Posting disbursements

Use this procedure to post disbursements on to the system which have been paid out by the firm on behalf of clients, e.g. Search Fees, Estate Agents Fees, etc. Disbursements are recorded using either the Office Debit Disbursement Bank (ODDB), the Office Debit Disbursement Cash (ODDC) or the Office Debit Disbursement Nominal (ODDN) posting slips. All postings create a debit posting from the firm's office account.

In addition, memo disbursements (i.e. disbursements recorded in advance of being paid out) and/or billed memo disbursements (i.e. disbursements which have been recorded and then billed in advance of being paid out) can be converted to 'real' disbursements once they have been paid out. This involves using the same postings slips, but selecting the memo or billed memo disbursement that you want to convert.

To post a disbursement:

1. From the Accounts button drop-down menu, select the appropriate posting slip. The posting slip opens prompting you to enter the posting details.

• To pay as cheque, select ODDB.

• To pay as cash, select ODDC.

• To pay as cash, with a subsequent credit being posted to a nominal account, select ODDN.

• You can also open the posting slips from the Batch Posting screen, if this is your preferred method of working. In the top pane highlight the ODDB, ODDC or ODDN batch (or add it if it not already open) and then click Add in the lower pane.

2. Enter the appropriate posting details.

• To convert a memo or billed memo disbursement to a 'real' disbursement, use the Memo Disbursement lookup to browse in the appropriate entry. This displays the details of any outstanding memo or billed memo disbursements for the selected matter. If there are a large number, the desired entry can be found easily by sorting/filtering the list. Once located, select the entry you want to convert by either double-clicking or highlighting it and clicking OK.

3. Select Update Now to post the entry directly to the Accounts Ledger.

• If you want to add the entry to a batch for checking, select Add to Batch.

4. Click OK to post the disbursement. The entry appears on the Disbursements tab of the Accounts Ledger with a date in the Paid column and the cash control or bank is updated with the debit (viewable via the Cash book). Where an ODDN is used, the nominal side of the posting appears as a credit on the Nominal Ledger.

• Double-clicking a disbursement opens the Disbursement Viewer. This displays details of the disbursement such as; the amount, the transaction text, the date it was paid out, etc. If the entry was a converted memo disbursement it also shows the date the memo was posted in the Memo column.

Note

• Presets can be used for posting disbursements.