A row is omitted where its value is zero.
On a tax-enabled template the totals display net, tax and total columns. Tax is calculated on fees and disbursements separately, per tax code, so two disbursements on different rates produce two rows.
On a template without tax enabled, only the total displays.

Phases & approval

Every commercial model carries a phase. The phase controls whether the estimate is locked, whether fee actuals can be created, and whether time can be recorded.

The phase sits on the commercial model, not the estimate

This is why the phase model works the same way whether or not the commercial model carries an estimate. An actuals-only model still has a phase, and approving it authorises the use of the model on the work item.

The phases

Draft	The model is not yet active and has not been approved. The estimate can be adjusted. Time cannot be recorded. Recording a fixed fee actual is not blocked, but it warns.
Pre-Approved	Where the base template has Auto-activate and lock estimates on, a new commercial model starts here rather than in Draft, and it is read-only.
Active	The model is in use. The estimate is locked and fee actuals can be created.
Approving	Awaiting approval, where an approval model applies.
Updating	An active model reopened for changes. The approval model applies on the way back to active.
Finalised	Closed. Not terminal: a Re-open transition returns a finalised model to Active, and requires Finance - Commercial Model - Revert Phase permission.

How a model moves through them

A new model on an ordinary template starts in Draft and is editable. A new model on an auto-activate template starts in Pre-Approved and is read-only.
Submitting a draft applies the approval model. With the default approval model in place, the model moves straight to Active.
An active model can be moved to Updating to change the estimate. This requires the Finance - Commercial Model - Revert Phase permission.
Coming back from Updating, the approval model applies again. A rejected approval returns the model to Draft.
Finalising an active model closes it. A Re-open transition brings it back to Active.

For an actuals-only template, approval authorises the use of the commercial model on the work item. There is no estimate to approve.

The phase model is fixed

A commercial model is not a work item, so its phase model is not something a site can alter in the Modeller. The six phases above are the phases.

What a site can change is the approval that runs on them, and whether a transition demands a check-in with notes and a change reason. Both are configuration on the Fee Structures feature rather than on the commercial model, and each transition is individually permissioned, so one group can be allowed to submit estimates and a different group to approve them. See Work type settings.

Phases and time recording

Each phase carries a flag for whether time can be recorded against the model. A draft model does not display in the fee selector on a time entry, because nothing has been approved yet. This is why a fee earner cannot book time to a matter whose commercial model is still in draft.

Record fee actuals

Fee actuals are the real fees on the work item. Where the chart of accounts is in use for them, they also create unbilled revenue. There are two routes, and they behave quite differently.

Type	How it is created
Fixed fee actuals	Recorded manually, or created when the commercial model becomes active where the element is flagged auto-create.
Hourly fee actuals	Created and maintained automatically from time entries. A fee earner never hand-creates one.

Record a fixed fee actual

Finance icon > Financial Framework
Select the commercial model, then open the Actuals tab.
Select the + to the right of a section label.
Select the fee to record. Only allowed fees are offered: those not already created, plus any element configured to allow multiple.
Enter the amount, or the hours or base amount where the section type derives the amount.
Save.

What can be changed, and when

Whether the amount can be edited depends on the state of the fee and on two settings on the element.

Allow override of amount	Specify element as a range	What can be entered
On	No	Any amount
On	Yes	Any amount. Override takes precedence over the range
Off	Yes	Any amount inside the range
Off	No	Nothing. The amount is fixed at the template or estimate figure

This only applies while the fee is Draft or Revising. A Submitted or Approved fee is read-only whatever the settings say.

Where a range applies, a message displays above the amount, both when the fee is created and while it is being edited.

Settings	Message
Range set, override off	This fee has a set range. Enter an amount from £50.00 to £100.00.
Range set, override on	This fee has a suggested range of £50.00 to £100.00. You can enter any amount.

The messages are hidden once the fee is locked.

An inactive model still accepts fees

Inactive means any phase other than Pre-Approved or Active, so Draft, Approving, Updating and Finalised all count. Editing a fee that is still Draft or Revising on an inactive model warns, and the fee saves anyway. Adding a new fee gives no warning at all. So an unexpected fee on a draft model is possible, and on the add path nothing signals it.

Only fixed fees can be created here

Hourly fees come from time entries instead, so they cannot be added by hand. Disbursement actuals cannot be recorded at all, and a message in the widget says so.

How hourly fee actuals are created

Recording time creates the fee actual. The fee selector on a time entry is the link between the two.

The fee earner records a time entry, completing the standard time activity and classification fields. Where the time has a charge rate, the Charge rate and Charge value display in the time details section, next to the units they are calculated from.
The fee selector lists the sections that are enabled for actuals, which means those targeted at Actuals or at Both. A section targeted at estimates only is not offered, because no fee can be recorded against it. The sections offered come from the fee templates attached to the work item. Whether an estimate exists makes no difference, so a section is offered on its template configuration alone.
The fee earner selects a section. Where the work item carries several commercial models, sections from each are listed, which is why distinct model titles matter.
Clio Operate resolves the rate and creates the fee actual.

How the rate is resolved

Section type	How the rate is found
Hourly Rates By Job Role	Matches the time recorder's job role to an element. A partner recording an hour at £350 produces a £350 fee. The role is taken as at the time entry’s start date, not as at today. Three things use that same date: the fee, the internal cost, and the charge-out preview. So an entry that spans a role change is priced at the role held when it started. The last day of a superseded assignment still prices at the old role, because an assignment’s end date is the new one’s start date minus a day. Editing a saved entry keeps the role it was charged at, but editing its start date resolves the role again.
Hourly Rates By Time Code	Matches the time activity recorded to an element.
Hourly Rates By Business Rule	Evaluates a business rule against the time recorder, for example reading a legal aid grade held on an aspect.
A fixed fee section with time booking on	No rate and no fee. The time entry is logged and linked to the section, so the firm can see how much time went into delivering the fixed fee.

Where no automatic match is found, the fee earner can select an element manually if the section has Allow user to pick element if not matched on.

What a fee earner sees depends on Allow user to pick element if not matched.

With it off, the message is Time Booker has no role. No fee is raised and the time entry is kept.
With it on, the message is Time Booker role not applicable for selected Fee Section. Please select required element. The charge rate and charge value stay at zero until an element is chosen, and the entry cannot be submitted. Once an element is chosen, the fee is raised at that element’s rate.
Where the booker has no job role covering the entry date at all, the entry saves as a draft with no role recorded against it, and submission is blocked with Fee selection required for Submission.

How actuals display

The layout mirrors the estimate, labelled actual rather than estimate.
Actuals are grouped per element type rather than itemised, because a matter can carry many instances of the same fee. Debt recovery is the standard case, with a commission fee each time the debtor makes a payment over a multi-year instalment plan.
Because descriptions vary between instances, the description is not displayed in the grouped view.
A quantity column confirms the number of transactions posted. It counts transactions rather than value, because values can differ where allow override is on.
Select the pencil icon to drill into a group and see the individual transactions as an itemised list.
Where a section has no actuals, the widget displays No elements have been added to this section.
Tax is not displayed on actuals, because the final tax amount is not confirmed until billing. A fixed fee actual displays as a single quantity and amount, with no range and no tax.

Estimate against actual

The Estimate Vs Actuals tab compares the two, with a remaining column showing the difference.

Quantity and cost columns are not displayed, because the comparison is on total value. This avoids confusion where rates or quantities differ from the original estimate.
Where the actual exceeds the estimate, the remaining value displays as negative.
Where actuals exist with no corresponding estimate, they are included with an estimate of zero.
Where the estimate is a range, the widget configuration decides whether the comparison uses the minimum, maximum or midpoint estimated value.
Where the model has an actuals structure but nothing has been recorded yet, the tab displays an empty state.

The fee actual lifecycle

Fee actuals have their own lifecycle, separate from the commercial model's phases.

Approved is terminal. Hourly fee actuals have their state mirrored from the time entry's own state rather than driven by hand, so progressing the time entry progresses the fee.

Progressing the state drives the corresponding chart of accounts posting status: draft, ready to post, then posted. Fees can be progressed one at a time from the widget, or in bulk from the list views.

Billing status

Billing status is held separately from the fee actual lifecycle, introduced ready for the billing wizard. A fee starts unbilled.

Status	Meaning
unbilled	Recorded and not yet billed. The starting point.
billed	Billed. Set by the billing wizard when that ships.
write-off	Written off.
Partially written off	Renders in the status column but is not offered as a filter, because partial write-off is not yet implemented.
Processing statuses	Transitional, for example while a write-off is awaiting approval. A fee in a processing status is no longer unbilled, so it cannot be picked up by a second write-off or another process.
billed-externally and written-off-externally	Set only through the public override API. A fee in either status is locked out of standard processing by design.
migrated	Fees brought in from an earlier version of Fees. They can be left as migrated or reclassified to unbilled. See the Fees release note.

A fee actual can never hold zero

Every create and update route refuses a zero amount and returns a message. Negative amounts are fine, because credits and reversals are legitimate.

The same rule decides what happens when a rate resolves to nothing. An element left at a rate of 0.00 produces no fee at all. The charge rate and charge value display as zero and the time entry is kept. A rate of 0.00 is a valid no-charge rate, so nothing is flagged, which is worth knowing because it reads as a failure to price.

Bulk actions

Both list views expose a bulk action menu once rows are selected. The fixed fee list view carries the full menu. The hourly list view carries only the write-off actions, because hourly fees are driven by their time entries.

Action	Fixed fee actuals	Hourly fee actuals
Delete fees	Yes	No
Submit, approve and revise fees	Yes	No
Write off fees, and undo write-off	Yes	Yes
Reclassify migrated fees	Yes	No
Reclassify unbilled to an external billing status	Yes	No
Revert external billing status to unbilled	Yes	No

The write-off actions need the Fees Write-Off feature and the write-off permission as well as the bulk menu. Where any of those is missing, the action is not offered at all. Writing a fee off creates a work item of the write-off work type, which carries its own phases, fields and approval rules, and a written-off fee is locked to a processing status until the write-off is approved.

All of it, including eligibility, the accounting and how to undo a write-off, is covered in Write off fees.

Write off fees

Everything you need to know about writing off fees

A write-off takes a recorded fee out of unbilled revenue, with an audit trail and the accounting entries to match. This article covers the Fees Write-Off global feature, the phase features that decide when the accounting happens, which fees are eligible, and how a write-off is raised, approved and undone.

Write off overview

A write-off takes a fee that has been recorded and approved but will not be billed, and removes it from unbilled revenue. The work has been done and the time or the fee exists, so the fee cannot be deleted. It has to be written off, which leaves an audit trail and posts the accounting entries that take it out of the firm's unbilled position.

Both fixed fee actuals and hourly fee actuals can be written off, and the route is the same for each. A fee earner raises one from the bulk action menu on the fee actual list views. A write-off can also be raised from a workflow, using the Create Fees Write Off toolbox item, or through the public API.

Writing fees off creates a work item of a core write-off work type, which is the design decision everything else follows from. How write-off is put together explains that structure, and it is worth reading before configuring any of it.

Nothing posts until the write-off is committed

A write-off has two stages. Creating it selects the fees and locks them. Committing it, which happens on approval, posts the transactions. Until then nothing has reached the chart of accounts, and the fees can be released by rejecting or deleting the write-off.

How write-off is put together

Write-off is configured like most of the finance features: a global feature for the accounting, and a work type for the process. Writing fees off creates a work item, so it has a work type, and that work type carries a phase plan.

The core write-off work type moves through Draft, then Approving, then one of Approved, Rejected or Deleted. A site can create its own work type, or its own phase plan, instead.

The work types

Three work types are involved.

The abstract write-off parent carries the phase plan, so its children inherit it.
Write-off-fees is the type a fee write-off actually creates, and the type both phase features are bound to.

The practical consequence is that a firm wanting its own model derives from Write-off-fees rather than building a work type from scratch, because the phase features will only bind to work types on the write-off path. See Configure the phases and approvals.

The work item

Raising a write-off creates one work item holding the fee actuals selected for it. Because it is a work item, it carries a reference, notes, a phase, and whatever fields the firm adds. It can be reported on, found in a list view, and routed through an approval.

Each fee it holds moves to a processing status while the write-off is open. That status is not unbilled, so nothing else can act on the fee: a second write-off cannot pick it up, and no other process will touch it. On commit the fee moves to written off. Where it is taken out of the write-off before commit, it returns to unbilled.

The phase plan

The plan runs Draft, then Approving, then one of Approved, Rejected or Deleted. Two of its transitions are driven by a user, Submit and Delete, and two are driven by the approval outcome rather than by anyone choosing them.

Because the plan sits on the abstract parent, changing it changes it for both child types. A firm wanting different phases for fees only derives a new type from Write-off-fees and gives that its own plan.

Phases (out of the box)

Our core write-off work type uses Draft, Approving, then Approved, Rejected or Deleted. Sites can create their own work type with different phases, but it must be parented by our core write-off type, for example derived from Write-off-fees, so the phase features below are available.

Phase features and chart of accounts posting

There are two phase features that can create chart of accounts entries.

Commit creates the write-off entries directly at Posted. Unlike other postings, nothing is created before this point. That is because committing does not just create the write-off entry, it also takes the amount out of unbilled revenue, so the movement only happens once the write-off is committed.
Undo reverses the entries created on commit. Where undo is set on a phase before commit happens, there is nothing to reverse, so no reversing entries are created. Instead it cancels the write-off and moves the fees from Processing write-off back to unbilled.

This is why a write-off can complete with no accounting behind it

Because the accounting is a binding rather than something built in, there are two ways for a write-off to progress all the way through its phases while nothing posts. The Fees Write-Off global feature can be disabled, in which case a commit returns without doing anything. Or the committing feature can be bound to a phase the work item never passes through, which happens when a firm adds its own phases. Both are configuration, and both look identical from the work item.

Approvals

No approval is supplied with write-off. A site can configure one on the write-off work type in the same way as on any other work type. The Approving phase gives the write-off somewhere to sit while an approval runs, and the Approved and Rejected transitions out of it are driven by the outcome. Firms configure their own routing, so what triggers an approval and who it goes to is a decision for the firm rather than anything set in fees.

The global feature

Fees Write-Off holds the account codes that write-off transactions post to, and whether revenue and costs are accounted for separately. It answers where the money goes, not when it moves, and it writes no fees off by itself.

It also depends on the Chart of Accounts global feature, which is enforced rather than advisory, so the chart of accounts is configured before any of this. See Before you start.

Before you start writing off fees

Write-off depends on the Chart of Accounts, so that is configured first. Beyond it, a fresh installation already carries most of what write-off needs. The account codes, the work types and the phase plan all arrive with the installation, so the work is checking them and settling the options.

Order of work

Step	What to do
1	Decide which chart of accounts code the written-off amount posts to, and create it if it does not already exist. Fixed fees and hourly fees can post to different codes. See The account codes supplied below.
2	Decide whether to account for revenue and costs separately. Where the firm does, configure Time - Internal Costs first, because split accounting has nothing to separate without an internal cost figure.
3	Enable Fees Write-Off and complete its account code settings in the Fees write-off global feature.
4	Review the phase plan on the write-off work type, and which phases commit and reverse the accounting.
5	Add an approval to the write-off work type where the firm wants one.
6	Grant the write-off permissions.
7	On a fee actuals list you add yourself, turn on Allow bulk actions and pick the matching custom bulk menu context. See Configure the widget and list views. Without this no write-off action displays.

Adding a segment later invalidates the configuration

Each write-off account code setting is a combination across the enabled segments. Enabling a new segment in the Chart of Accounts leaves every existing write-off account code path incomplete, so the feature reports as invalid until each path is revisited and the new segment populated. Worth knowing before a firm changes its segments.

The account codes supplied

Three account codes are delivered under Revenue, in the Services Revenue category. A firm can point the settings at these or at accounts of its own.

Code	Name	Used for
FIXEDFEEWRITEOFF	Fixed Fee Write-off	Written-off fixed fees. This covers the tiered and hours-derived fixed fee types too, because all three are classified as fixed fees.
HOURLYWRITEOFF	Hourly Write-off	Written-off hourly fees.
HOURLYCOSTSWRITEOFF	Hourly Costs Write-off	The internal cost portion of a written-off hourly fee. Used only where revenue and costs are accounted for separately.

Decisions to make first

Decision	Why it matters
Whether to account for revenue and costs separately	Splitting posts the internal cost of a written-off hourly fee to its own account, and reduces the amount posted to the hourly write-off account by that cost. Without it, the full amount goes to the hourly write-off account. Only turn it on where the firm reports on internal cost recovery, because it needs a third account code kept up to date and an internal cost figure on the fee.
Whether internal cost rates are configured	Split accounting needs an internal cost amount on the fee before it can post anything to the costs account. That amount comes from the Time - Internal Costs global feature, which holds internal cost rates per currency. Without it there is nothing to separate.
Which work type a bulk write-off create	The Bulk write-off work type setting decides which work type is created when fees are written off from the bulk menu on the fee actuals list views. Leave it blank to use Write-off-fees, or point it at your own work type derived from Write-off-fees where the firm wants different fields, phases or approval rules. A write-off raised through a workflow can use a different work type. See Fees write-off global feature.
Which phase commits the accounting	Out of the box, the accounting commits when the write-off reaches Approved. Rejected stops the write-off before anything has posted, so no money moves and the fees return to unbilled. A firm with a longer approval chain may want to commit later. See Phase features.

Permissions

Write-off uses the standard work type permissions, named after the write-off work types. They are listed with the other fees permissions.

Two things are specific to write-off. Create on Write Off Fees decides whether Write Off Fees and Undo Write-Off display on the fee actual list views, so a user without it sees neither item. And undo needs Sharedo - Update rather than create, because it posts reversing financial transactions against the write-off, so someone can raise a write-off and be unable to undo it.

Fees write-off global feature

Fees Write-Off

Navigate to Modeller > Global features > Finance > Fees Write-Off

Fees Write-Off holds the account codes that write-off transactions post to, set once for the solution.

Each account code setting is a segment code picker: it presents one selection per enabled Chart of Accounts segment, and every one of them has to be completed.

Write Off Account Code (Fixed Fees)	Mandatory. The account combination that written-off fixed fees post to. This covers the tiered and hours-derived fixed fee types as well as the plain one, because all three are classified as fixed fees. There is no way to send them to separate accounts. The supplied FIXEDFEEWRITEOFF account is the usual choice.
Write Off Account Code (Hourly Fees)	Mandatory. The account combination that written-off hourly fees post to. Separate from the fixed fee account so the two can be reported on independently. Where revenue and costs are accounted for separately, this account receives the margin only, and the cost goes to the hourly fee costs account. The supplied HOURLYWRITEOFF account is the usual choice.
Account for Write-Off of Revenue and Costs separately	Off by default. When on, a written-off hourly fee is divided into a margin element and an internal cost element, and a third account code becomes mandatory. The in-product guidance reads: If required, you can further break down the write-off of hourly fees by both the margin, and internal cost, so you can measure the actual internal cost write-off. It needs an internal cost figure on the fee, which comes from the Time - Internal Costs global feature. Turning this on without that configured leaves nothing to separate.
Write Off Account Code (Hourly Fee Costs)	Displays only when the toggle above is on, and is then mandatory. The account combination that the internal cost portion of a written-off hourly fee posts to. The supplied HOURLYCOSTSWRITEOFF account is the usual choice. Turning the toggle off again removes the requirement, so an incomplete path here can be resolved either by completing it or by turning the split off.
Bulk write-off work type	Optional. The work type used when fees are written off from the bulk menu on the fee actuals list views. Leave blank to use Write-off-fees. To use your own work type, it must be derived from Write-off-fees. Write-offs raised via workflow can use a different work type.

How accounting separately changes the postings

Without the split, a written-off hourly fee posts its full amount to the hourly write-off account. With the split on, and an internal cost recorded against the fee, the amount divides. The internal cost posts to the hourly fee costs account, and the amount posted to the hourly write-off account is reduced by that cost.

Worked example

An hourly fee of £400 carries an internal cost of £150. Written off with the split off, the whole £400 posts to the hourly write-off account. Written off with the split on, £150 posts to the hourly fee costs account and £250 to the hourly write-off account, so the firm can report on the cost it absorbed rather than only the headline value given up.

Phase features

For details see Phase Features.

Configure phase features & approvals

Navigate to Modeller > Global features > Finance > Fees Write-Off > Phase Features

The Fees write-off global feature says where write-off transactions post. Two phase features say when. They bind to phases on the write-off work type, and decide which phase transitions create the financial transactions and which reverse them.

Phase feature	What it does
Configure the phases for Committing Write-off	Configure the phases which will create financial transactions for Write-off. Reaching a phase carrying this feature commits the write-off.
Configure the phases for Undoing Write-off	Configure the phases which will reverse financial transactions for Write-off. Reaching a phase carrying this feature undoes anything committed and discards anything that was not.

Both are phase level rather than work type level, and both restrict themselves to work types on the write-off path, so they cannot be bound anywhere else.

The write-off work types

Work type	Role
Write-off	An abstract parent, described as the type under which write-offs are managed. It carries the phase plan, so its children inherit it.
Write-off Fees	The type created when fees are written off, and the type both phase features are bound to. This is the one to extend, or to derive from, where a firm wants its own model.

The phase plan supplied

A phase plan called write-off-phase-plan is installed against the write-off work type, so it serves both child types.

Draft	The starting phase, and an open one. The write-off is being prepared. The fees are held but nothing has posted.
Approving	An open phase. The write-off is out for approval.
Approved	The write-off has been approved. This is where the commit feature is bound out of the box.
Rejected	The write-off has been rejected. It stops before anything has posted, so no money moves and the fees return to unbilled.
Deleted	The write-off has been deleted and is marked as removed. The fees return to unbilled.

Transition	From	To	Driven by
Submit	Draft	Approving	A user. This is the optimum path.
Delete	Draft	Deleted	A user.
Approved	Approving	Approved	The approval outcome, not a user. The optimum path.
Rejected	Approving	Rejected	The approval outcome, not a user.

The bindings out of the box

All three bindings are against write-off-fees. Nothing is bound to Draft or Approving, and nothing is bound to write-off-disbursements.

Phase	Phase feature bound	Effect on reaching it
Draft	None	The fees are held in a processing status. Nothing has posted.
Approving	None	Awaiting approval. Still nothing posted.
Approved	Committing Write-off	The write-off commits. Transactions are created and the fee actuals move to written off.
Rejected	Undoing Write-off	Anything committed is reversed, and items never committed are discarded. The fees return to unbilled.
Deleted	Undoing Write-off	As Rejected.

Changing the bindings

A firm can add phases and transitions to the plan in the Modeller as usual, then bind the two features to whichever phases suit its approval process. Two things are worth knowing before doing so.

Moving the commit binding later delays the accounting. The fees stay in their processing status until the write-off reaches the committing phase, so a long approval chain leaves them held for longer.
Binding commit to more than one phase is unnecessary. A commit only ever acts on items it has not already committed, so a second binding has nothing to do.

A phase the work item never reaches does no accounting

Where a firm adds phases and binds commit to one the write-off does not pass through, the write-off completes with nothing posted. This is the second reason a write-off can reach an approved state with no accounting behind it, the first being the feature itself being disabled.

What else can be configured on the work type

A write-off is a work item of an ordinary work type, so everything a firm already knows about modelling work types applies. Open it in the Modeller and it behaves like any other.

What can be configured	Detail
Phase model	The write-off's own phases, rather than a fixed set built into Fees.
Fields	Add whatever the firm needs to capture, for example a client-facing reason, or a category for reporting.
Reference and notes	Standard work item behaviour, including whether notes are mandatory.
The blade	Extendable, so a firm can add its own data capture alongside the fee summary.
Approvals	Configured on the work type.

An approval model

A write-off does not have to be approved. Where the firm wants one, configure an approval on the write-off work type in the same way as on any other work type, and the write-off routes through it on submit.

Eligibility

These conditions decide whether a fee actual can be written off. All have to hold.

Condition	Why
The lifecycle state is Approved	A write-off reverses a fee the firm has committed to, so the fee has to have been approved first. A fee still in Draft, Submitted or Revising cannot be written off, whatever its billing status.
The billing status is unbilled	A billed fee is handled through billing rather than through a write-off. A fee already written off, or sitting in a processing status, is not unbilled either.
The fee has not been invoiced	A separate check from the billing status, reading whether the fee carries an invoiced date. The two can disagree, so both are tested.
The fee is not being revalued	A fee going through time revaluation has an amount in flux, so writing it off would post an amount that is about to change.
The fee is not in another write-off	A fee already selected into a write-off that has not yet committed cannot be picked up by a second one. This is what the processing status enforces.
Write-off covers fixed fees and hourly fees	A conditional tiered success fee cannot be written off through the interface in this release.

Approved, not posted

Eligibility depends on the state the fee actual has reached, not on whether it has reached the chart of accounts. A fee is posted because its state has moved on, so posting describes what follows rather than what is tested. Where a fee is refused, check its state.

Selecting an ineligible fee does not block the write-off

A bulk selection can easily include fees that do not qualify, so the write-off blade does not refuse the whole selection. It lists every fee selected, marks which are valid, and displays a message explaining that some do not meet the criteria.

Only the valid fees are carried into the write-off work item. The rest are left alone, still eligible for whatever they were eligible for before.

The API behaves differently on purpose

Where a write-off is created through the public API, a request containing an ineligible fee is rejected outright rather than partially fulfilled, as is a request naming a fee that is neither a fixed fee nor an hourly fee. An integration gets a clear failure instead of a silent partial result.

Raise a write-off

Open the Fixed Fee Actuals or Hourly Rate Fee Actuals list view on the work item: Finance > Fee Structure.
Tick the fees to write off.
From the bulk action menu, select Write Off Fees.
The write-off blade opens.
Maximise the screen to see all the columns.
Review the fees listed, the total, and any marked as not eligible.
Remove any fee that should not be included. The totals update as you do.
Enter the reason and any notes.
Save. Clio Operate creates the write-off work item and locks the selected fees.
Submit the write-off. Where an approval applies, it routes for approval. Where it auto-approves, the transactions post at this point.

The selected fees	Every fee from the selection, each marked valid or not eligible, so it is clear what will and will not be written off.
Total	The value to be written off, across the valid fees only. It updates immediately when a fee is removed from the list.
Time and Units	Displayed for an hourly selection, and totalled across the valid fees. Hidden for a fixed fee selection, because a fixed fee has no hours behind it and the whole fee amount is written off. Where a selection holds both types, the blade renders a mixed layout that carries both.
Reason and notes	Carried onto the write-off work item, and summarised on the approval card so an approver can see why without opening the work item.

What happens on save

A write-off work item is created, with its own reference.
Each valid fee moves to the processing write-off billing status, and is flagged as being in that write-off.
No accounting entries are posted. That waits for the approval.

Approval

The summary sits on the write-off blade, which an approver reaches through Refers To on the approval task, so approving with the detail in view means opening the write-off rather than deciding from the card.

Where the work type is configured to approve automatically, submitting the write-off approves it and only then creates the posted transactions. The order matters: nothing posts speculatively.

Rejecting or deleting before commit

Action	What happens to the fees
The approval is rejected	The fees return to unbilled, and no transactions are created. They are eligible for write-off again.
A draft write-off is deleted	The same: the fees are released back to unbilled.

A rejected write-off releases the fees cleanly

Because nothing posts before the commit, a rejection leaves no accounting to unwind. This is the reason for the two-stage design.

The write-off list view

A list view reports on write offs, displaying the value written off, the hours and units where applicable, and the approver.

From here you can view the details of the write off, this opens the Write-off fees blade, where if you have permission and it's not automatic, you can approve/reject.

Other routes

A write-off does not have to be raised by hand. Two other routes exist, and both produce the same work item.

The public API

A write-off work item can be created from a valid request through the public API. Use it where write-off decisions are made in another system, or to handle volume that would be impractical through the list view.

The API validates more strictly than the blade does. A request containing a fee that is not eligible is rejected, rather than the eligible fees being written off and the rest skipped. So is a request naming a fee that is neither a fixed fee nor an hourly fee.

A write-off created through the API with both hourly and fixed fees in it renders the mixed layout on the blade, in the same way as one created by hand.

The workflow block

A CreateFeesWriteOff block is available in the workflow designer, and creates a write-off from a collection of fee elements.

Use it to automate a write-off that follows from something else happening, for example writing off the remaining unbilled fees when a matter closes as abortive, or when a client-level agreement caps what can be billed.

Accounting and undo

A write-off posts on commit, and what it posts depends on the fee type and on whether revenue has already been recognised.

What is written off	What posts
An hourly fee	Credits the hourly write-off account, and de-recognises the fee's work in progress.
A fixed fee with recognised revenue	Credits the fixed fee write-off account, and reverses the recognised work in progress.
A fixed fee with no recognised revenue	Posts the write-off entry only. There is no recognised revenue to reverse, so nothing is.
Any of the above, with split accounting on	The internal cost element posts to the costs account, and the remainder to the fees write-off account, rather than the whole amount going to the write-off account.

Writing a fee off clears it from unbilled revenue

Fee actuals post to an unbilled revenue account when they are recorded. A write-off takes the fee out of that account, so the balance continues to match the fees the firm can still bill. That is the point of writing off rather than deleting.

What a commit records

A commit acts only on write-off items that have never been committed and never been undone. For each fee it takes, it:

Records a negative revenue transaction, so the amount is no longer recognised as revenue.
Records the write-off transactions against the configured account codes, separating the internal cost where revenue and costs are accounted for separately.
Sets the fee actual's billing status to written off.
Stamps the write-off item with a date written off.
Writes an audit record and a chronology entry, and displays a Fees Written Off confirmation.

A commit does not remove the fees from the write-off work item. They stay on it, marked as written off, which is what makes an undo possible later. And because the chronology entry is written on the work item, a write-off is traceable from the matter as well as from the accounts, which is not true of every change to an hourly fee.

Undoing a committed write-off

A committed write-off can be undone. Undo reverses the accounting rather than deleting the record, so the decision and its reversal both survive.

Who can undo

Undo posts reversing financial transactions against the write-off, so it needs the same permission as editing the write-off: Sharedo - Update. This is the generic work item update permission rather than a write-off-specific one, and it is already granted to the primary owner and contributor roles on write-off-fees.

On the write-off list view, the Undo Write-off row action is offered only where that write-off has something to reverse and the user may update it. Undo is refused outright to a user without the update right, whichever route they take.

Undo from the fee actual list views

Open the fixed fee or hourly fee actual list view.
Select the written-off fees to reverse.
From the bulk action menu, select Undo Write-Off.

What undo does

Undo acts only on write-off items that carry a date written off and no date undone. For each of those it reverses the revenue and write-off transactions, returns the fee actual to unbilled, and stamps a date undone. It also raises an undone event and writes an audit record and a chronology entry, in the same way as the commit did.

Undoing does not delete the write-off work item. Where every fee in a write-off is undone, the work item stays in place with its items marked as undone, which is what an auditor would expect.

Fees that were never committed are left alone

In a mixed selection, undo touches only the fees that were actually committed. Fees never committed, and fees already undone, are left completely untouched. A fee that is mid-write-off is still held by a live write-off, so releasing it would leave a fee reading as billable to one query and as written off to another.

Undoing compared with withdrawing

Undoing a write-off and taking it out of play are different operations, even though the same phase change runs both. Where a write-off moves into a phase carrying the undo phase feature, two things happen:

Committed items are undone, as above.
Items never committed are discarded. Their rows are removed, their work in progress postings are reversed, and their fee actuals return to unbilled.

The second step belongs to the phase change alone, and an undo request cannot trigger it. So a write-off that should be abandoned is deleted or rejected rather than undone, because only the phase change clears the uncommitted items away.

Troubleshooting

Write Off Fees is not in the bulk menu

Cause	What to check
The list view has no bulk menu configured	The most common cause. Each fee actual list view has to name the bulk action menu to use when it is added to a portal page. Without it, no bulk actions appear at all.
The Fees Write-Off feature is off	The action is not offered while the feature is disabled.
The user lacks the write-off permission	Sharedo - Create - Write Off Fees. The action is hidden rather than displayed and refused, so it looks the same as a missing feature.

A fee is marked as not eligible

Check the five conditions in Eligibility. In practice the usual causes are a fee that has not reached Approved yet, and a fee already sitting in another write-off that nobody has committed or deleted.

Editing rules

Two things decide whether a fee actual can be edited. Both have to allow it.

What is checked	An edit is allowed when
Lifecycle state	The fee is Draft or Revising. A fee with a billing status of migrated is exempt from this check.
Billing status	The fee is unbilled or migrated.

Check both, not just the state

A Draft fee that is already billed is locked. So is an Approved fee that is still unbilled. Where someone can edit one fee but not an apparently identical one, it is almost always these two disagreeing.

Where an edit is refused

A refused edit reports the rule that stopped it. The two checks above, the rules belonging to the section type, and the rule that blocks a zero amount all report this way, so the message is the place to start.

A bulk delete from a list view behaves differently. A fee that cannot be deleted is reported on its own and the rest of the selection still goes through, so one refusal does not discard a whole multi-select.

What the chronology records

Fixed fee changes are audited. Updating a fixed fee actual writes an entry to the work item chronology.

Hourly fees are not. Amount changes from the time pipeline, time revaluation, and the deletions that happen when a time entry stops being chargeable all leave no chronology entry.

Posting to the chart of accounts

Recording a fee actual posts unbilled revenue to the chart of accounts. This tab explains what posts, when it posts, and what stops it posting. The accounts themselves, and which fee types use which, are configured in the Unbilled Revenue global feature.

Nothing posts until the Chart of Accounts is in place.

The Unbilled Revenue global feature depends on the Chart of Accounts global feature, and it reports as invalid until every segment of its default account code is completed. A fee recorded while that is unfinished creates no transaction.

When revenue is recognised

It depends on the fee type, and the two behave differently enough to be worth stating separately.

Fee type	When it posts
Hourly fees	As the time is recorded. Recording the time sets the fee ready to post. Approving the time entry posts it. An hourly fee actual's state is mirrored from its time entry rather than driven by hand, so progressing the time entry is what moves the posting along.
Fixed fees	When the fee is created, provided the fee is unbilled. Editing the fee's description or other details afterwards does not touch the ledger. Once the fee is approved its amount is locked, so an increase is made by adding a further fee item rather than by editing the approved one.
Disbursements	Not at all from here. A disbursement section is estimate only, so no disbursement actual is recorded against a commercial model.

The posting status

A fee actual's own state drives its chart of accounts posting status.

Posting status	What it means
Draft	A transaction exists and is held at draft. Re-pricing the fee while it is still Draft updates that transaction rather than adding another.
Ready to post	A transaction exists and is waiting to go to the ledger.
Posted	The transaction is in the ledger.

Fees can be progressed one at a time from the commercial model, or in bulk from the fee actual list views. The Posting Status column on those list views is where to read it across a whole work item. See Record fee actuals for the fee actual lifecycle the status follows.

The starting state is a template decision

Fee actuals the template creates on its own start in whatever Auto-created fee phase is set to on the template version. Where that is Approved, those fees post the moment the commercial model activates, with no review step. See Create a template.

The transaction date differs by fee type

An hourly fee's transaction takes the date the work was done. A fixed fee's takes the date the fee was created. So work done in the same month can land in different accounting periods depending on the fee type.

Revenue is not recognised by percentage of completion

A fixed fee recognises in full or not at all. A £1,000 fixed fee with half its expected hours booked does not recognise £500.

Where a firm needs partial recognition, for example on a matter with large milestone payments, it is done with accounting adjustments on the matter ledger rather than by the fee itself.

How unbilled revenue is calculated

Unbilled revenue is:

total fee revenue + total disbursements - total receivables

It can be negative. A fixed fee billed in advance puts it below zero until the work is recognised. Money held on account does not, because the request does not affect receivables.

Worked example: a fixed fee billed in advance

A £5,000 fixed fee is billed in advance, so unbilled revenue sits at minus £5,000. £3,000 of hourly fees are then billed, taking it to minus £2,000. Recognising the fixed fee brings it to £3,000.

When a fee does not post

Cause	What to check
The global feature is off, or invalid	Unbilled Revenue has to be enabled, and its default account code completed for every enabled segment.
The fee type is excluded	Record Unbilled Fees in Chart of Accounts is off on that fee type's override row. The fee actual is still created, and the section is still offered when recording time. Only the chart of accounts entry is not made. In legal work it is common for unbilled revenue not to be carried in the chart of accounts at all, so this is a normal configuration rather than an exception.
The fee is still in draft	No transaction exists at draft. Progress the fee, or the time entry behind it.
The fee is locked out	A fee set to billed externally or written off externally through the public override API is held out of standard processing by design.

What a write-off posts

Writing a fee off reverses its unbilled revenue and posts to the write-off accounts. What posts depends on the fee type and on whether revenue was recognised in the first place. See Accounting and undo.

Troubleshooting fees on a matter

A fee cannot be edited

Check the lifecycle state and the billing status. Both have to allow it: the state has to be Draft or Revising, and the billing status has to be unbilled or migrated. See Editing rules.

No fee was created from a time entry

Cause	What to check
The time was booked to a fixed fee section	A fixed fee section with time booking on logs and links the time without creating a fee. This is by design.
No element matched	Check the person's job role, the time code, or the business rule the section resolves on. Turn Allow user to pick element if not matched on if a manual fallback is wanted.
The commercial model is not active	Only active models appear in the fee selector, because the phase controls whether time can be recorded.
The time entry is not chargeable	A non-chargeable entry creates no fee. Where an existing entry stops being chargeable, its fee actual is deleted.

The fee selector is empty on a time entry

The selector lists sections on active commercial models that are either hourly rates sections or have Enable time booking on. An empty selector means the work item has no active model meeting that description. Check the phase first, then the section configuration on the base template.

There is no way to set a default fee section for time recording. That is on the backlog rather than in this release, so a fee earner picks from the selector every time.

The estimate is locked

An active commercial model locks its estimate. Move it to Updating to change it, which requires the Finance - Commercial Model - Revert Phase permission. Coming back to active applies the approval model again.

A model created from an auto-activate template starts in Pre-Approved and is read-only from the outset, so there is no draft stage in which to adjust it.

Fees appeared that nobody added

Elements flagged Auto-create fee have their fee actuals created when the commercial model becomes active. Review the auto-create flags on the base template against what the firm actually wants created. On a site that came from an earlier version of Fees, the flag is broadly on, which the Fees release note explains.

The actuals tab is not available

Cause	What to check
The base template produces no actuals	The tab displays only where the template produced an actuals structure. A template whose sections are all targeted at estimates gives a model with nothing to record.
The tab is turned off	Check Show actuals in the widget configuration. See Attaching fee templates to work types for the widget settings.
The user lacks the read permission	The fee actuals read permission. See Attaching fee templates to work types for the permission set.
Actual creation is disabled on the work type	Check Enable actual creation in the work type's Fee Structures configuration.

A commercial model refuses to delete but shows no actuals

The actuals check counts zero-amount fee actuals, and the fee actual list views hide them. So a model that looks empty can still be carrying rows. Check also that the model is not in a read-only phase, since those cannot be deleted either, with Pre-Approved the exception.

A bulk menu is missing from a list view

The list view configuration has to name the bulk menu to use. Adding the list view to a portal page does not bring the menu with it. See Work type setup > Configure the widget and list views.

A commercial model card displays no figures

Zero values are hidden along with their labels, so a model whose estimate holds nothing displays no figures. Check whether the base template has any mandatory or recommended elements, and whether its sections are excluded from estimated totals.

Who changed an hourly fee

The work item chronology does not record hourly fee changes, so it will not answer this. See Editing rules for what is and is not audited.

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Estimate	The estimate section by section, with a total under each section and a grand total beneath. A different display per section type. Not available to a user without the estimated fees read permission.
Actuals	The fee actuals recorded against the model, grouped per element type. Fixed fee actuals can also be added from here, which needs the fee actuals maintain permission. Not available to a user without the fee actuals read permission, and not present at all until actuals exist, so a model carrying only an estimate displays the Estimate tab alone.
Estimate Vs Actuals	Estimate against actual, with a remaining column. Where the estimate is a range, the estimate column displays whichever of the minimum, maximum or midpoint value the widget is set to compare on. Like the Actuals tab, it does not display until actuals exist.
Notes	Notes recorded against the commercial model.
History	The commercial model's phase transition history, newest first, one card per phase change. Each card gives the phases moved between, who made the transition and when, the estimate version at that point, and the change reason and notes where they were captured. Select the version number to open that version of the estimate in a blade. It is read-only, headed with the version number and the phase the model was in, and displays the sections and elements with the amounts as they stood. Earlier versions stay available this way, so the pricing history of a matter can be looked back on. This History tab is always present, and there is no widget setting to turn it off.