Help Center

Working with Unallocated Funds

Unallocated funds are those monies you've received from a client that have not yet been assigned to a specific purpose.

There are several different ways you can work with these unallocated funds, including allocating the funds when you process the client receipt, applying funds to other invoices, or refunding the client.

 

Reviewing Unallocated Funds When Processing a Client Receipt

When you process a client payment, you have options for determining how you want to process any unallocated funds:

A. This shows the Amount received from the client and deposited into the bank account.

B. This Pay amount will be paid against the invoice. You cannot apply more than what is outstanding on the invoice.

C. If the payment exceeds to the outstanding invoice amount, this blue box will show the amount of unallocated funds and provide possible options for working with them.

 

Viewing Unallocated Funds 

To view unallocated funds:

  1. In Actionstep Practice Management, go to Billing > Payments. The Payments page appears.
  2. In the list of payments, scroll to the right until you see the Unallocated Funds column.
  3. Optionally, click the column heading to sort unallocated funds to the top of the list, showing the highest amount first.
  4. If you choose, you can click the Client receipt link for a transaction with unallocated funds to review the transaction and, if possible, still allocate the funds. (See Applying Unallocated Funds to Other Invoices (below) to learn more.)

NOTE:  You cannot view unallocated funds from the matter's Billing page.

 

Applying Unallocated Funds to Other Invoices 

You can apply unallocated funds to invoices dated on the same date as the receipt date or before. This is done by finding the original client receipt with the overpayment and applying the overpayment to any additional invoices that are listed.

 

To do this: 

  1. In Practice Management, go to Billing > Payments. The Payments page appears.
  2. Click the link for the receipt that has the overpayment. The Edit Client Receipt page appears where you can view the unallocated payment and apply it to the additional invoice(s). See Processing Client Payments for instructions on working with the fields on this page.

NOTE: You cannot apply unallocated funds to future-dated invoices. Instead, consider either refunding the unallocated payment back to your client or refunding funds back to your operating account to pay for a future dated invoice.

 

Refunding Unallocated Funds 

You can refund allocated funds back to a client.

 

To do this: 

  1. In Practice Management, click the global Create button and choose Client Refund from the Billing section. (You may need to click Show all if you don't see this option.) The New Client Refund window appears.
  2. Make the following selections:
    • Choose your Payment from account.
    • Click the Payment method to choose how you will refund the money. You have several options to choose from, including checks, EFTs, card-based refunds, and deposits. (Depending on your selection, provide any additional required information about the payment method.)
    • Enter the Date of the transaction.
    • Use the Payment to drop-down lists to choose who the refund will be assigned to.

    • Enter a Journal memo or use the Quick-code drop-down list to apply existing memo text. 

      Tip: If you have standard text you regularly enter in this field, you can click the Quick-code drop-down list and choose Create new quick-code to add that code/text for use in the future. 

  3. Click Save to save the changes and process the refund. You must then physically refund the money back to the client.

CAUTION:  You cannot process a client refund if you have an accounting integration enabled. Please see Processing Refunds with Xero Integration for help. 

If you have unallocated funds that you are unable to apply to a past invoice and you have a Xero/QuickBooks integration, you can proceed with a client refund; however, you will need to turn off your accounting integration and manually reproduce the fund in Xero/QuickBooks separately.

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