What process should you follow when receipting invoices direct from the bank feeds window?

There is not doubt that the quickest way to receipt invoices is by taking advantage of the automation of bank feeds. The more you use SILQ’s bank feeds for receipting, the more efficient and error-free your end-of-month reconciliation becomes. Encourage your team to make this part of their regular workflow.

Below is a suggested process to follow. Please note, each Practice may have a different way of doing things for various reasons, however the below can be used as a starting and adapted accordingly in-house.

1. Navigate to the Accounts tab and click on the Bank Feeds icon.
2. Look for transactions that have been received (not spent),and more specifically, received payments from clients (as opposed to interest amounts received by the bank for example).
3. The assumption is that an invoice should already be in the system and therefore you should only need to use the create option, instead of Match.
4. SILQ will automatically populate the receipt code for you, so you do not need to input any data here.

5. In the Payor field, enter the name of the person or entity who made the payment.

   • For barristers: You may wish to adopt a consistent approach — either always enter the firm the invoice was issued to, or entering the actual payor (e.g. the client, if they paid directly). Either method is acceptable; consistency is key for your reporting and records.

6. Choose the income type. 
7. SILQ will automatically populate the note with the notation that came from your bank - you can add or edit if you wish to do so.
8. You will need to search for the relevant invoice to pay - you can do this by selecting either:
   1. Show specific unpaid invoice - for example if the payor has put the invoice number in their reference you can simply copy that into the search bar next to this dropdown and it will bring up that invoice. You can also search by the amount if you do not know the invoice number, but please only use number not characters such as $.
   2. Show unpaid invoices for matter - when selecting this, SILQ will give you the option to select the matter the payment is for and show you all outstanding invoices for that matter only.
   3. Show unpaid invoices for client - when selecting this, SILQ will give you the option to select the client the payment is for and show you all outstanding invoices for that client only. These invoices can be across multiple matters if that client has multiple matters. 
   4. Show all unpaid invoices - this will show you all outstanding invoices across all matters and clients within your Practice.
9. Once you have allocated the receipt to the correct invoice, click ok
10. By clicking OK, SILQ will create the invoice which you will be able to see in the Receive Money window.
11. You will then be asked if you want to generate the receipt - if you want to send a receipt to the client, click on yes. If you do not need a receipt generated and you simply want SILQ to reflect that the funds have come in and the invoice is not long unpaid (or partially unpaid) then you can click no and move onto the next receipt.
12. If you do click yes, once it is generated and you have viewed and are happy with it, click on the the 3 dots and choose the PDF & Email option.
13. Choose the email template you would like to use.
14. SILQ will automatically attach (as well as save it in the document register) the PDF and will assign the matter to the matter the receipt was created for. The details from your receipt template will be pre-populated including the email address and any CC's you have included. 
15. Once you have reviewed all details are correct, click on send and move onto the next receipt.

Tips:

• If the receipt was for a partial payment, SILQ will automatically ensure the remaining balance is reflected correctly as still outstanding - you will not be able to override the amount receipted from the bank feeds window which drastically reduces the chances of receipting errors.

• You can choose your default receipt template Settings > Templates.

• You can find more information on how to update your email templates here.

• If there are multiple payments from the same payor, ensure each payment is assigned to the correct invoice, rather than auto-allocating it to the first outstanding invoice. You can do this by either matching the payment amount to the corresponding invoice, or if the payor has correctly put in the invoice number, you can use this as your reference to ensure it is receipted correctly.
• Use the date range, search and spent/received filters to quickly locate transactions that need to be receipted, reducing time spent scrolling through long lists.
• If a payment only covers part of an invoice, consider adding a brief internal note to the receipt for context. This can assist with follow-ups or when reviewing balances later. (notes do not show up on the receipts unless you have specifically coded them to do so, therefore they are by default internal notes).
• Always preview the PDF before sending to ensure that the correct invoice, payor name, and amount are reflected. This avoids needing to retract or reissue receipts.
• Always check that the email is going to the right person. In some cases, clients may be particular about who receipts need to be emailed to (e.g. an accounts department who may not be the normal correspondents for the matter). Read more here about how you can amend your receipt email template to include specific CC's & BCC's.
• If you are not sure of something and you would like another staff member to take a look, you can use the discuss section for each relevant transaction to provide an internal note that can be seen by any staff member with access to bank feeds. It is suggested that you end your note with your name or initials so other staff members know who wrote it - SILQ does not associate your note with your name in this section.