CORRESPONDENT POSTING IN LEGALSUITE
Author: Cindy Kruger
Date: August 2007
Audience: Bookkeeping
Summary: How to capture correspondent Invoices in LegalSuite
CONTENTS:
· Introduction
· Inserting the Creditor
· Correspondent Invoice
· Correspondent Invoice with no cash collected
· Provisional Transfers
Introduction:
When an attorney acts on your behalf in an area that falls outside your jurisdiction he is called an Agent or a correspondent. For example – If the Attorney handling the matter is in Durban but the debtor lives in Johannesburg, an attorney in the Johannesburg area will act as a correspondent to collect the money from the debtor at the request of the Durban attorney.
In LegalSuite this Correspondent/Agent is opened as a creditor in the Creditors Ledger because you are responsible for the fees regardless as to whether the correspondent collected money from the debtor or not
Inserting the Creditor
How to… Insert a Creditors Ledger account
Click 
in the main toolbar,
OR
right-click on the Creditors Listing and select Insert.
The Adding a Creditor window opens.
Fill in the information on each of the
relevant tabs.
These tabs are available on the Adding a Creditor window:
· General
· Balances
· Other.
Click 
.
As a result …
The Creditor is inserted in the Creditors Ledger and appears on the Creditors Listing.
When inserting the creditor make sure that the Type is set to Correspondent as seen below:
Correspondent Invoice
When a correspondent does work for the attorney he will send through an invoice to the attorney.
Example
The following example of a Correspondent’s invoice is used to describe how to use the Correspondents function.
|
STATEMENT Attorney: Joe Bloggs |
VAT |
AMOUNT |
|
(1) Payment Received from Debtor |
|
1000.00 |
|
(2) Collection Commission |
14.00 |
114.00 |
|
(3) Allowance on Coll Comm |
|
38.00 |
|
(4) Summons |
27.16 |
221.16 |
|
(5) Allowance on Summons |
|
73.72 |
|
(6) Revenue Stamp |
|
20.00 |
|
(7) Paid To You |
|
756.56 |
From the above Statement the transactions are summarised as follows:
|
(a) Received from Debtor – Cash Collected (1) |
1000.00 |
|
(b) Disbursements
with VAT included (2 + 4) |
335.16 |
|
(c) Agent Allowance including VAT (3 + 5) |
111.72 |
|
(d) Disbursements, exempt from VAT (6) |
20.00 |
|
(e) Trust receipts (7) |
756.56 |
How to… Capture a Correspondent's Invoice
Click the Correspondents tab.
Click 
.
The Correspondent Will Be Added window opens.
Capture a transaction on the Correspondent's Invoice.
Click 
.
For each transaction (a) to (d) in the example:
Fill in the necessary fields on the
Correspondent Will Be Added window.
Refer to the Data Fields to see how each transaction in the example is
captured.
Click 
.
The Correspondent Will Be Added window is cleared for the next Correspondent's
transaction'.
Click 
if there are no more
Correspondent transactions to be captured in that Batch.
The Correspondent Will Be Added window closes and the Batches List on the
Correspondents tab appears.
Screen Layout
The Correspondent Will Be Added window looks like this.
Data fields
These data fields appear on the Correspondent Will Be Added window.
|
Field |
Description |
|
Matter |
The Matter for which the invoice has been received. |
|
Type |
The Creditor (agent or Correspondent). |
|
For Amount Collected by Agent |
|
|
Type at the bottom of the window |
'Cash Collected' |
|
Amount |
R 1000.00 (insert the full amount collected by the Agent on your behalf) |
|
For Disbursements with VAT (fees and disbursements on the Correspondent statement) |
|
|
Type at the bottom of the window |
'Disbursement'
|
|
VAT |
Select whether the Amount is Inclusive or Exclusive of VAT |
|
VAT % |
Select the VAT Rate, for example 14.00 percent |
|
Amount |
Fill in the amount, Per example R 335.16 |
|
For Disbursements exempt from VAT (i.e. revenue stamp): |
|
|
Type at the bottom of the window |
'Disbursement' |
|
VAT |
Select VAT Exempt |
|
Amount |
Fill in the amount, Per example R 20.00 |
|
For the Agents Allowance |
|
|
Type at the bottom of the window |
‘Agents Allowance’ |
|
VAT |
Select whether the Amount is Inclusive or Exclusive of VAT |
|
VAT % |
Select the VAT Rate, for example 14.00 percent |
|
Amount |
Fill in the amount, Per example R 111.72 |
How to… Capture the Money Received from the Correspondent
Click the Receipts tab.
Click 
.
The Trust Receipt Will Be Added window opens.
Capture the money actually received by your legal practice from the agent.
Capture the money received from the Creditor. For example R 756.56. The Type will be
Creditor.
Click .
The end result for this example is:
The Creditors balance is zero, with a positive transfer of R756.56.
The Client's Matter has a credit of R 644.84, which the legal practice owes
to the Client, with a negative transfer of R 644.84.
The difference between the positive and reverse transfers is what you/your legal practice has earned for this Matter i.e. your agent allowance fee of R 111.72 including VAT.
Correspondent Invoice with no cash collected
If the attorney needs to send a cheque to the correspondent for work done on the file, the invoice will look like:
|
STATEMENT Attorney: Joe Bloggs |
VAT |
AMOUNT |
|
(1) Summons |
27.16 |
221.16 |
|
(2) Allowance on Summons |
|
73.72 |
|
(3) Revenue Stamp |
|
20.00 |
|
(4) Due By You |
|
167.44 |
From the above Statement the transactions are summarized as follows:
|
(a) Disbursements
with VAT included (1) |
221.16 |
|
(b) Agent Allowance including VAT (2) |
73.72 |
|
(c) Disbursements, exempt from VAT (3) |
20.00 |
|
(d) Business Payments (4) |
167.44 |
For each transaction (a) to (c) in the example:
Fill in the
necessary fields on the Correspondent Will Be Added window.
Refer to the Data Fields to see how each transaction in the example is
captured.
Click .
The Correspondent Will Be Added window is cleared for the next Correspondent's
transaction'.
Click if there
are no more Correspondent transactions to be captured in that Batch.
The Correspondent Will Be Added window closes and the Batches List on the
Correspondents tab appears.
How to… Capture the Money Paid to the Correspondent
Click the Payments tab.
Click 
.
The Business Payment Will Be Added window opens.
Capture the money actually paid by your legal practice to the agent.
Capture the money paid to the Creditor. For example R 167.44. The Type will be
Creditor.
Click .
Click .
The end result for this example is:
The Creditors balance is zero.
The Client's Matter has a Debit of R 241.16, which the Client owes to the
legal practice, once paid the matter will have a positive transfer of
R 241.16.