Matter Balances Report

This article explains the matter balances report. 

At a basic level, the report should give a snapshot of every matter at a given date and for that matter show:

• The Accounts receivables (the unpaid bills and unallocated credits)
• The WIP (unbilled time and disbursements
• The balance of trust funds
• The balance of the general retainer

This is useful for any user to get an understanding of the potential income that a firm could generate at any given point in time.

You can access the Matter Balances Report by Going to Reports > Billing Reports > Matter Balances.

NOTE: It is important to note that the report will be accurate for the date that it is run on.

It is possible to backdate transactions in Actionstep and if a user does so, this may change the results of the report. 

The following examples illustrate how backdated transactions could cause a user to get different results.

• The Matter Balances Report is run on 30 July and for one matter it shows that there are Unpaid Bills of $5000, Fees of $400 and Disbursements of $200. If a user was to bill the matter as at 20 July, then run the report again with the same date, the Unpaid bills would change to $5600 and the Fees and Disbursements would both be $0.00.
• The Matter Balances Report is run on 30 July and for one matter it shows that there are Unpaid Bills of $5000, Fees of $400 and Disbursements of $200. It was discovered that a payment of $500 that was dated 15 July for one of the bills on this matter should have been applied to an invoice on another matter. If a user was to open and edit the payment to apply it to the correct invoice then run the report again, the Unpaid Bills would change to $5500, the Fees and Disbursements would be unchanged.
• The Matter Balances Report is run on 30 July and for one matter it shows that there are Unpaid Bills of $5000, Fees of $400 and Disbursements of $200. An invoice from a supplier arrived in the mail and was dated 25 July that contained $60 worth of items that were to be billed onto the client for this matter. If a user entered that supplier invoice with that date creating a disbursement for the matter of $60, then ran the report again using the same 30 July date then the Unpaid Bills column and Fees column would be the same amounts, but the Disbursements column would show $260. 

Information in the report

When generated the report will show a row for every matter in the system that qualifies for the report and thirteen columns.

A matter will qualify to be shown in the report if it has a monetary value that would appear in any column except the retainer columns.

Each column and the expected values for each are listed below:

Column	Description
Matter ID/Name Customer Responsible Lawyer	This column is to help identify the matter that information will be displayed for in the rest of the row. It includes the matter's ID and the matter name as well as the name of the customer (the primary participant on the matter, normally the client) and who the responsible lawyer for the matter is.
Last Bill	This is the date of the last invoice for the matter. If there are multiple invoices, this column will show the latest invoice date.
Unpaid Bills	This will show the total that is due for all invoices for that matter as of the date. An invoice must be dated on or before the report date to affect the value in this column and must have an amount unpaid or owing as of the date of the report. For example: If a $1,000 invoice is created with a created date on or before the date of the report, it will increase the amount in the Unpaid Bills column by $1,000. If a $100 payment is made on a bill for that matter that is dated on or before the date of the report, it will decrease the amount in the Unpaid Bills column by $100. If a $300 write-off dated on or before the date of the report is applied to an invoice for the matter, it will decrease the amount in the Unpaid Bills column by $300. If a $50 Credit Note is applied to the invoice on the matter and the applied date is on or before the date of the report, it will decrease the amount in the Unpaid Bills column by $50. If an invoice is created and dated after the date of the report, it will not affect the amount in the Unpaid Bills column. If a payment is applied to an invoice and the date of the payment is after the date of the report, even if the invoice date is before, it will not affect the amount in the Unpaid Bills column. If a credit note is created for the matter but not applied to any invoice, regardless of the date of the credit note, it will not affect the amount in the Unpaid Bills column. TIP: There is a switch in the Advanced settings to set if draft invoices are included in these amounts. By default, it is on. If you want to exclude draft invoices from this column you can use this switch to achieve that. See the section on filters.
Unallocated Credits	This will show the total due of any credit notes for the matter that are open on or before the date of the report. A credit note must be dated on or before the report date to affect the value in this column and must have an amount unallocated or owing as at the date of the report. For example: If a credit note for $600 is created and dated on or before the report date, it will increase the amount in the Unallocated Credits by $600. If a $150 of a credit note is allocated to an invoice and the date of that allocation is on or before the date of the report, the Unallocated Credits column will be reduced by $150.  If a $200 write off is applied to a credit note and the date of the write-off is on or before the date of the report the Unallocated Credits will be decreased by $200. If a credit note is created and dated after the date of the report, it will not affect the amount in the Unpaid Bills column. If a credit note allocation is applied to an invoice and the date of the allocation is after the date of the report, even if the credit note date is before, it will not affect the amount in the Unpaid Bills column. If an invoice is created for the matter, regardless of the date of the invoice, it will not affect the amount in the Unpaid Bills column.
AR Balance	This will show the total that is owing by the client at the date of the report.  This column will total the Unpaid Bills column and the Unallocated Credits column. AR stands for Accounts Receivable in this instance.
WIP	WIP (short for Work In Progress) is the section header for the columns that deal with unbilled amounts on the matter. Unbilled amounts are billable items recorded against the matter that have not been allocated to a bill. Columns in this section will only show the balances for items that are unbilled at the date of the report.
Fees	This is the value of any fees or time records that are recorded against the matter that have not been billed at the date of the report. A time record must be dated on or before the date of the report and it must not have been added to a bill before or on the date of the report to contribute to this column. For example: A time entry worth $30 is recorded on or before the date of the report will increase the amount in the Fees column by $30.  A time entry that is worth $50 is added to a bill that is dated before the date of the report it will reduce the Fees column by $50.  If a time entry is entered after the date of the report it will not affect the Fees column. If a time entry is added to a bill and the bill date is after the date of the report it will not affect the Fees column.
Billing Arr.	This column will show the billing arrangement on the matter. The billing arrangement sets defaults for how the bill will be created and shows how the matter is set to be billed. Currently the two options are for a “Hourly” billing arrangement or a “Fixed fee” billing arrangement.
Disbursements	This is the value of any disbursement/expense or time records that are recorded against the matter that have not been billed at the date of the report. A disbursement/expense must be dated on or before the date of the report and it must not have been added to a bill before or on the date of the report to contribute to this column. For example: A disbursement/expense entry worth $10 is recorded on or before the date of the report will increase the amount in the Fees column by $10.  A disbursement/expense that is worth $80 is added to a bill that is dated before the date of the report it will reduce the Fees column by $80.  If a disbursement/expense is entered after the date of the report it will not affect the Fees column. If a disbursement/expense is added to a bill and the bill date is after the date of the report it will not affect the Fees column.
Total Lockup Amount	This is the amount that could be recovered from the matter if all billable items were billed and paid on the date of the report and all bills paid and credits applied. This column will total the AR Balances column, the Fees column and the Disbursements column.
Trust	Trust is the section header for the columns that show details about the funds in trust as at the date that the report is run.
Current	This will total the amount of funds in trust for any trust current accounts for the matter at the date of the report. If the firm has multiple trust current accounts, then this will total the amounts from all trust current accounts.  If there are no trust current accounts for the firm the column will be hidden.
Investment	This will total the amount of funds in trust for any trust investment accounts for the matter at the date of the report. If the firm has multiple trust investment accounts, then this will total the amounts from all trust investment accounts. If there are no trust investment accounts for the firm the column will be hidden.
General Retainer	This will total the amount of funds in retainer for the matter at the date of the report. If the firm does not use general retainers, then the column will be hidden.
Matter Created	This column will show the date that the matter was created as is recorded against the matter.

Filters

There are two sets of filters available for this report: Basic and Advanced.

Basic Filters

The basic filters have two options.

Option	Description
As-at	This is the date that the report will display values for.  The report will show AR, WIP, Trust and retainer balances for each matter at the date that you enter here.  These balances are made up of transactions that happen up to this date. Any transactions after this date will not affect results shown in this report. Click on the date to select the date from the calendar displayed or type in the date you wish to use.
Currency*	Select the currency that you wish to see results for. Matters that have amounts in a currency other than the one selected will not show in the report.

* This filter option is only shown for a database that has multiple currencies enabled. If you only operate in one currency it will not display.

Advanced Filters

Advanced Filters are broken down into two sections: Filters and Layout options. 

Filters will be accumulative. If you apply more than one filter, then both filters will be applied at once. For example, if you filter by the Matter Type “Litigation” and the Customer “Tony Chance”, you will only see matters that are litigation matters where Tony Chance is the customer. 

Filters have the following options.

Option	Description
Responsible Lawyer	The responsible Lawyer is an internal contact on a matter who is responsible for the billing. You can set this based on participant types on the matter on the Billing Settings screen (Admin > Billing). By filtering by the Responsible Lawyer, you will only be able to see matters where that contact is the Responsible Lawyer. The list will show only contacts with a login to the system and only those who are a Responsible Lawyer on a matter.  You can scroll and select or search for a contact based on their name or their initials. Selecting a Responsible Lawyer will display the contacts initials and name in the Responsible Lawyer box, but you can still search for and select other users.  There is no limit to the number of Responsible Lawyers you can choose. You can remove a contact from the Responsible Lawyer box by clicking the cross to the right of their name. If you leave this box blank then all matters, regardless of Responsible Lawyer will be shown.
Matter Type	The Matter Types are the types of matters that you can create and view in your system.  Most Matter Types will be customised to be unique from other matter types. Typically, Actionstep users have Matter Types for the different types of law they practice. By filtering by the Matter Type, you will only be able to see matters of that type. The list will show the Matter Types in your system.  You can scroll and select or search for a Matter Type based on its name. Selecting a Matter Type will display the Matter Type in the Matter Types box, but you can still search for and select other matter types.  There is no limit to the number of Matter Types you can choose. You can remove a Matter Type from the Matter Type box by clicking the cross to the right of its name. If you leave this box blank then all matters, regardless of Matter Type will be shown.
Customer	The Customer is typically the Client on a matter. Some Actionstep systems can be customised to call the “Customer” by another name but it will always be the contact or one of the contacts who will be billed when the matter is billed.  By filtering by the Customer, you will only be able to see matters where the nominated contact is the customer /Client. The list will show all contacts in the system.  You can scroll and select or search for a contact based on its name. Selecting a Contact will display the Contact in the Customer box, but you can still search for and select other contacts.  There is no limit to the number of contacts you can choose. You can remove a contact from the Customer box by clicking the cross to the right of their name. If you leave this box blank then all matters, regardless of Customer will be shown.
Matter	Matters are the file or record of work, typically used to manage and record the details of an engagement with a client.  By filtering by the Matter, you will only be able to see the selected matters. The list will show all matters in the system.  You can scroll and select or search for a matter based on its name or ID. Selecting a matter will display the Matter in the Matter box, but you can still search for and select other Matters.  There is no limit to the number of Matters you can choose. You can remove a Matter from the Matter box by clicking the cross to the right of its name. If you leave this box blank then all matters will be shown.
Include tax in AR/WIP	This will change the amounts shown in any column that shows AR or WIP balances so that they either include sales tax or exclude sales tax.  When set to off, all amounts in Unpaid Bills, Unallocated Credits, AR Balance Fees, Disbursements and Total Lockup Amount will be exclusive of any sales tax.  When set to on, all amounts in Unpaid Bills, Unallocated Credits, AR Balance Fees, Disbursements and Total Lockup Amount will be inclusive of any sales tax By default this is set to off. Trust Account balances and General Retainer balances are not applicable to sales tax so amounts in those columns will be unaffected by this option.
Include draft invoices in AR	This will change the amounts shown in any column that shows AR columns so that they either include draft invoices or not. As an invoice is being prepared and can sit in a “draft” status. In this status the WIP is no longer against the matter but in the draft invoice but the draft invoice has not been saved yet. When set to off, all amounts in Unpaid Bills and AR Balance Fees, will exclude draft invoices.  When set to on, all amounts in Unpaid Bills and AR Balance Fees, will include draft invoices. By default this is set to on.

Layout Section

The Layout options section allows you to choose how the information in the Matter Balances report will be displayed. 

You can group matters together based on a common item (Matter type, Responsible Lawyer or Customer) by using the Group by drop down. The default is to group by Matter type. 

Order By will allow you to order the matters as they are listed by a criterion. These orders will be applied to the items as they are grouped. These will be displayed alphabetically from A to Z or numerically from lowest to highest. 

The order by options are Responsible lawyer, Customer, Matter type and Lockup Amount. 

Output Options

Option	Description
On screen (HTML)	This option displays the report results on your current screen
PDF	This option launches a print dialog from a PDF version of the report. To download as PDF, select Save as PDF in the Print > Destination dropdown on the print dialog screen.
MS Excel	This option downloads an xlsx, MS Excel, file to your computer. This is a great option to perform further calculations in a spreadsheet format.
Save XLSX file to a matter	After you have selected to run the report in MS Excel you can choose to save the XLSX file directly to a matter using this button.
Save PDF file to a matter	After you have selected to run the report in PDF you can choose to save the PDF directly to a matter using this button.  TIP: Sometimes the PDF viewer will display over this option on your screen, to see the option to save to a matter close the preview screen.