CRA (consultant activity report):
template, rules and client approval

The CRA, or compte rendu d'activité (monthly activity report), is the document a consultant fills in each month to declare the days worked on an assignment, by half-day, with absences. The IT consultancy (ESN) approves it, the client signs it, then the invoice is calculated from those days multiplied by the day rate (TJM). Without an approved CRA, a consultancy cannot bill time-and-materials work.

This article covers what a CRA must contain, what French law says, a filled-in example, the approval flow and how the CRA becomes an invoice.

Article checked on 11 November 2026.

What is a CRA?

A CRA is the monthly record of the days a consultant has spent on an assignment. It counts days and half-days, rarely hours, because time-and-materials work (régie) is billed at a day rate. It also shows the month's absences. Once approved by the IT consultancy and signed by the client, it becomes the document that supports the invoice.

In an IT consultancy, the CRA serves three purposes:

• Billing. In time-and-materials, the month's invoice equals approved days × day rate. The client pays what it signed.
• Proving the work. The signed CRA is the record that the client has acknowledged the days billed. It is what the client's accounts department asks for before paying.
• Steering. Approved days give each consultant's utilisation rate, each assignment's margin and the month's revenue.

The CRA differs from two close documents. The timesheet is the consultant's raw entry, often day by day. The hours record counts hours, to pay an hourly employee or count their overtime. The CRA is the monthly document, per assignment, approved on both sides.

Is the CRA mandatory?

No article of the French Labour Code requires an activity report from every company. The CRA is first a contractual obligation: the time-and-materials contract makes it the condition of the invoice. It also meets a legal obligation in one specific case, that of the employee on an annual days-based contract (forfait jours).

For an employee on a days-based contract. This employee does not count hours, but days. The collective agreement sets the number of days in the contract, up to 218 days a year (article L. 3121-64 of the French Labour Code). The employer counts the days or half-days worked each year (article D. 3171-10) and keeps these documents for at least one year (article D. 3171-16). The CRA of a consultant on assignment often serves for this count.

For time-and-materials work. The contract between the consultancy and its client usually provides for a monthly CRA signed by the client, and the purchase order sets the number of days and the day rate. Without a signed CRA, the client can reject the invoice.

For a freelancer or a consultant in umbrella employment (portage salarial). The CRA remains the basis of the invoice that the freelancer or their umbrella company sends to the consultancy, and therefore of their own pay.

What must a CRA contain?

A CRA fits on one page. It identifies the assignment and the parties, details the month's days by half-day, separates days worked from absences, totals the billable days and carries the approval of the consultant and the client. Everything the invoice needs must be on it, so that no data is entered twice.

The day rate does not need to appear on the CRA sent to the client: it is already in the purchase order. Some consultancies show it so the client sees the month's amount, others keep it for the invoice.

If on-call duty is provided for in the contract, on-call periods and call-outs are declared separately: they are not billed like a time-and-materials day.

CRA template: a filled-in example

Here is the September 2026 CRA of a full-time consultant on a time-and-materials assignment. The month has 22 weekdays, with no public holiday. The consultant worked 20.5 days, took one day of paid leave and half a day of RTT. The client signs 20.5 days, and the invoice uses them multiplied by the day rate.

Fictitious example. Without a tool, a spreadsheet with each day of the month, morning and afternoon, weekends and public holidays marked, the total of days and a signature area does the job.

The CRA approval flow

A CRA goes through three hands before it becomes an invoice. The consultant declares their days at the end of the month. A manager at the consultancy checks consistency with the assignment and the purchase order. The contact named at the client signs. Each refusal must say why, otherwise the CRA comes back and nobody knows what to correct.

1. The consultant declares. Ideally before the last working day, separating days worked and absences. An absence already approved by the consultancy should appear automatically, so it is not entered twice.
2. The consultancy checks. The account manager or sales administration checks the number of days, the remaining balance of the purchase order and the absences. If they refuse, they give the consultant a reason.
3. The client signs. The signatory is named in the contract or on the assignment. It is most often the consultant's operational manager, who knows whether the days are right.

What blocks is almost always the third step: the client's signatory is travelling, changes job, or no longer knows which PDF to sign. Two rules avoid most delays: one named signatory per assignment, with a deputy, and a signature request sent as soon as the consultancy approves, not at the end of the week.

Getting the CRA signed by the client

The client can approve a CRA in several ways: a handwritten signature on a printed and scanned PDF, an "approved" reply by email, or online approval. What matters, if an invoice is disputed, is being able to show who approved, when, and which exact document.

Whatever the method, freeze the signed document: a CRA changed after signature must go back to the client. And file the proof with the invoice, since that is what you will be asked for.

From approved CRA to invoice

The invoice for time-and-materials work is calculated directly from the signed CRA: approved days multiplied by the purchase order's day rate. It shows the purchase order reference, the period, the number of days and the unit price excluding VAT. Expenses rebilled to the client are added on a separate line.

Example, with the CRA above and a day rate of €550 excluding VAT: 20.5 days × €550 = €11,275 excluding VAT.

Three points prevent a rejection or a dispute:

• The purchase order number. Many large accounts reject an invoice without it. Record it on the assignment, so it carries over to every CRA and every invoice.
• The purchase order balance. A CRA that exceeds the number of days ordered will be blocked on the client side. An amendment is needed before, not after.
• The invoice details. With mandatory e-invoicing in France, the client's SIREN number becomes a required field: an incomplete invoice is rejected and sent back for correction.

The payment term runs from the invoice. Every day lost between the end of the month and the CRA signature delays payment by as much. See also our article on invoice payment terms, and for the consultant's expenses, our guide to expense reports.

The mistakes that delay a CRA

Most CRA delays come from the same causes: a consultant who declares late, a forgotten absence, an absent signatory, a purchase order overrun found at billing time. Each one can be spotted before the end of the month, provided you track the status of each CRA rather than waiting for files.

• Assignment days and absences contradict each other. A leave day approved by the consultancy that is missing from the CRA, and the invoice counts one day too many.
• The CRA goes out without the consultancy's check. The client finds the error, refuses, and the cycle starts again.
• The wrong person signs. A buyer signs days they cannot verify, then the operational manager disputes them.
• A non-billable day is billed. Internal training, a bench day between assignments or a travel day not provided for in the contract.
• Several versions circulate. The client signs one PDF, the consultant corrected another.

In Marvin: from the CRA entered by the consultant to the invoice

In Marvin, the consultant enters their days, expense reports and absences in their own space, by half-day. Your team approves or refuses with a reason. The client then signs online, without an account, via a secure link and a one-time code, when the assignment requires the client's signature.

What this looks like day to day:

• The consultant space. The consultant sees their assignments, enters their CRA, requests leave and RTT days once the feature is enabled, and submits expense reports with their receipts. An approved absence pre-fills the month's CRA.
• The client's signature. The client receives a link, confirms with a one-time code, then signs or refuses. Marvin freezes a timestamped fingerprint of the signed document to prove what was signed. It is not a qualified signature under the eIDAS regulation, nor a third-party signature service.
• The invoice. Once the CRA is approved, the day-rate invoice is prepared as a draft, with the assignment's purchase order number and the rebillable expense reports. You review it before issuing it. An approved CRA can be reopened for correction.
• The margin. It is locked at the approved CRA and can be read by assignment, by consultant and by client. The consultant only sees their own day rate.

Payroll, employment contracts and accounting stay in your tools. For details, see Marvin's consultant space and our IT consultancy software page. To choose a tool, our article on CRA tools lists what it should cover.

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