Frequently Asked Questions - Amicus Accounting - Reports

An invoice I just posted is appearing in the 120 days and over column on the A/R Aging report. What is wrong?

The A/R Aging report groups transactions by reference (invoice) number and ages them as of the oldest date in the reference number group. If a transaction is appearing in the wrong aging period, check the A/R details on the client file and see if the invoice reference number was used for a previous transaction. If so, reverse the transaction you just posted and repost it using a new reference number.

It is important that you use correct reference numbers because they are used throughout Amicus Small Firm Accounting to track and group fee billings, firm receipts and Accounts Receivable write-offs. For example, reference numbers are used when you post firm receipts to allow you to apply payments to the correct invoice. Similarly, reference numbers are used to apply write-offs to the correct invoice.

Amicus Small Firm Accounting will assume that items with the same reference number are related and will group them together on the A/R Aging report, on the A/R Reminders, and in the firm receipt and A/R write-off invoice selection lists.

Note that the reference number is not the same as the bill number. The bill number is automatically assigned and incremented by Amicus Small Firm Accounting when you post fee bills. It is not used to group transactions for the purpose of aging them.
How are the Entry Date, Invoice Date and Due Date used in Accounts Payable?
The Entry Date is the date that appears in the Client or Vendor Inquiry screen, and is the date that is recorded in the General Ledger. The Invoice Date appears in the Vendor Inquiry, on the AP Invoice audit, and is the date used by the AP Aging report. The Due Date is included on the Cash Requirements by Vendor report, and is used to select invoices to include on the report.
How can I get a list of everything I have posted to a particular General Ledger account this month?

Print the Detail Journal Listing report.

  1. Choose Reports, General Ledger, General Ledger Reports, and select Detail Journal Listing.
  2. Enter the date range for the financial year that you want to produce the report for.
  3. Enter the date range of the accounting month that you want to produce the report for.
  4. Enter the starting and ending audit numbers to produce the report for. To produce the report for all audit numbers press Enter in each field. To produce the report for a single number, enter the number in both fields.
  5. Enter the starting and ending General Ledger account numbers to produce the report for. To produce the report for all account numbers press Enter in each field.
  6. Choose whether you wish to include inactive accounts on the report.
  7. Click View to display the report on your screen or click Print to send it to your printer. Click Drilldown to display the report in a screen where you can click to get more information on the General Ledger accounts and numbers on the report. This option also allows you to export the information in the report to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
How can I quickly tell how much a client owes?
From the Inquiry menu, select Account Inquiry to view the Account Inquiry screen. Enter the client number. The Total AR field in the lower right corner will display the balance of the Accounts Receivable on the file.
I want to print a report that shows a total of the unbilled time for a specific lawyer. Where can I find this information?

Print the Activity Summary report.

  1. Click Reports, Billing, and Lawyer Activity Summary.
  2. Enter the report date or press Enter to use the current system date.
  3. Enter the date range for transactions to include on the report.
  4. This report calculates totals based on working (individual) lawyer. Select the lawyers to include. You can print the report for a single lawyer, for a range of lawyers, or for all lawyers. A separate report will print for each lawyer.
What is the Automatic Report Runner and how do I use it?
The Automatic Report Runner is used to group reports so that you can print them at the same time. This is useful when you have a large group of reports to be printed, for example, at month end.
What is the difference between printing reports by working lawyer, by responsible lawyer and by originating lawyer?

The same report produced by working lawyer, by responsible lawyer, and by originating lawyer can produce entirely different results. A report produced by working lawyer calculates totals based on actual postings to specific lawyers. A report produced by responsible lawyer calculates totals based on postings to clients whose responsible lawyer is the lawyer selected, regardless of the lawyer transactions were posted to. A report produced by originating lawyer calculates totals based on postings to clients whose originating lawyer is the lawyer selected, regardless of the lawyer transactions were posted to.

If you print a report by assigned lawyer, you will only get the transactions that were actually posted or distributed to that lawyer, regardless of whether that lawyer is the responsible lawyer on the file.

If you print a report by responsible lawyer, you will get all the transactions on all the files on which that lawyer is listed as the responsible lawyer, regardless of who did the work on the file.

If you print a report by originating lawyer, you will get all the transactions on all the files on which that lawyer is listed as the originating lawyer, regardless of who did the work on the file.
Which report shows all the outstanding checks for a bank?
Print the Outstanding Check List, in the Reports module under Month/Year End, to get a list of outstanding checks by bank.
Why does the Transaction Listing report say "out of balance"?

There are two reasons why it might say "out of balance" - either an audit is actually out of balance (the debits posted don't equal the credits posted), or the report was printed was printed by General Ledger account.

The Transaction Listing report is designed to be run by audit number, not by General Ledger account. It displays the update to the General Ledger accounts included on it, for each audit included on it. Therefore, if you select only particular General Ledger accounts, the accounts not selected will not be included when the report determines if a given audit balanced to zero.

For example, if you post a firm check and then print the Transaction Listing selecting only your general bank account, the audit on which you posted the firm check will be listed as out of balance because the report will not include the account that was debited by the firm check posting. You are, in essence, asking the report to include only the credit to your bank, and so the audit is out of balance because there is no offsetting debit. You are printing it incorrectly. If you reprint the report selecting all accounts, it will no longer say "out of balance".

However, as a result of a hardware failure or an operator posting a single sided journal entry (a journal entry in which the debits and the credits don't balance to zero), an audit might actually be out of balance. This will cause your General Ledger to be out of balance, and you will see a message on your System/File Balance report indicating this.

In this situation, the Transaction Listing report is useful for finding the audit that is causing the General Ledger to be out of balance. If you print your System/File Balance and see a message on it that says GL not balanced, print the Transaction Listing report for all General Ledger accounts, starting at the audit number of your last in-balance System/File Balance, and look for an audit that is out of balance. When you find the audit, verify the posting to determine why the debits and credits posted on it did not balance to zero.