Review before billing
Check eligible time against the advisory agreement and resolve uncertain entries.
Use case
Time tracking and invoicing for small consultancies
A consultancy needs to show why time belongs to an engagement without exposing confidential advice. Review eligible hours first, then make the invoice evidence useful to the client billing contact.
Product capabilities reviewed against the ABH truth sheet on 14 October 2026. Any arithmetic examples are fictional, in USD and exclude taxes. Operational guidance only.
Short answer
ABH links consulting time to clients, projects and tasks, supports single and bulk approval, and traces proof-backed invoice lines to logged work. Pro adds manually invoiced retainers. Public invoice links let clients view the record without an account.
Use ABH for the work and invoice record. Receive client payments through your own external arrangement and record them manually.
Hourly and retainer work in one place
Keep each engagement's billing basis clear. An hourly assignment may use approved work records, while an advisory retainer may cover a defined period or included hours. A workshop outside the retainer needs its own commercial decision. Do not merge all advisory activity into a monthly total without checking which agreement makes each item chargeable.
ABH supports client, project and task time records and Pro retainers with flat fees or capped hours and period usage. The generate-invoice action is manual. Use the monthly retainer review to check included work and exceptions. Automatic invoice schedules and retainer rollover are not available today, so an internal owner still needs to run the agreed review and billing process.
Approve time before invoicing
Establish a cutoff for contributors to complete descriptions and correct assignments. The reviewer checks dates, duplicated activity, the scope and work already billed. A meeting with several consultants may be eligible under one agreement and restricted under another; the time record does not settle that contractual question. Hold uncertain items for clarification rather than charging them because they exist.
ABH provides single and bulk time entry approval for this internal review. It is not a client invoice approval workflow. The timesheet approval guide gives a repeatable checklist, and the team tracking guide helps contributors produce usable records. Preserve the reason for a correction so the billing preparer can explain the final selection without reopening every conversation.
Evidence on every invoice line
Use descriptions that identify the activity, purpose and period while avoiding confidential recommendations. A billing contact needs to understand the service, not receive the contents of a sensitive strategy discussion. Refer to a suitable deliverable title or agreed session without copying private notes into text that may be shared through the public invoice link.
Proof-backed invoice lines in ABH can be traced to logged time. That trace supports an explanation of billed work; it is not a guarantee of acceptance or evidence that every internal record is safe to share. The invoice proof checklist helps select suitable supporting context, and the description examples show how to replace vague labels without inventing results or disclosing confidential material.
Public invoice link without a client account
Give the authorized billing recipient a public invoice link. They can open the invoice and download its PDF without joining the consultancy workspace. Check the due date, engagement reference and line descriptions before sharing. A client may route the document to a procurement or finance colleague, so make the service period understandable without relying on a private conversation with the consultant.
The link is a tokenized invoice view, not a client login portal or a payment checkout. Follow your own sharing process for sensitive engagement information. The proof-backed invoice feature page describes the available record. If a recipient disputes an item, investigate the agreement and approved time before changing the amount or assuming the trace settles the disagreement.
Team seats and roles
Plans checked against the dev public plans endpoint on 14 October 2026: Free has 1 user, 1 client, 1 project, 20 tracked hours per month and 3 invoices per month, with a watermark. Starter is $9.99 per month per workspace for up to 3 users. Pro is $19.99 per month per workspace with unlimited users and includes retainer tracking.
These are flat workspace prices rather than per-seat charges. Owner and Member roles separate finance responsibilities from project work: Owners handle finance, growth, onboarding and templates, while Members contribute project work and time records. Do not share an Owner login to avoid a seat limit. The freelancer page covers solo use, and pricing is the current source to consult before choosing a team plan.
What ABH does not do for consultancies
Trust accounting, legal or tax advice, a client login portal and expense billing through such a portal are not available today. ABH also does not provide resource planning, per-person billable rate cards or a true project margin dashboard. If the engagement requires specialist regulated workflows, assess those requirements separately rather than treating a readable invoice as evidence that the system supports them.
Client payments are received outside ABH. An Owner verifies the receipt and records the exact amount manually in the append-only ledger; ABH collects no client money and takes no transaction fee. For this workflow, the useful connection is approved hours to invoice evidence. Compare the Harvest alternative and the realization calculation when deciding how to review the resulting billing records.
At a glance
Fit for this workflow
Controlled evidence
Explain the activity without copying confidential recommendations into invoice descriptions.
Team boundaries
Keep financial records with Owners while Members contribute project work and time.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Can several consultants contribute to one engagement?
Yes. Team members can record work against client projects and tasks within the workspace seat limits.
Does time approval mean the client accepted the invoice?
No. Time approval is an internal review; client acceptance of scope and charges is separate.
Can ABH hold client funds in trust?
No. ABH never holds or processes agency client funds and does not provide trust accounting.
Review the workflow before you choose.
Use ABH for the work and invoice record. Receive client payments through your own external arrangement and record them manually.