New Accruals Report Template

Included in this Article:

Accruals Definition

An accruals report is a financial document used by a legal ops person to track and manage the expenses that have been incurred but have yet to be billed to a client. These expenses are known as accruals and are recorded in the accruals report.

Report Summary

This enhanced accruals report provides a detailed overview of your accruals within a specific period.

You can refine and personalize the report to analyze specific data and financial details related to your matters, making it a valuable tool for managing your legal finances and operations.

Accessing the Report

The Accruals Report Template is located in the 'Create Report' section of Brightflag's Report Builder.

Menu > Reports > Report Builder > Create Report
On the 'Create Report Template' screen, click on Accrual V2
From here, you can select the relevant fields to include in your report. Use the 'Find a Field' search bar to find a report field for your report. A list of Report Builder fields can be found here: Report Builder Fields Glossary

Contents of the Report

Core Columns: These fields provide essential information about your accruals and matters. They include details like who approved the accrual, details of the matter the accrual relates to such as matter name and reference number, key matter information such as the country, legal entity, and department the matter is related to, and vendor information like vendor name.

Spending Columns:

Accrual Amount	The current period's estimated expenses representing the anticipated costs expected.
Accrual Amount (Matter Currency)	This is the same as the "Accrual Amount," but it's expressed in the currency associated with the specific matter.
Accrual Amount (Submission Currency)	This is the same as the "Accrual Amount," but it's expressed in the currency chosen for submission
Accrual Period	The accrual period start date represents the start date of the period for which we are estimating and recording expenses. It defines the timeframe you’re focusing on.
Customer Currency	The specific currency used for financial transactions.
Matter Currency	The currency associated with the specific matter.
Prior Period Unbilled	The estimate of expenses that were not billed in previous accounting periods and is still outstanding.
Prior Period Unbilled (Submission Currency)	The estimate of expenses that were not billed in previous accounting periods and is still outstanding in the currency submitted
Unbilled Total	The sum of the current period accrual amount + the prior period unbilled.
All Time Spend	The sum of total spend of all time invoices having status Approved, Pending, Ebilling on Hold, Second Draft, Batch Exported, Batch Paid, Awaiting Details, calculated per matter and per vendor.
Pending Spend All Time	The sum of all time invoices having status Pending, calculated per matter per vendor.
Rejected Spend Current Month	The sum of invoices from the month matching the accrual period, having status Rejected, calculated per matter and per vendor.
Submission Currency	Shows the ISO code for that currency.

Filters: You can customize the report using filters: Country, Department, Entity, Internal Matter Lead, Law Firm, Matter Category, Matter Name, Matter Ref, Preferred Counsel, and State/Province.

Currency: You can choose one of four currencies (Euro, British Pound, US Dollar, or Australian Dollar) for the currency conversion of monetary values. This conversion is based on the Accrual Submission Date.

Date Columns: These columns contain important date-related information, including when an accrual was last updated, approved, or submitted and when the last invoice was issued for a specific matter.

Date Type: You can select from three date types to filter the data displayed in the report: Accrual Period, Submitted Date, or Approved Date.

Allocations Columns: Allocation fields vary depending on individual customers and are grouped into Allocation Groups. The report details the percentage of spending applicable to these allocation groups and specific allocation fields related to the matter, such as GL code or entity code.

Comparison between V2 and V1

Changes to Field Names:

Field Name	V2 Report (new)	V1 Report (previous)
Matter ID	Matter ID	Brightflag Matter ID
Vendor Name	Vendor Name	Vendor
Current Period Accrual Amount	Accrual Amount	Current Period Estimate
Accrual Comment	Comment	Law Firm Accrual Comment
Approved By	Approved By	LF Unbilled Total (Co. User Who Approved)
Approved Date	Approved Date	LF Unbilled Total (Date Co. User Approved)
Prior Period Unbilled	Prior Period Unbilled	Prior Periods Estimate
Rejected Spend Current Month	Rejected Spend Current Month	Rejected Spend from Current Period
Accrual Amount in Matter Currency	Accrual Amount in Matter Currency	New Field*

Retired Columns:

Accounts Payable Route
Brightflag Firm ID
Brightflag Vendor Office ID
Currency of the Matter's Budget
Current Period Estimate Source - Mapped to Submitted by
Customer Matter ID
Lead Outside Counsel
Lead Outside Counsel Name
Matter Template
Matter Group
Prior Periods Unbilled Source
Vendor ID
Accrual Period Ending Balance
Current Period Estimate
Inv. Posted During Co. Review (Current Month)
Inv. Posted During Co. Review (Prior Months)
Invoice Amounts Sent to AP After Accrual
Invoice Amt Unsent to AP (accrual period FY)
Invoice Amt Unsent to AP (prior FYs)
Invoices on Hold
Pending Spend All Time + Unbilled
Pending Spend from Current Period
Remaining Accrual Balance (Current FY)
Remaining Accrual Balance (Prior FY)
Total Remaining Accrual Balance (Prior FY + Current FY)
Last Invoice End Date
Last Invoice Posted Date

Note: All other fields remain the same*

FAQ on the Changes from V1 to V2 Report

Your finance team will need to be notified of changes in the Version 2 report to ensure they can update their analysis of legal accruals data accordingly.

What are the effects of the Field updates?

Field name changes: Integration systems programmed to extract data using V1 field names must be updated to recognize the updated field names in the V2 report.

Retired Fields: Integration systems relying on these fields for data extraction or processing will not locate them in the new report.

New Fields: If these fields are added to your accrual report, integration systems should be updated to account for them.

Custom Scripting: Integrations involving custom scripting or queries referencing specific V1 field names or data structures may require updates to align with the new V2 report format.

Is this new report available in the Reporting API?

For V2, there have been modifications. Therefore, integrations relying on APIs to interact with the Brightflag reporting system might need modifications to the integration code to accommodate these changes during the transition from V1 to V2.

It's important to note that there were no changes in the Brightflag Reporting API endpoints for V1; they remain the same.