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After a trust receipt is finalised the Trust Account Receipt can be viewed and should be printed and filed for audit.
Form of Funds:
- Bank Cheque - Is purchased from the bank and is drawn on the bank.
- Personal Cheque - Is drawn on the private cheque account.
- Cash - Legal tender that can be used in exchange for goods or services. Cash is not the safest form of payment as it is easily misplaced.
- Credit Card - Allows the holder to carry out purchases on credit and to be paid at a later date.
- EFT - Transfer of funds directly from one account (third party) to another (law firm's trust account).
- NOTE: In Queensland firms are only allowed to have EFT transactions if they have been specifically approved by the Law Society, specifically for their firm.
- NOTE: In Queensland firms are only allowed to have EFT transactions if they have been specifically approved by the Law Society, specifically for their firm.
- Money Order - Purchased from a post office, then given to a third party. It is a way to transfer money in a convenient, safe way. It is similar to writing a cheque without having a cheque account.
- Telegraphic Transfer - An electronic transfer of funds primarily associated with transferring funds overseas.
For bank cheque and cheques, additional cheque details are required. If the bank you are after is not in the drop down list don't worry as it can be added by going to tools and settings icon (grey cog) > settings > appliance settings > trust accounting > manage list definitions > accounting banks > add record
IMPORTANT NOTE:
When funds are received in the form of cash or cheque and are to be banked by the law firm, the bank account on the trust receipt is Undeposited Funds. This is a separate bank account !
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- Protected funds are unavailable for use until they are unprotected
- If funds are protected ensure you check the protect check box during the receipt creation as no changes can be made to a trust receipt once finalised
- Select the '...' next to the protect check box to enter additional details surrounding the protected funds
- Once a receipt is finalised the transaction will have a P in the status column to indicate its protected nature
Clearance Days
The clearance days relates to the number of calendar days before the receipted funds are cleared and hence available for use (can write cheques against).
The clearance days can be changed manually for each receipt or the form of fund defaults can be edited through tools and settings > settings > appliance settings > trust accounting > manage list definitions > accounting form of funds > add record
Unallocated / Allocated / Bank Balance
At the bottom of the trust receipt page unallocated, allocated and bank balance fields display.
A trust receipt cannot be finalised until the unallocated amount is $0.