What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Washington State
Hi all,
I've just started working in the accounting/finance department at an engineering firm, and some of the business practices might be a little questionable by a legal standard. So we operate by billing our clients/customers by the hour for working on projects for them. We first have contracts with clients that outline the number of hours we will work on their project, and the hourly rate we will charge them to a total max fee (hourly to a max). The total # of hours x hours worked = maximum contract amount
One of our customers requires us to attached "hours detail sheets" outlining the hours we worked with each invoice/bill we send out to them. Our invoice will usually be thousands of dollars for a billing period, with no hours showing in our accounting system to support the amount we're charging them for. My boss asks me to add hours at my discretion to the "hours detail sheets" that the customer requires, with the only instruction to add enough hours to match the amount on the invoice. He said if I add more hours that add up to more than the amount on the invoice, then that is OK. As long as the hours do not add up to less than the amount on the invoice, then the customer will pay us which is the most important thing. Basically he's asking me to put false hours on the hour detail sheets to bill to clients.
I feel like this is illegal? Does it depend on the contract verbiage? We never bill over the contract amount, so we are never charging clients more than the maximum contract amount that they agreed to, but I find it very illegal to be claiming to have worked hours that we did not work and using those false hours to support the amount on the invoices/bills we send out.
Any advice? comments? thoughts?
Thanks!
Hi all,
I've just started working in the accounting/finance department at an engineering firm, and some of the business practices might be a little questionable by a legal standard. So we operate by billing our clients/customers by the hour for working on projects for them. We first have contracts with clients that outline the number of hours we will work on their project, and the hourly rate we will charge them to a total max fee (hourly to a max). The total # of hours x hours worked = maximum contract amount
One of our customers requires us to attached "hours detail sheets" outlining the hours we worked with each invoice/bill we send out to them. Our invoice will usually be thousands of dollars for a billing period, with no hours showing in our accounting system to support the amount we're charging them for. My boss asks me to add hours at my discretion to the "hours detail sheets" that the customer requires, with the only instruction to add enough hours to match the amount on the invoice. He said if I add more hours that add up to more than the amount on the invoice, then that is OK. As long as the hours do not add up to less than the amount on the invoice, then the customer will pay us which is the most important thing. Basically he's asking me to put false hours on the hour detail sheets to bill to clients.
I feel like this is illegal? Does it depend on the contract verbiage? We never bill over the contract amount, so we are never charging clients more than the maximum contract amount that they agreed to, but I find it very illegal to be claiming to have worked hours that we did not work and using those false hours to support the amount on the invoices/bills we send out.
Any advice? comments? thoughts?
Thanks!
