How to Review Percentage Completion Before Billing
Verify the cumulative valuation basis, approval evidence and earlier billed subtotals before preparing the current progress amount.
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At a glance
Verify the cumulative valuation basis, approval evidence and earlier billed subtotals before preparing the current progress amount.
Best for
Project billing owners using an agreed cumulative percentage method.
Evaluation method
Reviewed 2026-10-02
Original service-billing worksheet and fictional worked example. Workflow reviewed October 2, 2026; not a claim about measured customer outcomes. Approvals, payment allocation, client portals, and tax decisions remain separate from scheduled delivery.
Using InvoiceAgent
After approvals and amounts are checked, use InvoiceAgent to prepare and schedule invoice delivery.
Illustrative example
Approval, arithmetic and release stay traceable
- Approved basis
- USD 20,000 scope / 60% cumulative
- Cumulative value
- USD 12,000
- Prior billed reference total
- USD 8,000
- Current review difference
- USD 4,000
- Separate decisions
- Adjustments and actual invoice release
Fictional service-project arithmetic, not formal certification or revenue recognition.
See the recorded product workflowDecisions to make before billing
A percentage-completion review asks whether a cumulative billing basis is approved and reproducible at the snapshot. Stripe's progress-invoicing guidance identifies work proportion and stage amount as relevant components. This guide applies a simple entered cumulative-percentage method, rather than prescribing a contractual assessment rule.
First verify the scope and price version underlying the percentage. Then connect the actual authorized decision to the completion evidence. An internal estimate, hours consumed or elapsed time is not automatically the agreed completion measure. Keep any required formal assessment outside this worksheet's approval claim.
For the fictional USD 20,000 project at approved 60%, cumulative value is USD 12,000. Earlier bills of USD 8,000 leave USD 4,000 additional positive value. A USD 13,000 earlier billed total would create a USD −1,000 review difference, not permission to issue a credit automatically.
Quick context
Section
Practical guides to scheduling invoices, writing reminders, and managing recurring client billing.
Best for
Project billing owners using an agreed cumulative percentage method.
Outcome
Use this page to move from general research into a calmer, more repeatable invoicing process.
Work through the billing decision
Verify scope, measurement and authority
Match agreement version and snapshot with the actual completion evidence. Preserve accepted percentage, approver and any conditions or held work.
Reconstruct earlier billing
List invoice subtotals on the same project basis. Separate unpaid amounts, cash receipts, deposits and other adjustments from the prior-billed input.
Resolve the current difference
Compute the cumulative value and signed difference. Check tax, retention, advances and billing authority separately before handing the reviewed current draft to release.
Preview the review checklist
Replace the bracketed fields with your client’s details. The download also includes the filled example shown on this page.
PERCENTAGE COMPLETION BILLING REVIEW Agreement / scope / price version / snapshot: [details] Measurement evidence / actual approved percentage: [references] Conditions or held work: [details] Prior same-basis invoice subtotals: [references / total] Cumulative calculation / signed difference: [details] Separate cash, tax, retention and advances: [references] Approved current amount / draft handover / reviewer: [details]
Sources and further reading
Free resource
Keep the review checklist
Download the blank worksheet and filled example, then adapt them to your client agreement.
Download text fileWhere teams usually lose momentum.
Avoid this
Treating completion as a cash metric
A cumulative valuation neither establishes money received nor clears unpaid earlier bills.
Avoid this
Reusing the full cumulative value as new billing
Earlier bills are part of that cumulative value. Reconcile them once before reviewing the new amount.
Move from reading about the workflow to running it.
InvoiceAgent is designed for the last mile of getting paid: scheduled invoice delivery, reminder timing, professional PDFs, and send-time FX conversion when global billing is involved.
Related topics
Find more guides and practical tools in the resources below.
Questions people usually have before changing the workflow.
Does the calculator measure progress?
No. It uses your entered approved percentage and cannot inspect delivered work.
Can the basis change?
Record the actual approved scope and price change, then reconcile the resulting basis explicitly.
Does this supply retention or certification rules?
No. Apply the actual agreement and required assessment process separately.
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