Transferring Funds from a Client Account to a Disbursement (UK)

In this article:

• Creating the Transfer 
• Viewing a List of Previous Transfers 

Before you begin: 

• This feature is only available to UK users using Actionstep's native accounting features. 
• To use this workflow, the related system accounts must be set up. See Setting Up Actionstep to Use Client to Disbursement Transfers for help.

You can transfer unbilled hard disbursement funds from a client account to a firm account. This allows you to reimburse the firm for the costs you have incurred for that disbursement. The client will still be billed for all costs that are incurred, but this allows the firm to reimburse itself from the client account before the bill is issued.  

When you create a client to disbursement transfer, three things happen: 

• Actionstep records both a trust transaction from your client account. 
• Actionstep records a deposit into your firm account. 
• The disbursement has a ‘recovered’ amount recorded against it which is used when it is billed.

Creating the Transfer 

To do this: 

1. In Actionstep, click the global Create button and choose Client to Disbursement Transfers from the Client Accounting section. (You may need to click Show more to see this option.)
   NOTE:  There are a few other ways you can access this option:
   • In the main menu, click the Client Acc menu and choose Client to Disbursement Transfers > Client to Disbursement Transfer.
   • View a matter and click the Client Account menu icon and choose Client to Disbursement Transfer.
2. On the Client to Disbursement Transfers page, click the Matter drop-down list and choose the matter from which you will transfer the funds. (This option will already be selected if you accessed the Client to Disbursement Transfers page from the matter itself.) 
3. Click the Client Account drop-down list and select the client account where this invoice will be paid from.
   
   Once you make these selections, the next section of the form (the Pay / Amount fields) is updated to show any hard disbursements with balances that are due to be recovered. These amounts are VAT-exclusive. If a disbursement is part of a draft bill that has not been approved, it will still be listed here.
   
   
   
4. In the Amount field for each disbursement, enter the amount of the balance you want to pay using funds from the selected client account. You can use any of the following options to do this: 
   • Click Apply All. Each Amount field is automatically updated with the full amount.  
   • Enter your own amount in the fields. 
   • Click the right arrow for each field to copy the full balance amount to the Amount field.  
5. Review the information in the Total amount field. It should show a sum from the Amount fields listed above. 
6. Select a Reason for payment.  
7. Enter the Payment date. 
8. Select a Payment method and complete any additional fields based on your selection. 
9. Specify who the transfer was Requested by.  
10. Select the Deposit Into Account. 
11. Click Save to create the transfer.  

Viewing a List of Previous Transfers 

You can view a list of all your previous client to disbursement transfers.  

To do this on the matter: 

1. In Actionstep, view the matter where the transfer was created.  
2. Click the Client Account menu icon and choose Transaction history from the list of options. (If you’re already viewing the Client Account page, you can choose this option from the left side of the page.) 
3. Optionally, click the amount in the Amount column to view the specific details of the transaction. 

You can see a list of all client to disbursement transfers under Client Acc > Client to Firm Transfers > Client to Firm Transfers List. 

Since client to disbursement transfers are recognized as payments, you can also view them by going to Client Acc > Payments > Payments List. As payments, they will also be listed in client account bank reconciliations and all reports that include client account transaction data.