Task guide
The client account and its ledgers
What the firm holds for each matter in each currency, the statement a client reads, the funds held with the control figures, dormant money, quarantine and refused overdraws.
A matter's client ledger
Money received for a client is held for its matter, in its own currency. Open the matter's Client account tab to see what it holds in each currency and when the money last moved. The ledger is kept by the books themselves: every receipt into the client account, every payment out of it and every transfer moves it in the same step, with the balance it left.
The statement
The Ledger tab reads the statement for a currency and a period: the balance brought forward, each movement with its date, journal reference, description, money in, money out and the balance after it, and what was held at the end. Statement PDF draws the same statement on the firm's letterhead, in the form a client or the regulator reads it. A period of more than five thousand movements is drawn in shorter spans.
The funds held across the firm
Finance, Client account, Funds held lists every matter holding a client's money, with its client, the partner who answers for it, the last movement and what it holds. Filter by currency, practice area, responsible partner, or money that is dormant.
Above the list stand the control figures for each currency: the client bank account, the client funds held in the books and the sum of the matters' ledgers. They agree by construction. If they ever disagree, the page says so in red, client postings in that currency are refused until the difference is found, and the system raises a critical alert. The same check runs every night.
Dormant money
Money that has not moved for the firm's dormancy period is marked Dormant. The period is a firm setting under Settings, General, Ledger, 180 days until the firm sets its own; it is the firm's policy, since the Legal Profession Act, 1960 (Act 32) sets none.
A quarantined ledger
A ledger whose history went below nought before the check existed is held Quarantined: money may still come in, but nothing is paid out of it. Correct the history by journal until it holds nought or more, then choose Lift the quarantine on its row, say what was done and give your password again. The system raises a critical alert every night while any ledger stays quarantined.
Overdraws refused
Overdraws lists every movement refused because a matter held too little, newest first: the matter, what was asked, what was held, what asked for it and who. The refusal is kept although the movement is not, and whoever approves client money is told at once.
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- Move client moneyTransfer client money to office against a bill, refund it by payment voucher, pay a disbursement from it, or move it to another of the client's matters, each asked for, approved by somebody else and carried out.
- Receipts and applying money to billsRecord money received into the office or client account, apply it to bills with any tax the client withheld, bank and return cheques, issue the receipt and keep withholding certificates.
- The ledger and accounting monthsThe rules the books keep that nobody can bypass, and how months are closed, locked and reopened.
- The trial balance and account ledgersRead the trial balance at any date, follow any balance down to its postings and source, and export the journals for the firm's accountant.