10/30/2009. PCLaw 10 Endorsement Training. A few housekeeping items. Accounting Review

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1 PCLaw 10 Endorsement Training Presented by: Steven J. Best, CIC on behalf of LexisNexis Practice Management A few housekeeping items This course will be less than 3 hours; Take CAREFUL notes write it down when I tell you to write it down. I will review the test procedures at the end; Do NOT call me with test t issues contact t Charlene at pmtraining@lexisnexis.com; The test is NOT HARD and includes 7 basic accounting questions. 85% is passing; Not sharing this PowerPoint (may do so after 10/8/2009 endorsement training). Accounting Review 7T Test tquestions 1

2 ACCOUNTING REVIEW Client Disb Recovery Account 5010 (CASH) (Expense Account) 1210 (MODIFIED CASH/ACCRUAL) (Asset Acct) 5210 is the Client Disb CLEARING Account (not a control account) Cash v. Modified Cash Cash - all expense and income accounts zero out at year end including MC/Accrual 1210 asset carries balance forward year to year. Allocated General Disbursement Debit (Dr) Credit (Cr) 1000 CASH CLIENT DISB CLIENT DISB /1210 CLIENT DISB Upon Payment 5010/1210 CLIENT DISB CASH Cash Accounting Treats Client Advances as expenses. At year end, expenses offset income when reporting profit or loss. Collection of advanced client funds is essentially income in a future year. Most U.S. firms pick Cash Accounting, but CIC must advise that collection of client advances is future income. Write off expenses should be written off to BAD DEBT EXPENSE. Fees written off do not affect the G/L. 2

3 Modified Cash Accounting Treats client advances as an asset/receivable. Balance in this account (1210) carries forward year to year. Repayment by the client simply credits the 1210 account and debits cash. No effect on the income statement. Fees written off DO NOT affect the G/L. Disb written off should go to BAD DEBT expense. Accrual Accounting Cannot split hard and soft costs; Client costs advanced sit in 1210 /asset account. Upon billing Costs and Fees move to 1200 (A/R) Fees accrue on the income statement upon billing; Writing off fees must select a G/L account to credit out fees accrued (Debit to fee income account/credit to the write off account sometimes a provisional w/o) Goods and Services Tax Most prominent in Accrual Accounting; Typically used in Canada and Australia; Can be used in U.S. creatively; Most U.S. states do not require; When you enable in a U.S. set of books you are warned to reconsider enabling GST. GST 3

4 Safe Custody Manager Safe Custody Definition The Safe Custody Manager is PCLaw s physical client item management system. It allows a lawyer to track items that he is responsible for holding for a client such as wills, deeds, bonds, papers, pictures, etc. Doesn t have to be in electronic format to be entered into SCM. Definitions Packet* The storage container for records; Record The physical item in the packet (i.e. the will); Stage Where the record is in its lifecycle; Status The PHYSICAL location of the record in relation to the packet (i.e. where is it in the box) Movement The life of activity Termination Marks a record with a termination date (doesn t delete the record) Add a SCM record to the Doc Manager 2 different records in the database * Packets are unique to each law firm no pre-populated information in the packet list 4

5 Three Ways to Add a New Safe Custody Record Safe Custody Listing Report Movements Termination dates Record Status Matter Associations Contact Associations Record Date Review Date Termination Date *NOTE: Client Information Alone is Not on the report. PCLaw Scheduled Back-up You MUST enable Connection Settings; Have Administrator rights on the workstation or server where it is set up NOT required to do this on all workstations do it on one workstation or the server only. Make sure you know the user name and password for the workstation; Creating the PLA file is one thing getting it to removable or remote media is something else. 5

6 Saving Time in Hours and Minutes Must set up in SYSTEM SETTINGS Fairly static for time entry purposes Just a default for report purposes - can swap back and forth on SOME reports; Rate Exceptions Time/Fees: Exceptions by Task Code; Time/Fees: Exceptions by Lawyer/Timekeeper; Expense Recovery Exceptions* *Must Enable Q*R in SS to except expenses Prioritizing Time Entries Permits organizing time entries logically so that they display in the Correct order on a bill. Time Tab of the Matter Manager Time Register (one matter only) S l t Ch Wi d h ti bill Select Charges Window when creating a bill. Uses a new field called BILL ORDER ID 6

7 Retainer Replenishment Retainer THRESHOLDS now with THREE levels for comparison when asking for trust replenishment Minimum The amount required (at minimum) to retain funds on retainer; Target Balance the preferred amount of retainer balance for the client to maintain Maximum* The retainer ceiling (i.e. don t want to exceed) *Token Not Available in Template Editor **Template Editor use formulas to calculate the right amount of trust to be repaid Discounting Across Multiple Matters Prerequisites for this to work at billing: Bill at the client level New Invoice Per Client Prompt for Changes to Billed Amounts All Matters must have eligible charges for a discount to be applied Discounting Across Multiple Matters (B) 7

8 Updated Features Apply Trust to A/R at Billing PCLaw prompts you to confirm that you want to apply Trust to an A/R Balance. Refresh the On-Screen Prebill Exclude A/R balance at Billing BFJ Layout Hard/Soft Costs Change Your Fonts in the Register Add Expl Code to the Time Register General Journal Entries Can now ELECT to permit a G/J/E to post to the G/B Cannot post a G/J/E automatically to trust. Only Ok to post to Trust upon Opening G/L Balances*; If you post the G/J/E to the GBJ and you want to remove the entry remove from the GB. G/L PopUp Help Tree View vs. List View THE TEST 30 questions, including 7 accounting questions; 2 chances to take the test. At the conclusion of the testing you will see the answers you got wrong and the correct answer; Log on to the test at www lexisnexis com/university Log on to the test at Submit your login and password. Let s take a look 8

9 Thank You Steven J. Best, Esq. or 9