Last week we added new banks in PCLaw, but now you need to smoothly transfer your banking from one institution to another.
- The first thing to do is examine your last bank reconciliation, to determine which cheques are still outstanding, plus any cheques you have written since. Add to this figure, any Pre-Authorized Payments (PAPs) you have set up and your estimated bank fees. You can then transfer any funds surplus to this amount to the new account.
- With money now transferred, you can change your PAPs to the new account.
- Continue monitoring your PAPs. If funds are withdrawn from the old accounts, replace them to avoid any NSF charges, in the unlikely event two payments are processed before the change occurs.
- After you have confirmed that all of your PAPs are appearing in your new accounts, and the outstanding cheques have also cleared, you can close your old accounts. If you have only one or two cheques left outstanding, you may wish to issue a stop-payment and send a replacement cheque.
Now that you are using your new accounts, you will want to make them your default banks in PCLaw. Options – System Settings – Banking tab – change the bank number(s) – OK.
As always, I invite your comments and suggestions for future post topics. Next week – How to reconcile your PCLaw Accounts Receivable with your client’s Accounts Payable.
Clyde
I am a member of the PCLaw group at LinkedIn. Cindy asked:
“Is there a way to get invoices to print with a satellite office address at the top, instead of the firm's main address?”
My answer was:
Use the Template Editor in Tools to select the bill you are using now. You can confirm the current billing template in Systems Settings - Billing - there are 3 - Bill, Quickbill, and Prebill.
After you open the bill in the Template Editor, immediately "save as" a new name. Then click on the Element containing the firm's address at the top and delete. Then, Edit -Insert - Text element. In the text element type the name, address, phone, etc. of the satellite office. Re-save this template.
You cannot change the default bill template in Systems Settings, as it will change for the whole firm. Instead, use the Billing tab in Matter Manager to set the billing template for clients of the satellite office only.
As always, I invite your comments and suggestions for future post topics. Next week – Adding a New Bank in PCLaw.
Clyde
My PCLaw bookkeeping practice is actually comprised of two separate but related components. One portion is the legal bookkeeping services I provide to regular monthly clients, including bank reconciliations, HST & payroll remittances, and general bookkeeping entries. I also provide a PCLaw Error Detection and Correction consulting service. I offer this service to anyone who needs help, whether they be regular clients or one-off customers.
What does error detection and correction entail?
PCLaw is a terrific program for legal bookkeeping, as it nicely ties together in one package all aspects of clients, matters, trust and general banking entries, disbursements recovery, receivables, and payables. However, all these sub-ledgers interacting with each other can make for a complex web of entries. It is this complexity that can cause minor errors to accumulate over time.
Some errors are as simple as using the wrong method to post an entry. The entry may be correct strictly from the point of view bookkeeping, but PCLaw “reads” it as an error. These types of errors are what cause your bank ledger balance to differ from the amount shown on your balance sheet. These errors can be present even though your bank account has been reconciled.
Some of the more difficult errors to find and remove are partial or hidden errors. A partial error is something only half posted. For example, a receive payment is entered in the general bank, but an accounts receivable balance is still showing on the A/R report. A hidden error is usually an entry that has been deleted, but is still having an effect on report balances.
I am pleased to offer a low cost Error Evaluation to anyone subscribing to this blog. The evaluation is only $25.00 including HST, and I will provide you with a report outlining any issues that need to be addressed. Likewise, this service can offer you great peace of mind if no issues are found. The evaluation takes approximately 30 minutes.
Just to be perfectly clear, I do provide confidentiality agreements. I will not disclose, discuss, or reveal any of my findings to anyone but you.
As always, I invite your comments and suggestions for future post topics. Next week – Billing for a Satellite Office.
Clyde
One of the worst habits to get into when doing your bank reconciliations, is failing to carefully examine each entry to ensure the PCLaw entry exactly matches the bank statement.
If you are a small practice, you can sometimes get away with looking for a $500.01 entry and checking off $500.10. If you have a hundred or more entries each month, this short-cut method creates much more work than the time it saves. There is nothing more frustrating than checking off all your entries and finding the balance is out by $0.09. You now have to go back and start over, re-examining each entry to find the error.
Instead, take the few seconds needed to check that the numbers the teller entered are exactly the same as the entry in PCLaw. Correct any errors as you find them. You will quickly find that by using this system, your last checkmark consistently result in a balanced account.
Tricks to aid you in the bank reconciliation process:
- Deal with bank errors immediately – inform the bank or correct in PCLaw as needed.
- Use the sort function – by clicking on the headings at the top of the columns. If you are having trouble finding an entry, sort by amount. To find a cheque, sort by cheque number. You can also sort by checked/unchecked entries.
- Use multiple sorting. First sort by date, then by unchecked/checked. The unchecked items will be grouped together, and sorted by date. Sort by amount then by unchecked/checked. The unchecked items will be grouped together, and sorted by the amount.
As always, I invite your comments and suggestions for future post topics. Next week – No cost error evaluation.
Clyde
