Ignition’s Instant Bill: New feature turns scope creep into profits for professional services

Texas, United States, August 8th — Ignition, a leading all-in-one business platform for professional services, has today launched its new Instant Bill feature to help accounting and professional services businesses turn scope creep into revenue. Customers now have the ability to easily bill and collect payment for ad hoc or out-of-scope work in Ignition, without the need to create a new proposal or client agreement. 

Ignition's State of Client Engagement report found that unrecovered out of scope work is costing accounting and bookkeeping professionals over $76,000 in the US (over $103,000 in Australia; nearly £70,000 in the UK) on average per year. 

Additionally, 90% of US accounting professionals, (95% in Australia; 74% in the UK) have experienced clients not being billed for out-of-scope work. 

“It’s never been more important for professional services firms to maximize revenue in today’s economic climate,” said Dane Thomas Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at Ignition. “With Instant Bill, our goal is to make getting paid for out of scope work simple to protect cash flow and boost profits.” 

"Our research shows that 43% of accounting professionals in the US (35% in Australia; 33% in the UK) absorb the time and cost of increased scope of work themselves. Instant Bill helps ensure they’re not leaving money on the table when the scope of work changes, or clients request additional services after they’ve signed the engagement letter,” said Dane.

Instant Bill offers benefits including; 

• Increase revenue and profitability. Easily bill and get paid for ad hoc or out-of-scope work that sits outside of an existing client agreement.
• Increase cash flow. Bill upfront and get paid for ad hoc services with Ignition’s automatic payment collection.
• Save time. Quickly bill clients for one-off or recurring services without needing to create a new proposal.
• Greater visibility of business performance. Gain a more holistic view of business revenue by billing for all your work and tracking revenue in the one platform.

Mike Payne, CEO at BOSS Advisors, and Ignition customer says “Ignition's Instant Bill feature is a game-changer for our billing process, streamlining and accelerating payment collection for clients. Ad hoc, out-of-scope, and one-time invoices are now a breeze for our team, but it's also a win for our clients who appreciate the convenience of a single, user-friendly system.”

Instant Bill expands on the recently released Service Edits feature, which makes it easy to adjust the scope for existing client engagements, such as changing the price, quantity and billing of agreed services after a client has accepted the proposal. 

Dane Thomas adds “With the addition of Instant Bill, we’re further helping customers tackle costly problems in their business like scope creep and unbilled work to ensure they get paid for all the work they do. Customers can use Ignition to engage clients with a clear scope of work from day one, with the confidence that they can easily adjust the existing scope or charge for additional services when things inevitably change.”

The latest product enhancement comes as Ignition continues to invest in its platform to help accounting and professional services businesses get paid faster, and run smarter. Ignition customers save on average over 18 hours per week engaging clients, managing scope changes, and billing, collecting and reconciling payments.