I need to know how to create multiple client matters for one client in QuickBooks Essential

Hi Sam, thanks for bringing up your concern here in the Community forum. I'd be glad to answer and guide you in creating multiple matters in QuickBooks and get you going.

Before doing so, I would want to know more about your concern. Can you specify what you meant about multiple matters? Do you mean to create multiple transactions or not? Any additional information would be greatly appreciated so I can provide you with an accurate resolution.

I'll be looking forward to your response. Don't hesitate to get back by clicking the Reply button below. I'm determined to help you get through this. 

Hi Nicole,
Our law firm provides patent law services, and so most of our clients have multiple matters (projects) open and being billed to, at any one time. So for a given client (e.g., John Smith), we will have multiple matters (e.g., JS01, JS02, and JS03) that our attorneys may bill to. This means that variuos of our time keepers (e.g., atty1 and atty2) may bill time to any of the matters in a given billing period. For example:

M T W Th F
atty1 JS1-1.0 0 JS2 - 2.1 0 0
atty2 0 0 JS2 - 1.8 JS1 - 1.9 0

So any attorney may bill to any of the client's matters or any given day, and these billings need to be assigned to the proper client matter and billed out on a per-matter basis. So assuming a billing rates for both attorneys of $100, John Smith would receive an invoice for $290 for matter JS1, and an invoice for $390 for JS2 (and on the summary of invoices, a total of $680).
Also, can QuickBook Essentials do this? Or do we need QuickBooks Time?
Thanks!
Sam

I'll share some insights about creating multiple client matters in QuickBooks Online (QBO) @SamC34. 

In QBO Essentials, the option to create projects for client matters is unavailable. The feature is only available for QBO Plus, Advanced, and Accountant versions. If you want to use this function, you can consider subscribing to the versions mentioned above or upgrading your current one (if you've already purchased QBO Essentials). 

Alternatively, you can utilize the Time entry feature of QBO Essentials to bill those client's matters. In this process, you can add the Attorneys as an employee and add those matters as a Service item. Here's how:

1. Open your QBO Essentials account and switch the view to the Accountant view.
2. Next, select the Payroll menu and choose Employees.
3. Click the Add an employee button (click Not right now if prompted to add payroll) and enter the details of the attorneys.
4. When done, select Save.
5. After that, navigate to the Sales menu and choose Products and services.
6. Select New and click Service.
7. Enter the name of the client matters in the Name field (example: JS1) and fill in other needed details.
8. Once finished, select Save and close.

After that, here's how to bill your attorney time for each client:

1. Open your QBO Essentials account and switch the view to the Accountant view.
2. Next, click the +New button and select Time entry.
3. Select the Add time button and choose the attorney you're adding time for. If you don't see their names, just click the small gear icon and select the Choose who tracks time button. Then, refresh the page.
4. Then, from the dropdown arrow adjust the date range if necessary by choosing This week, Last week, or Custom. 
5. Next, add the duration of hours worked, or turn on the Start/end times switch to enter a start time and end time.
6. After that, click Add work details and select the Customer (client) you want to assign to that client matters.
7. To make the timesheet billable, turn on the Billable (/hr) switch.
8. When finished, select Done.

For reference, check out this article: Enter billable time by job in QuickBooks Online.

Should you have any other concerns or anything to ask about creating multiple matters or projects in QBO, please leave a reply below. I'll be here ready to provide additional help. 

This doesn't answer the question about multiple matters for one client.