PERIOD END

 

 

 

 

Author:                   Laura Stewart

Date:                      November 2008

Audience:              Bookkeeping

Summary:              Creating and Posting a Period End in LegalSuite

 

CONTENTS:

 

·                     Introduction

·                     Accessing the Period End

·                     Steps in the Matters Tab

·                     Steps in the Creditors Tab

·                     Steps in the Business Tab

·                     Conclusion

 

Introduction:

 

A Period End must be posted at the end of every month or the date at which you are closing off your month. Please log into LegalSuite on the date you want to close off your period end. We recommend that your invoices and statements are completed prior to the period end, preferably on the 25th of every month. We also recommend that bank reconciliations for all banks are reconciled daily or at the very least weekly to make the period end quicker and easier.

 

The one process that we strongly recommend prior to running the period end is the “Trust / Business Transfer”. This process should be run daily and he reason for this is it transfers all moneys due to the business from the trust and vice versa if necessary, thus keeping your trust and business accounts correctly intact at all times. If you do run it immediately prior to running your period end it also minimises the questions from the Auditor when it comes to comparing your age analysis and the trial balance.

 

Accessing the period end:

To select the period end click on the batches icon.

 

The following screen will appear (Fig 1):

 

Fig 1: Batches Screen

·        Click on the Special Batches icon .

 

·        The following screen will appear (Fig 2):

 

Fig 2: Special Batches Screen

 

·        Click on the Period End button

 

·        The following screen will appear (Fig 3):

 

Fig 3: Period End Screen – Matters Tab

 

Steps in the Matters Tab:

 

1.            Create Invoices         –                If you wish to create invoices at period end click on this button and complete the process. Invoices must be created before period end is posted to ensure the aging on the invoices are correct. Most of our clients produce these on the 25th of every month.

 

2.            Print Invoices             –                Once you have created invoices you may print your invoices by clicking on this button which will take you to the print invoices screen. These invoices are normally printed at your leisure after the period end has been completed

 

3.            Dr Aged Analysis      –                This report shows all the matters currently in debit. This report is compulsory as it cannot be reprinted once the period end has been posted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An example of the Dr Aged Analysis is as follows:

 

 

This report shows all matters in debit (all monies owed to the company). All matters with monies sitting in 60 days or higher need to be sorted out as this causes problems with the company’s cash flow. All clients owing money over 60 days must either be contacted by your dept collector or written off as a bad debt. Remember many debtors don’t pay because they have not been asked to pay.

 

4.            Cr Aged Analysis      –                This report shows all the matters currently in credit. This report is compulsory as it cannot be reprinted once period end has been posted.

 

An example of the Cr Aged Analysis is as follows:

 

 

This report shows all matters with money in trust (money owing to the client). All monies sitting in 60 days or above need to be sorted out as this could have an effect on the cash flow of the company.  These amounts are usually credits that fees and/or disbursements have not been written against the clients account or money that should be invested in Section 78(2A) accounts or money that should be paid back to the client.

 

5.      Matter Balances      –         This report lists trust and business balances separately and is represented by the trust creditors and debtors control accounts in the trial balance. This is one of the telltale signs that you are in balance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An example of the Matter Balances report is as follows:

 

 

If there is money sitting in the ‘transfer’ column then a trust transfer has not been run on the system and therefore this report will not agree to the control accounts.

 

 

6.      Matter Investments          –       This report prints all matters that have moneys invested in Section 78(2A) investments. This report must have each matter investment listed with Name, bank account number and the total currently invested per bank. This is a requirement by the Law Society

 

An example of the Matter Investments report is as follows:

 

 

 

Once all these reports have been printed click on the Creditors Tab. The following screen will appear (Fig 4):

 

Fig 4: Period End Screen – Creditors Tab

 

Steps in the Creditors Tab:

 

1.      Create Remittances          –             Creates remittances for creditors. If you use creditors you can create creditors remittances to send with your payment. It is not a compulsory step but it is a nice way for your creditor to reconcile your account.

 

2.      Print Remittances             –             Prints remittances for creditors. You can however print these after the period end as well.

 

3.      Print Age Analysis           -              This report shows the outstanding balances for business creditors. This report is compulsory to print as it cannot be reprinted once the period end has been posted.

 

An example of the Age Analysis is as follows:

 

 

This report shows all outstanding amounts for business creditors including sheriffs and advocates. You should be looking at this report to produce payments for creditors depending on what age you have agreed to pay the creditor.

 

Once all these reports have been printed click on the Business Tab. The following screen will appear (Fig 5):

 

Fig 5: Period End Screen – Business Tab

 

Steps in the Business Tab:

 

1.            Print Trial Balance     –                This report is the current trial balance. This report can be reprinted at any time.

 

An example of the Trial Balance is as follows:

 

 

2.      Print Income & Expenditure            –          This report prints all income and expenditure accounts for the current period. This report can be reprinted at any time.

 

An example of the Income & Expenditure report is as follows:

 

 

3.      Print Balance Sheet       –             This report prints the balance sheet for the current

period. This report can be reprinted at any time.

 

An example of the Balance Sheet report is as follows:

 

 

4.            Firm Analysis       –             This is intended for the attorney as a monthly check list and shows the firm’s status for the current month. It also highlights some of the problem areas in the practice that the partners need to know about. This report cannot be reprinted once period end has been posted but it can br printed at any time.

 

Even though you can reprint these reports in one format or another many of our clients save these spreadsheets in a period end directory which they can access at any time.

 

Once all reports have been printed and you are ready to close off your month click on the post box icon.

 

The following screen will appear (Fig 6):

 

Fig 6: Period End Post Screen

 

Current Period        –    The period the system is currently in

Period-End Date    –    The date at which you have logged into LegalSuite and also the date that will be used to determine the period end of this period and the date that the next period will start.

 

Once you are ready to roll the system over to the new month click the OK button.

 

Once you have posted period end, log out of LegalSuite and then log back in with a date in the next period.

 

Conclusion:

 

It is imperative that a period end is posted at the end of every month as this process produces financial reporting and ages the matter as well as the creditor balances.