Reports in LexBrief Counsel

If at any point your screen does not look like the picture, stop and email support@lexbrief.au – we would rather help than have you guess.

Before you start

If this is your very first time in LexBrief, read Your first day in LexBrief Counsel first. This guide is about reports on their own.

Reports are built from what you have already put into LexBrief – your matters, the time you have recorded, your invoices and your expenses. The more of that you have entered, the more your reports will show. You do not need to set anything up first; you can open the Reports page any time.

A note on wording: the dark strip of links down the left-hand side of the screen is the menu. When we say "click Reports in the left-hand menu", we mean click the word Reports in that dark strip.

What reports are

A report is a summary of your figures for a period you choose – for example, a whole financial year, one quarter, or any date range. LexBrief works out the numbers for you and lays them out on screen. You can then save the report as a file to keep, print, or send to your accountant.

A quick word on how the numbers are counted: most reports use a cash basis. In plain terms, that means income is counted when an invoice is actually paid (not when you send it), and an expense is counted on the date you spent the money. This matches how a sole practitioner usually reports for tax. Each report says at the top which basis it uses.

The Reports page and its three tabs

Click Reports in the left-hand menu. The page opens on a list of every report you can run.

The Reports page, showing the list of report types with their status

Near the top are three tabs – think of them as three sections of the page you can switch between:

Run a Report – the list of reports you can produce. This is where you start.
Historical Reports – the last few reports you have downloaded, so you can grab any of them again in one click.
Tax Returns – a place to record a tax return you have lodged for a financial year (more on this near the end).

The three tabs near the top of the Reports page: Run a Report, Historical Reports and Tax Returns, circled

Most of the time you will use Run a Report, so let us do that.

Run a report

1. Choose which report you want

On the Run a Report tab, each report is a row in the list. A green Available label on the right means you can run it. Click the name of the report you want. In this example we will use the Profit & Loss Report.

The report list with the Profit and Loss Report row circled

One row says "Unavailable": the Bank Transactions Summary report is greyed out. That report needs a direct feed from your bank, which LexBrief does not connect to, so it cannot be produced. Every other report is available.

2. Choose the period

The report opens with a short form asking which period to cover. There are two ways to choose, and you only use one of them:

Pick a financial year from the list that appears (for example FY2026, which runs 01/07/2025 – 30/06/2026), then run the whole year; or
Type a From and To date in the "Custom date range" box for any period you like.

The Profit and Loss report form with the financial-year list circled

Different reports offer different periods. Some (like the GST Statement) also let you pick a single quarter; a couple (like the Financial Year End Tax Report) only run for a whole financial year. The form always shows you the choices that report allows.

3. Run it

Once you have chosen the period, click the Run button (on the financial-year box it reads Run whole FY).

The Run button on the Profit and Loss report form, circled

The report appears on screen, laid out as a set of tables with your figures. At the very top is your name and practice details, then the report title and the period it covers.

A produced Profit and Loss report on screen, showing income and expenses in tables

What you should see: the report title (for example "Profit & Loss Statement"), the dates of the period, and your figures filled in below. If the figures are all zero, it usually means there was no activity in the period you chose – try a different financial year or date range.

Download it – as a PDF, Word, Excel or CSV file

Every report can be saved in four file formats. The buttons are along the top-right of the report.

The Download PDF, Word, Excel and CSV buttons at the top of a report, circled

Click the format you want:

Download PDF – a neat, printable copy that looks exactly like the page. Best for sending to a client or your accountant, or for filing.
Download Word – the same report as a Word document, if you want to edit or add a note before sending.
Download Excel – a spreadsheet, if you (or your accountant) want to sort, filter or add up the numbers yourself.
Download CSV – a plain data file that almost any accounting program can read in.

"Processing…" is normal: when you click a download button it briefly says Processing… while LexBrief builds the file. Just wait a moment – the file will save to your computer on its own. There is no need to click again.

Find a report you ran before

Every file you download is kept for you, so you never have to rebuild the same report twice. Click the Historical Reports tab near the top of the Reports page.

The Historical Reports tab, listing recently generated reports with a Download button on each

You see the last few reports you produced, each with the period it covered, its file format, and when you made it. Click Download on any row to save that exact file again.

This list keeps the ten most recent reports. Older ones drop off the bottom as you make new ones – but you can always run the report again from the Run a Report tab.

What each report tells you

Here is what each report is for, in one line. You run them all the same way you just learned.

Profit & Loss Report – your income less your expenses for the period, so you can see what you made.
GST Statement – the GST you collected and the GST you paid, laid out the way a Business Activity Statement (BAS) needs it.
Aged Debtors Report – who owes you money and how overdue each unpaid invoice is.
Cashflow & Activity Statement – the cash that came in and went out, plus a summary of your activity.
Transaction Summary Report – a line-by-line list of your income and expenses, grouped by type.
Work In Progress Report – the time and costs you have recorded but not yet invoiced.
Financial Year End Tax Report – a year's income, expenses and tax payments, for your tax return or accountant.
Turnover Report – your total billings over time.
Work Scope Costs (Est. vs Actual) – for capped or budgeted work, how your actual time compares with what you estimated.
Client Income Report – for one client, what you invoiced and what you received, broken down by matter.
Office Expense Report – your practice running costs, gathered together.

Tax Returns

The Tax Returns tab is a place to record a tax return once you have lodged it for a financial year. You enter the year and the total tax you actually paid, and LexBrief keeps a note of it. It can also lock that year's expenses so they cannot be changed by accident once the return is in – which is exactly what you want after you have lodged.

The Tax Returns tab, with a list of recorded returns and a form to add one

This is an optional record-keeping tool for after tax time, not something you need to touch to run the reports above. When you are ready to record a lodged return, open this tab and use the "Record a tax return" form – or email support@lexbrief.au and we will walk you through it.

Do not see a Tax Returns tab? This feature can be switched on or off for your account. If the tab is not there, you simply do not have it turned on yet – it does not affect running any of the reports. Email us if you would like it enabled.

What next

Reports draw on the rest of your practice, so the fuller your records, the more useful they are:

Invoices – income shows up in your reports once an invoice is paid.
Expenses – costs and disbursements you record feed the expense side of your reports.
Browse all help guides

Stuck on anything at all? Email support@lexbrief.au – a real person reads it, usually the same working day.