CounselLink Answer Center for Clients

Managing Budgets

  • Updated

This article covers the following topics:

Editing Budget Amounts

After creating a budget, you can increase or decrease amounts as needed. All changes are recorded in the History tab for future reference.

You must have the Budget Setup role to edit budget amounts.

  1.  

    1. Click the Edit Amounts button under Amounts tab on the Budget Overview page.

      Depending on your budget structure, different options will display:

      • Fees and Expenses: The Edit Budget Amounts page displays.

      • Summary: The Edit Budget Amounts window displays:

      • Phase Code Set or Task Code Set: The Edit Code Amount page displays:

    2. Update the budget amounts as needed.
    3. Enter comments in the Change Reason field if needed.
    4. Click Save.

Adding a Fiscal Year to a Budget

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On non–Life of Matter budgets, you can add future fiscal years (and, if needed, previous fiscal years).

If you want to add a fiscal year and import values for that year, note that importing values is available only for Law Firm Budgets using a monthly Fees and Expenses structure or a monthly Summary structure.

  1. Click the Budget Period drop down under the Financials section of the Budget Overview page.

  2. Select Add Fiscal Year.

  3. The next chronological Fiscal Year is added to the drop down and a confirmation is displayed.

Adding a Previous Fiscal Year to a Budget

  1. Click the Edit Budget (pencil) icon on the Budget Overview page.

  2. Enter a start date from a prior fiscal year into the Start Date field.

  3. Click Save.

The new fiscal year(s) will display from the drop down on the Budget Overview page.

Removing a Law Firm from a Law Firm Budget

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You can delete a law firm from a Law Firm Budget by navigating to the Budget Overview page.

  1. Select the law firm to be removed under the Amounts tab on your Law Firm Budget Overview page.
  2. Click More Actions.

  3. Select Remove Law Firm Office.

    The Remove Law Firm Office(s) window displays.

  4. Select Remove from Selected Fiscal Year or Remove from All Fiscal Years if you want the law firm removed from the selected fiscal year (i.e. the fiscal year displayed in the Budget header) or from all fiscal years.

    Life of Matter budgets will not display a fiscal year option in this window.

The law firm is removed.

Removing a Fiscal Year from a Budget

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You can remove a fiscal year on a budget from the Budget Overview page.

If the budget has only one fiscal year, you cannot remove it.

  1. Click on the Budget Period drop-down on the Budget Overview page.

  2. Click the Delete (trash can) icon next the fiscal year you want to remove.

    The Remove Budget Fiscal Year window displays.

  3. Click Yes, Continue. A confirmation message displays at the top of the page.

A confirmation message displays at the top of the page.

Downloading a Budget Template for Import

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If you want to import budget values for a fiscal year, you can download the import template directly from CounselLink. You can also export an existing budget template, update values, and then import the revised file.

  1. Navigate to the Budget Overview page and find the Amounts tab.
  2. Select the law firm office for which you want to add amounts.
  3. Click More Actions.

  4. Select Import Budget.

    The Import Budget window displays.

  1. Click the Budgets.xlsx link. The file downloads to your default download location.

  2. Open the spreadsheet file.

  3. Click the Example and Details tab to view a guide on how to complete the spreadsheet.
  4. Save the completed file.

Once you've completed the file, you can then import the values for the fiscal year of your choosing.

Importing and Exporting a Budget for a Fiscal Year

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You may want to add a fiscal year and populate it with budget values. You can use the provided spreadsheet template (which includes an instructions tab) or export an existing budget into the same template, update it, and import it back. This is especially useful when a future fiscal year requires minimal changes.

This feature is only available when updating a Law Firm Budget with monthly, fee and expense, or monthly summary budgets.

  1. Create a new fiscal year on the budget to update.

  2. Click on the Amounts tab on the Budget Overview page.

    Make sure you have selected the fiscal year in the Financials section that you want to update.

  3. Select a law firm from the list.

  4. Click More Actions.

  5. Select Import Budget from the drop-down.

    The Import Budget window displays.

    You can download a template file with a guide tab on how to fill it out.

  6. Drag and drop the budget file into the window, or click Choose a File to select it from your computer.
    The window updates to show the selected file.

  7. Click Import. The Import Budget - Status window displays to show the status of your import values.

    • Green check mark - A record was present on the budget and the value will be updated.
    • Green plus sign - The record was not previously on the budget and will be added.
    • Grey 'no' symbol - No change was made for the record compared to the previous budget.
    • Yellow triangle with exclamation point - There is an error with the record.

  8. Optional: If you see errors (), click View Status Report to review. You can correct the errors and re-upload your file if needed. If you don't need to correct them, proceed to the next step.

    Only valid entries will be updated.

  9. Once you have resolved any applicable errors, click Continue. The Import Budget - Edit Key Matter Assumptions window displays.
  10. Enter Change Reason if applicable.
  11. Click Continue. 

The Budget Overview page updates with a success message and the new amounts populated in your tab.

Exporting a Budget

  1. Click on the Amounts tab on the Budget Overview page.

    Make sure you have selected the fiscal year in the Financials section that you want to export.

  2. Select a law firm from the list.

  3. Click More Actions.
  4. Select Export Budget from the drop down.
  5. The The budget Excel file downloads to your default downloads folder.

Deleting a Budget

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If you need to clean up older budgets—or if a budget was created with incorrect information (for example, the wrong Budget Template or Budget Structure)—you can delete it from the Budget Overview page.

  1. Click the Delete Budget icon (trash can) on the Matter Budget Overview page. The Delete Budget Confirmation window displays.

  2. Click Yes, Continue to delete the budget.