At any time, you can preview billable matters to see what kind of invoices will be generated. Invoice material can be created for a selected invoicing period either from individual matters or in bulk. Each invoice is generated according to the default settings configured in the software, as well as any client-specific or matter-specific settings. If important notes relating to the client or matter have been saved in the system, these will be displayed to the user during invoice creation.

For smaller firms using CSI LakiMies, the invoicing process is generally straightforward. Matters managed by CSI Lawyer and CSI Professional customers are often larger and handled by larger teams, which makes invoice preparation more demanding. In these cases, a preliminary invoice can be used to review and finalize the invoice content. Preliminary invoices allow easy editing of transaction and expense entries, as well as corrections to payer information, invoice totals, and other invoice details.

Organizations using preliminary invoices can also implement a preliminary invoice review process to streamline and improve invoice preparation. In this process, the software circulates the preliminary invoice digitally for review and editing among all users included in the approval workflow. The actual invoice is generated only after the final approver has approved the preliminary invoice.

Once the invoice has been created, only limited changes can be made before it is sent to the client as an e-invoice, an email attachment, or by post. The easiest approach is to transfer the entire invoice material to the Maventa e-invoicing service, which forwards invoices either as e-invoices or, if an e-invoice address is unavailable, as email attachments or postal mail. Firms using other e-invoicing operators can generate the invoice material manually and submit it to their operator.

Advance Invoices, Summary Invoices, and Draft Invoices

In addition to the standard invoicing process involving preliminary invoices and normal invoices, the software also provides several other invoice types for different situations.

An advance invoice allows you to request payment from the client in advance. When the final invoice for the matter is created later, the payment received against the advance invoice is automatically applied to it, reducing the final amount due.

A summary invoice is particularly useful for larger client organizations that have multiple matters open at the same time. It allows several invoices to be combined into a single invoice package that the client can pay in one transaction.

A proof invoice is used in legal aid cases to provide the court with a summary of the transactions and expenses billed to the client. Since a draft invoice is not an accounting invoice, it can also be used in standard matters to provide the client with a summary of the current status of a matter.

Invoices for legal expenses insurance cases constitute their own invoice type and differ from standard invoices in terms of tax treatment and insurance company invoicing.

Invoice Processing

If an invoice that has been generated, and potentially already sent to the client, contains an error, the situation can be corrected with a credit invoice, which is created by either crediting or cancelling the invoice. It is important to understand the difference between these two functions, as they produce significantly different outcomes.

The Credit function is used to credit either the entire invoice or part of it when the transactions or expenses should not be invoiced again. This may occur, for example, if a client complaint results in a reduction of the invoice amount.

The Cancel function is used when the transactions and expenses on the invoice should be returned for re-invoicing. This may be necessary, for example, if the invoice payer changes.

A payment reminder can also be sent if payment has not been received by the due date.

For firms that generate a large volume of invoices, invoice data can be transferred from CSI software to the most common accounting systems (Fennoa, Procountor, and Netvisor) through a separate accounting integration. These two-way integrations transfer normal invoices, credit invoices, and advance invoices, including payer information, from CSI to the accounting system. They also import payments allocated to invoices and expenses recorded for matters from the accounting system back into CSI.