Bookkeeping 101 for Lawyers

This page is designed to assist Lawyers with some of the 101 of Bookkeeping using Wise Owl Legal.

Each topic listed below has either links to existing pages or assistance on that particular topic. Click on the links below to skip to that section.

• Why should I keep bookkeeping up to date?

• When to Use Recoveries and Disbursements and How

• How do I record an EFT Payment from my Trust account?

• How to transfer records from Trust to General

• How Do I record a Deposit Slip in Trust and General?

• Also see How to reconcile and manage my Debtors

Benefits of keeping your bookkeeping up to date:

Open

When do I use a Recovery and a Disbursement? How do I record them?

To work out whether you should use a Recovery or Disbursement (Outlay), follow through the steps at the link here Disbursement (Outlay) or Recovery?

Once you have established what type of record you need to enter, choose one of the links below to help you enter your record.

Entering a Disbursement (Outlay) Record

Entering a Recovery Record

How to record an EFT Payment from Trust

Provided you have EFT turned on in your Wise Owl database, you are easily able to enter EFT Payments from Trust.

If you don't see the option to use EFT on a Trust Payment, please contact the Wise Owl Help Desk for assistance in turning this on.

Entering a Trust Payment (Incl EFT version)

How to prepare a Trust Transfer to General

Please see this link Trust Transfer to General to read how to prepare a Trust Transfer to General 

Please see this link on Youtube to watch a video on how to prepare a Trust Transfer to General

While there will be an autofill option for Trust to General transfers in the future, currently you will need to run a Trust to General Transfer report and work through the matters that you wish to make transfers for.

1. To access this report, go to the Reports tab click on the Finance heading.
   
   
   

   Open

   

   
   
   On the bottom right, under the Trust Transfer List heading, click on Invoices for Trust Transfer Excl Draft
   
   
   

   
   
   

2. Select View from the menu to see the report in the browser or Download to save it to your computer.
   
   

3. You are then able to review each invoices separately including the amount outstanding on an invoice and the amount remaining in trust.

 How to run a deposit slip from Wise Owl for Trust or General 

Please click the links below to direct you to how to run a deposit slip for either Trust or General

Creating a Bank Deposit for TRUST

Preparing a Bank Deposit Slip for GENERAL