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The complete lock-up calculation on five clients of a professional firm, small enough to check by hand: worked value from time entries, billed from bills, received from receipts, unbilled WIP and accounts receivable, average daily billing, WIP days, AR days, lock-up days and lock-up cash, the split that says whether the delay is billing or collection, the practice norm, and the identity that WIP and receivables reconcile, so a reader can reproduce every figure and then run it on their own practice management exports.
Lock-up is the time between work done and cash received, and on five clients every step can be checked. This page works WIP, receivables, the days, the cash, the split, the norm and the identity. UK firms call receivables debtors, and AR days debtor days.
| Client | Worked (hours × rate) | Billed | Received |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | $1,900,000 | $1,460,000 | $1,410,000 |
| B | $1,200,000 | $1,180,000 | $760,000 |
| C | $640,000 | $600,000 | $520,000 |
| D | $400,000 | $390,000 | $385,000 |
| E | $300,000 | $150,000 | $150,000 |
Unbilled WIP = worked − billed; accounts receivable = billed − received
| Client | Unbilled WIP | Receivables | Daily billing (billed ÷ 365) |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | $440,000 | $50,000 | $4,000 |
| B | $20,000 | $420,000 | $3,233 |
| C | $40,000 | $80,000 | $1,644 |
| D | $10,000 | $5,000 | $1,068 |
| E | $150,000 | $0 | $411 |
WIP days = WIP ÷ daily billing; AR days = receivables ÷ daily billing; lock-up = sum; cash = WIP + receivables
| Client | WIP days | AR days | Lock-up days | Lock-up cash | Practice norm | Split |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 110 | 13 | 123 | $490,000 | 95 | Billing |
| B | 6 | 130 | 136 | $440,000 | 95 | Collection |
| C | 24 | 49 | 73 | $120,000 | 95 | On norm |
| D | 9 | 5 | 14 | $15,000 | 95 | Fine |
| E | 365 | 0 | 365 | $150,000 | 95 | Billing: half the year's work unbilled |
Client A: the partner has not billed $440,000 of work; the client pays in two weeks when asked. Client B: billed promptly, paid four months late. Similar lock-up, opposite levers. Client E: a year of unbilled work on a small client, which is either a fixed fee not yet invoiced or a matter nobody has closed.
Σ WIP = Σ worked − Σ billed = 4,440,000 − 3,780,000 = $660,000 Σ receivables = Σ billed − Σ received = 3,780,000 − 3,225,000 = $555,000 lock-up cash across the five = $1,215,000
Both reconcile to the practice's WIP and receivables ledgers, or the difference is a bill or receipt unmatched.
Firm-level lock-up. A weighted average near 110 days; A and B invisible.
Days blended. A and B look alike; the fix for each is the other's.
No cash figure. A hundred and twenty-three days does not persuade a partner; $490,000 does.
E unread. Small client, small daily billing, 365 days: the largest ratio on the page and the one most likely to be a write-off waiting.
The same three sums per client, the same two divisions, the practice norm from the book, the split. Covirage runs it on the time entries, bills and receipts every month. The lock-up guide covers the measure, and the realization guide covers the other leak in the same exports.
Because it puts WIP and receivables on the same scale, days of billing, so a client with large fees and a client with small ones can be compared. It is the standard measure; the matter-level dates give the same answer another way and are shown where the data allows.
The practice's own median lock-up across its clients, here 95 days. A client at 190 is twice the norm; the split says whether to talk to the partner or to collections.
Worked value that will never bill is written off and removed from WIP with a reason. This page has none; on a real book the write-off is its own line and the identity carries it.