This question is really for people who are familiar with the Solicitor's Accounts Rules.
I work as a Legal Cashier for a firm of Solicitors. Last year we received some money on account from a client who paid by credit card. Unfortunately the accounts copy of the card receipt ended up on the file before it could be put on our accounts system. The miscellaneous funds are now sitting on our suspense account.
In terms of the Solicitors Accounts Rules, I would like to know what the correct account procedure is for dealing with these funds?
Thanks
Replies (10)
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So you mean you don't know which client paid it? And your "suspense" account is a client account presumably?
Well do you not have an old apparently unpaid debit balance on office account of the same amount?
Someone else's money
Am I missing something here? This is someone else's money we are talking about here, right?
So you have hundreds of files. Then someone has to look through those hundreds of files to match the receipt. This is not your money and you need to make sure that it gets allocated to the right person.
I also cannot help thinking that this would have been a lot easier to deal with if it had been addressed at the time. Why has an amount related to last year only come to light now?
Ask the bank?
Surely the bank will be able to look back at the credit to see which name was on the card account.
No harm done, surely
When you eventually bill / request funds from the payer they will remind you that it has already been paid on the relevant date..
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I would do as Marion suggests - ask the bank and solve the historical issue.
Then think about systems for the future that involve insertion of hard things into soft tissue if not kept to.