Debtor Journal Input

Modified on Tue, 13 Feb at 9:40 PM

Use the Debtor Journal Input option to manually enter a debtor journal transaction such as creating credit notes and writing-off debtors. LawMaster generates other debtor transactions automatically such as during cash receipting, Matter costing, interim runs, and refunds.

Enter a debtor Journal Input

In the transactions menu, click Debtor Journal Input.
The journal input form displays with some fields automatically populated. For help completing the fields, see Table 2: Debtor Journal Input Field explained, below.

Note: You must process debtor journals through the End-Of-Day run to cost them to the general ledger as well as audit them.
When you have completed the fields, do one of the following to save the form entries:
1. Click add transaction to validate the entries on the form. If there are no invalid entries, the transaction is added to the grid as a line item for review but is not yet finalised. LawMaster resets the form ready to accept a new form entry. You must still click OK or apply to commit your transactions.
2. Click apply to finalise and clear the grid. The form remains open so you can add more transactions if required.
3. Click OK to finalise and close the form.
4. Click cancel to discard transactions that are not finalised (where you have not clicked OK or apply). If you have any unfinalised items, LawMaster displays a warning advising you will lose the unfinalised entries. Click Yes to continue and No to keep the items.
  
  Note: You can still delete any line items in the transactions grid, individually or in bulk, from the delete option in the context menu.
  Note: LawMaster highlights any invalid form entries with a red exclamation mark. Please your mouse over the exclamation mark to see an explanation. Correct any invalid entries and retry.
When you click OK or apply, LawMaster assigns a journal number to each journal input and prompts you to print debtor adjustment notices for the journal entries just processed, for help see Printing in LawMaster.

Table 2. Debtor Journal Input Field Explained

Field	Description
Date	This field is automatically populated with the current date. To change the date, click the arrow and select from the date picker or enter the date in dd/mm/yyyy format
Debtor Balance	Read-only field, automatically populated.
Matter	Click the ellipsis and select the matter number to which the transaction is associated.
Transaction Type	Click the arrow and select the debtor transaction type: Cash receipts (C). Bad debts written off (Bad Debt). Write-on fees (F). Write-on disbursements (D): use for raising credit notes. Write-on interest (I). Write-on GST (G)
Reference No.	Enter your reference number. A reference number is required, If you have used any of the write-on transaction types. The reference number is usually the existing invoice number where you are adding the write-on. Note: Receipts are a 7-digit reference number.
Narrative	Enter a description for the debtor journal transaction with sufficient details to comply with GST provisions. Note: Pressing F3 on your keyboard updates this field with the previous transaction's narrative.
Apply to Invoice	For cash journals and bad debt write-offs, click the ellipsis and select the invoice on which to apply the cash or write-off. The options include: add an unpaid item, add interest, and apply accrued interest (if applicable).
Amount	Enter the transaction amount. Note: The amount is usually negative (a credit) for receipts, refunds, and write-offs. You can use any of the write-on transaction types and enter a negative amount to create a write-off of that type.
Billing Entity	Click the ellipsis and select the entity the where the bill was sent. Note: You can leave this field blank
Override GL Acct.	Click the ellipsis and select a general ledger account number. If you select the bad debts written off option do not select an account, the write-off is posted to the bad debts account noted in the accounting parameters. Note: You can leave this field blank.
Original Matter	In cases where a debt is transferred to a debt control matter, click the ellipsis and select the original matter to be adjusted. Note: You can leave this field blank.

Note: For more advanced information about this topic: In LawMaster see Help > System Overview or Context Help.

Note: You can also enter a debtor journal transaction from the Main Menu > Accounting > Debtors > Transactions > Debtor Journal Input.

Instead of clicking the ellipses, you can also:

On your keyboard, tab to the field and press F5 to access the search form
Type the code or number directly into the field, if you know it
Press tab on your keyboard to move your cursor to the next field on the form

Instead of clicking OK or Save

Press F2 on your keyboard

Close forms without saving:

On your keyboard, press esc
On the form, click cancel