To create a trust cheque select the trust tab, the red courthouse icon, from the top menu bar.
From the trust register, select the cheque button.
Account: Make sure the account selected is where the funds to be drawn are currently in.
Pay to: The recipient of the cheque.
For: The reason for the funds being paid. The 'For' field will automatically fill to the bottom half of the cheque.
- The 'For' field at the top of the trust cheque is cheque specific;
- The 'For (descriptions)' fields on the bottom half of the screen are specific to each matter and follow through to billing. Therefore additional information can be added in the details field at the bottom of the page, specific to each matter.
Chq #: The cheque number should align with the law firm's physical cheque book and should be manually changed. However, if funds are being paid by methods other than cheque then it is recommended that there is a second numbering series for this. For example the physical trust cheques may follow a number series from 00001 - 99999 (corresponding to the cheque numbers in the cheque book) whilst payments by EFT follow the number series of EFT1 - EFT9999.
Under legislation surrounding trust accounting in Australia - matters may not be overdrawn in their own right. Therefore if a trust cheque will result in a matter having a negative trust balance, an error message will appear.
Note: Physical cheques can be printed in the same format/layout as either PcLaw cheques or QuickBooks cheques.
A transaction must be locked once entered. Any attempt to change the transaction MUST NOT change the original transaction. A request for a change must create a new transaction, that has the effect of reversing the original transaction.
You should be extremely cautious when reversing trust payments as trust accounts are a highly regulated and scrutinized aspect of law firms. Non- compliant trust accounting activities are the highest cause of lawyers being penalised or losing their practising certificates.