Hello,

I'm a freelance journalist and I've been trying many Mac invoicing programs to see if they can make my billing easier. I really liked Billings 2, better than some of the competition, but there are some features I really need that Billings 2 doesn't seem to have. Can anyone tell me how to do what I need, if it's possible?

It is not uncommon in my field to have

a) more than one form of payment in the same assignment:

ie, I cover a meeting, am paid an hourly rate to attend. But then I write a story about the meetin, and I'm paid a per word rate per story.

So, a single assignment for me would be:

Cover Acme meeting Duration 3.30, Rate €50, Article 568, Rate €0.40/word, total €402.20.

b) a sliding scale - common with proof-reading, editing and translation.

ie, I copy-edit an article with no deadline, it's €0.05/word. Within 5 days, it's multiplied by 1.6, within 2 days, it's multiplied by 2.5.

Proof Acme article Words - 5832, rate 0.05/word, Date commissioned, date delivered, multiplier 2.5

Now some of my clients bill me either a straight word rate - I can use a flat rate, or an hourly rate. But I can't use one system for some clients and another for the rest.

I really liked Billings 2's interface and the default invoice looked great. Any chance that such features could be in a future release or, better yet, can someone tell me about an app that does this?

I look forward to any replies.


mkgordon

Mike,

Each slip you create has the option to be billed as either Timed, Flat, Quantity, Expense, or Mileage. Adjust the rate/price for each. You can do this for each slip regardless of which project or client.

Is that what you're looking for?

Hi Mark,

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

No, this isn't what I'm looking for. I do understand that this is the way the application currently works.

However, to the extent that one slip correlates to one piece of work for which you are paid, what I'm asking for is that you not be forced to choose one of "Timed, Flat, Quantity, Expense, or Mileage", but to have the option to pick two or more, and have the total of the two calculations be used as a way of arriving at a charge for a particular job. This arises, as I said, because I have a couple of clients who I bill, per assignment, for both an hourly rate and a flat rate times a quantity. Having two slips for this means I have two lines in my invoice, when I want only one.

Have I explained it better this time?

I think the ideal thing to have would be a way to group separate slips into a single item when creating an invoice.

Sometimes there are details we record which we don't want to show on the invoice as separate pieces.