Guide Overview

There are two ways to record a payment; one from the Client/Trust Cash Account and the other from the matter card. 

In this article, including screenshots, you will see the term 'Client/Trust' when referencing either your Client or Trust Account or Journals. This is to account for different terminology for the same functionality across jurisdictions.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Processing Client/Trust Payments
  • How to Record a Payment from the Cash Account
  • How to Record a Client/Trust Payment from the Matter

Processing Client/Trust Payments

Client/Trust payments can be accessed from several menus of the system: 

• Home menu > Create new (plus) button > Client/Trust Payment
• Home menu > Banking Menu > Client/Trust > Select the relevant Client/Trust Account > New Entry > Payment
• Dashboards > Home > Client/Trust Cash Account > New Entry> Payment

How to Record a Payment from the Cash Account

1. Click on New Entry to the right of the screen and click on Payment.

2. The Pay from Account will be populated with the client account you have chosen.

3. Start typing the payee in the Pay To field to select an entity from the directory. If the entity does not exist, a purple New symbol will appear to the right of the field and a note under the field will inform the user that an entity card will be created.

4. Select a Payment Method from the drop-down list.  A further screen will appear to enter the banking information, select Save in the bottom right of the screen.  

Select the i to the left of the payment field, to view or add payment information at any time prior to posting the payment.

5. Select the Posting Date, which is the date the client/trust payment is being recorded.

6. Enter a Reason for the payment.

7. To attach a document such as an Invoice, Click Attach Files in the top right of the screen. Alternatively, Drag and Drop the file from a location on your desktop, into the box provided. 

8. Create an allocation line by selecting the Add Line Item button in the top right. 

In the Allocate To column, type in the relevant matter number or name to which the payment relates. Under the Matter Details that populate, the Balance of the matter's client/trust account will appear.

The Description will pre-populate with the Reason. Enter an Amount for the allocation.

9. If additional allocation lines are required, for example if the payment applies to multiple matters, select the Add Allocation button again. Enter the details in the additional line.

10. Once all details have been entered, select Post in the bottom right of the screen. Or select Post and New to record the payment and open a new payment.

If the balance of the Matter's client/trust account is less than the payment amount, a message will appear in the middle of the screen, warning you that if the payment is posted the ledger balance will become negative. 

Select Yes if you would like to proceed or No to stop the payment from posting.

How to Record a Client/Trust Payment from the Matter

The payment screen will look the same as when we record the payment from the Accountant Dashboard.

1. Select the relevant matter from the Matters screen. 

2. Select Client/Trust Ledger from the Matter Actions menu. You can confirm the availability of cleared funds by checking the Trust - Cleared Funds tile on the matter card.

3. Select Post Payment.

4. The Payment screen will appear with a number of fields pre-populated with matter information. 

5. Complete any remaining fields and select Post or Post and New in the bottom right of the screen.

6. If you try to post an amount exceeding the cleared balance or the trust balance you will receive a warning message with the option to proceed or not.