Dynamic’s new
online Management Tracker is a real time, online, visual report designed to be
viewed on a mobile device.
They say a picture paints a thousand words. Well, in this case, the activities of an entire law firm is presented in four graphs.
Data is updated
in real time.
Comparative
data for various firm wide metrics presented in easy to read format.
Pie charts for comparison of fee participation for the previous and current months. Fees Last Month & This Month allow you to see who contributes most to the firm’s fee total. Only Fee Earner accounts with Targets are included.
Bar chart with Monthly Fee Totals covering twelve months, provide comparative insight into professional activity. Fee Targets are cumulative and an average calculated for the period. Is the firm reaching it’s fee targets every month? What are our average fees for the past 12 months? These and other questions are easily answered using the mobile friendly Management Tracker.
New Files Opened is a powerful indicator of activity and future fee income. Fee income typically follows 60-90 days after receiving instructions. Tracking new files and fee activity is a powerful control mechanism.
36 Month Fee Growth provides an instant birds eye view of the billing activity of the business. Three Month moving average (3MA) is plotted to provide early identification of trends in billing. 36, 24 and 12 month averages indicate fee activity over the longer and medium term.
How do I get
the Management Tracker?
For a limited time only the Management Tracker is available through Dynamic Online Portal. The Management Tracker will be incorporated in the Dynamic Mobile App soon.
Complexity has and will maintain a strong fascination for many people. It is true that we live in a complex world and strive to solve inherently complex problems, which often do require complex mechanisms.
However, this should not diminish our desire for elegant solutions, which convince by their clarity and effectiveness. Simple, elegant solutions are more effective, but they are harder to find than complex ones, and they require more time which we too often believe to be unaffordable.
-Niklaus Wirth
Technology facilitates compliance. DynamicLawyers Trust Account software provides a simple solution in an otherwise complex market space.
Dynamic, an affordable, sophisticated lawyers trust accounting software solution, purpose-built for compliant integrated business & trust bookkeeping.
This software solution makes compliant client trust account record keeping easy for the legal practitioner. Cloud based, multi-user remote access serverless infrastructure allows collaboration from anywhere with an internet connection. #WorkFromAnywhere
#FinTech #LawyersTrustAccount #legaltech #software for #startup #SoloPractice #law
Description: Billing Management Report Status: Effective immediately Date: 29 February 2024 Dynamic interface: Two, Core, Front Desk Version: 2.0.1.503
Explanation:
It was necessary to tweak the Billing Management Report slightly to work faster on bigger data sets. In addition a net available column was added.
PS 2.0.1.503 is the only version ever released on a Leap Year 🙂
Description: File Cover Status: Effective immediately Date: 15 February 2024 Dynamic interface: Two, Core, Front Desk and RMS Version: 2.0.1.500
Explanation:
Looking for a file and cannot remember the cover color?
Dynamic now allows you to set the file color. A tiny widget with far reaching application. Easily spot and out of place file. This is a user convenience designed to increase visual stimuli for the user.
Client Profiles allow easy management of large volume instructions. Any matters for a client with multiple instruction can now be quickly and easily be found, updated and reported on.
Description: Search for Invoice numbers and match to File Number Status: Effective immediately Date: 15 February 2024 Dynamic interface: Two, Core Version: 2.0.1.500
Explanation:
It’s a common time waster to spend time matching Invoice numbers to file numbers. This can happen directly on the bank statement or when splitting bulk payments. Dynamic now has semi-automated search and allocation capabilities which will save your hours of frustration. Simply identify the transactions where invoice numbers appear, select and click the allocate button. Dynamic will search for the invoice numbers found and allocate the correct ledger account number.
Description: Billing Management and Group Billing Status: Effective immediately Date: 15 February 2024 Dynamic interface: Two, Core, Front Desk Version: 2.0.1.500
Explanation:
Group Billing has had a facelift. In addition to the existing functionality, Group Billing will now generate lists of Milestones and Invoice Remittance, making it easier to account to large corporate clients. Especially in the field of insurance and sectional title management, these reports can save a great deal of time.
Remember, Billing Management is your friend!
Description: Fees to Target Status: Effective immediately Date: 15 February 2024 Dynamic interface: Two, Front Desk Version: 2.0.1.500
Explanation:
Will we make target? Is a common and recurring question every month. This easy little Fee Report combines current actual Ledger and Fee Book items to give an accurate picture of our current position.
Description: Quality of Life User Experience Improvements Status: Effective immediately Date: 15 February 2024 Dynamic interface: Two, Core and Front Desk Version: 2.0.1.500
Explanation:
Several minor improvements have been made, the most important include:
These include Control+S hotkey on the Fee Book to save fees, and an Alt+L hotkey on certain financial reports in the Core module. The Alt+L key will open the Ledger History Report+ for easy ledger inspection.
Milestone capturing has been streamlined, allowing smooth transaction capturing.
Microsoft Outlook for Windows Calendar appointments can now be scheduled directly from the Notify scheduler. These appointments are all staggered at the top of the day and will result in an Outlook pop-up when starting Outlook in the morning.
Value Added Tax (VAT) is often a major headache for Rental Agents and Tenants. VAT is charged on goods and services and paid for by the end user. Certain goods and services are exempt from VAT.
Residential rent is expressly excluded from VAT. This means that ordinary residences, occupied by families for residential purposes, are not expected to pay VAT. An agreed monthly rental amount of R10000.00 means exactly that, pay R10000.00. This makes it easy for Landlords and Tenants to settle rental accounts between them. Also, a separate invoice is not strictly necessary and an ordinary running statement showing all transactions and a balance is sufficient.
Commercial Rent
The situation with Commercial Rent is at once substantially different and complex.
First, the Agent managing the commercial property is responsible for issuing a VAT invoice, but the VAT-able goods does not come from the Agent’s “stock” – the Agent issues an invoice on behalf of the Landlord.
Second, the Landlord must be registered for VAT in order to be able to issue a valid VAT tax invoice. Only registered VAT vendors can issue VAT invoices. This constitutes standard Output VAT in the books for the Landlord. As a registered VAT vendor, the Landlord is compelled to issue regular VAT invoices, regardless of the status of the Tenant.
Third, in order for the Tenant to be able to claim VAT, the Tenant must also be a registered VAT vendor. Only registered VAT vendors can claim VAT. This is processed as standard Input VAT in the books of the Tenant.
The Invoice itself is a standard VAT Tax Invoice. The normal requirements apply. The invoice issued on behalf of the Landlord must contain the Landlord’s registered name, the VAT registration number and full address. In order for the the Tenant to be able to claim the VAT, the Tenant’s registered name, the VAT registration number and full address are also required. Full financial details must be revealed. The Agent issuing the VAT invoice is merely a facilitator. VAT invoices are required by law to be issued once a month, every 21 business days.
Checklist
Need a VAT invoice for your rent? Check these items:
Is the Landlord a VAT vendor?
Is the Tenant a VAT vendor?
Does the Lease Agreement identify the property and agreement as commercial in nature?
In the event that the Landlord is not registered as a VAT vendor, no VAT invoice can be issued.
In the event that the Tenant is not registered as a VAT vendor, no VAT may be recovered.
Only in the event that the Landlord is a registered VAT vendor AND the Tenant is a registered VAT vendor, a valid VAT tax invoice may be issued and the VAT recovered by the Tenant.
A potentially very unsatisfactory situation arises where the Tenant is registered for VAT and the Landlord is not. The Tenant would prefer to recover input VAT on the monthly lease invoice, but as no such invoice can be issued, VAT is not recoverable. This makes it important to verify the status of the Landlord prior to signing a lease agreement.
The VAT registration status of the Agent is irrelevant to the issuing of Commercial Lease VAT invoices.
Description: Client Billing Documents processing time reduced Status: Effective immediately Date: 16 December 2022 Dynamic interface: Two, Core, Front Desk Version: 2.0.1.421
Generating PDF Client Billing Documents is a time-consuming tedious process. Changes have been introduced to both Invoices and Statements reduce the time required. Batch of 100 PDFs can now be done in approximately 5 minutes. Local internet speed and computer processing capacity will affect this.
Description: Bank Reconciliation Hints Status: Effective immediately Date: 10 December 2022 Dynamic interface: Two, Core Version: 2.0.1.419
Bank Reconciliation is boring. To make life a little more interesting we have added Hints to assist support your experience. Hint Tick All! 😉
Description: Trust Provision Status: Effective immediately Date: 11 November 2022 Dynamic interface: Two, Core, Front Desk Version: 2.0.1.419
It is now possible to set multiple trust provisions to each matter. This allows the user to streamline and manipulate Trust To Business transfer processing, without affecting Client Billing.
Special Thank You to the clients’ who assisted in field testing. 🙂
It is common practice to require a tenant to pay a deposit on occupation of a rental property. The rent is intended to secure at least one month’s worth of occupation and provide for potential damages caused by the tenant. Rent deposits are regulated in terms of Rental Housing Act 50 of 1999.
A common feature in managing rental properties, the underlying accounting mechanisms are typically not well understood which often leads to deposits not being accounted for at all, leading to invisible transactions and inaccurate records.
In order to properly account for a rental deposit, the following needs to occur
Debit tenant account with a Deposit required
Credit tenant account when payment is received
This will zero the tenant account
Payment received from the tenant will create a credit on the ledger, but it is not available for pay out to the landlord; to balance this credit, the deposit amount must be invested
Debit the ledger with the investment payment
At this point, the ledger will reflect only the regular monthly rent roll transactions, and the rent deposit investment is accurately and comprehensively accounted for.
Once the rental agreement terminates, these steps are reversed to release the credit on the ledger
Credit the ledger with the amount received from the investment. Note that due to the effect of interest accrued this amount will be more than the initial deposit received
This receipt will result in a credit balance. This credit can be paid to the tenant as a refund, or paid to the owner as settlement
Pay out of this amount will normally zero the account
Interest rates have recently increased from a record low of 3.5% in July of 2020 to the 7% at the end of November 2022.
South Africa’s benchmark repo rate increased by another 75 basis points to 7% at its November 2022 meeting. This is the 7th consecutive rate hike since policy normalization started in November 2021.
With such a steep increase in interest rates linked to already harsh economic conditions, the property market comes under increased pressure.
The number of properties for sale will increase, but with higher interest rates, these will not fetch the same high market values seen a year ago. At the same time the demand for rental properties is expected to increase. This will invariably place greater demand on rental agents and their ability to deal with the expectations of rental property owners and rental tenants.
One such requirement is accurate, up to date accounting that reflects the tenants financial position: what is due, what has been paid and what is the current balance. At the same time, owners expect accurate, up to date payment and accounting of all relevant transactions.
Dynamic provides such a fast, simple accounting solutions for rental property practitioners.
Read more about matters concerning Rental Properties:
A tenant of a rental property is entitled to statement of account clearly indicating recurring obligations and confirming historic transactions. By definition rent should always be paid up to date an age analysis for rent should be considered an anomaly.
Tenant Statements
Statements of account issued to a tenant should include all items debited to such an account:
the rent due
repairs charged
utilities or services used
And the tenant’s account must also reflect any payments made by the tenant.
The net balance of the tenant statement should be a clear indication of the current status of indebtedness by the tenant. Bear in mind that rent is typically charged in advance.
The Landlord
Dynamic’s unique Rent Management System allows for invoices to the landlord for services rendered, as well as statements with running balances.
This means that one powerful accounting solutions provides detail accounts to both the landlord and tenant in an easy to understand format.
-Simply Dynamic
Read more about matters concerning Rental Properties:
Description: Easy Invoice run Status: Effective immediately Date: 30 August 2022 Dynamic interface: Two, Core Version: 2.0.1.406
A
single, fast Invoice run at the end of the month
As part of month end compliance and reconciliation, Dynamic can run through all invoices without disrupting operational activities.
This workflow allows for the issuing of invoices on a one-by-one basis when necessary. It also allows for all current transactions to be invoiced without omission and without interruption.
At the end of the Financial Year, Income and Expense accounts are normally closed off to a consolidated profit and loss Equity account.
Dynamic can automatically process these journal entries. The default profit and loss Equity account is number #94001, but may vary on your system.
The benefits of using automatedFinancial Year End Roll Over journal processing include
ease of use
speed
accuracy
Financial Year End journal specifically affect business accounts, and does not affect client trust accounts.
Request guidance from your auditor concerning Financial Year End Roll Over.
Some auditors would prefer for you to run the Financial Year End Roll Over before they start working on the reports. This has the benefit of reducing the number of accounts to deal with. The consolidated profit and loss account contains full transaction details concerning the source accounts. In addition, the Statement of Profit and Loss will still display the original balances regardless of the Financial Year End Roll Over entries.
Other auditors may prefer to work with the raw data without any automated Financial Year End Roll Over transactions processed to the system. This makes it easier to detect discrepancies and provides a framework for reallocating items. In this case run the Financial Year End Roll Over after the auditor has completed the audit.
In any event, the auditor is likely to provide a set of journals to be done. This is standard practice as financial and tax reporting may require additional processing which falls beyond the scope of the software.
Note that supplementary journals may
How to run the Financial Year End Roll Over
Select the date, typically the last date of the last Financial Year
Select the target Equity account from the list
Click Go
Don’t blink. It’s so fast, if you blink, you will miss the transactions.
Inspect the ledgers for the relevant entries.
Supplementary Financial and Year End Journals
Supplementary journals may be required for any number of reasons, including operational, financial and reporting. Transactions which require additional processing include depreciation and amortization. Additional updates based on operational requirements or amended tax guidelines may require supplementary journal entries.
It is not recommended to process these additional journals manually. Since the auditor will provide the required transactions in spreadsheet format, it is strongly recommended that these journals be imported directly into Dynamic.
Notify has been expanded to provide for scheduled, personalized email. This means that you can now schedule and email to be delivered at a future date. Instead of Outlook Tasks or Popup reminders, any recipient email address in the system Address Book can receive a personalized email. Suitable applications include diary scheduling, meeting reminders and birthday or anniversary reminders.
Scheduled emails are centrally stored and Sent to the email recipient on the given date.
Optional, but handy personalization include
Report deadline
Account number
Client Name
An unlimited free form text reminder to clearly indicate the reason why the message was sent and what response is expected.
Send your future self an email to get Dynamic now!
How to set gmail Spam Filter:
The aggressive spam filters on gmail are designed to protect you. However, sometimes gmail is too aggressive and may leave your email unusable. To allow notifications into your gmail Inbox, create a mail filter.
Log in to your gmail account.
Click the GEAR icon at the top right and then click SETTINGS.
Go to FILTERS AND BLOCKED ADDRESSES and click CREATE A NEW FILTER.
In the FROM section, type the email address notify@dynamilta.com to keep it out of your Spam Folder.
Click CREATE FILTER.
Check NEVER SEND IT TO SPAM and ALSO APPLY FILTER TO MATCHING MESSAGES boxes.
There is a gap. The gap is big and it is growing. This gap affects us daily and it needs to be addressed. We need to close this gap.
The
gap exists between the attorney’s Fee Book and every day activities.
As
recently as five years ago, correspondence was mainly by snail mail.
Letters were dictated and typed, signed and sent off in an envelope,
to reach the client in a few days time. The simple act of creating
correspondence was an involved task and physical evidence of the act
remained on the paper file. Communication was slow, formal
and tangible. Whenever a bill was drawn up, each letter on the split
pin in the file made it onto the invoice.
Today
communication is very different. Communication is electronic, with
email dominating the attorney-client communications environment. Use
of instant messaging apps such as WhatsApp (remember that one?) and
Telegram are on the rise. The result is simply that communication is
online and more live than ever before, but this near instant
communication has increased the gap. Communication occurs more
frequently, but billing is less efficient.
This
gap has a name. It is a Billing Gap.
There
is a clear gap where communication is concerned. On the one side
stands the empty Fee Book. On the other side email and instant
messaging platforms. Like a ghost story, the skeletons of old email
messages live on in your Inbox while unbilled email messages haunt
your empty Fee Book.
Regardless
of the underlying fee agreement, care should be taken to keep track
of individual billable items. There is no one-size-fits-all solution.
In certain instance every single email sent and received will and
should find its way to the clients’ account. In other cases, a simple
internal log of email sent and received will be sufficient. But,
without an adequate inbox monitoring tool, keeping accurate record
becomes tedious and inaccurate.
In
a law practice, your Inbox can easily become a FeeBox.
Attorneys
indicate they send as many as 60 emails per day. Assuming that each
email also has a response, that is a 120 emails per day, over several
files. Most attorneys fall into one of three categories (a) those who
do not count email and rarely bill for the email sent and received;
(b) those who add generic Various emails sent entries to their
bills, with no clear reference as to the actual number of messages
and their dates and subjects. (c) those who meticulously keep
accurate record of each message sent or received, its time and
subject, creating a clear and accurate billing report of email
correspondence in any given matter.
If
the attorney sends 60 emails per day, at a nominal fee of R28.50 (no
VAT) per item, that amounts to R1 710.00 worth of fees per day. Five
working days results in R8 550.00. Four weeks results in R34 200.00
worth of fees. For email sent only. Double this amount for email
received. Of course, not all messages can and should be billed for.
But the vast majority of communication takes place by email, and this
communication is billable.
Emails
per day 60 @ R28.50
Billing
per day R1 710.00
Billing
per week R8 550.00
Billing
per month R34 200.00
Are
you billing R34 200.00 per month for email sent?
Tariff
published in GOVERNMENT GAZETTE 43592, dated 7 AUGUST 2020,
Magistrates Court Scale A, under item 18 (page 38) allows for
Correspondence fees R28.50.
Screenshot of client bill with automated fees for email sent and received.
There
are several unproductive ways of keeping track of email. One is to
keep a manual log book and write down each item, or type it into a
spreadsheet. This needs to be interpreted and converted to a fee item
at a later stage. Or, using an app, copy and paste directly from the
email client to the billing app. This is faster, but requires
discipline.
But
there is a better way.
It
is no coincidence that Microsoft Outlook for Windows remains the most
popular email client for business use. Outlook can be used with the
MS Office suite including Word, Excel etc in smaller firms, or with
an Exchange server for bigger business. Exchange Servers offer many
benefits to bigger business, including powerful internal email
management, but at cost typically beyond the budget of the average
small business. Fortunately smaller firms can implement Outlook
without the need for an Exchange Server. The Microsoft ecosystem is
based on continued commitment to local app infrastructure as
confirmed by the Office 365 local-app and cloud-data model, offering
the best of both worlds in terms of user experience and secure shared
data storage.
Imagine
a billing tool that allows billing for email directly in your Fee
Book, and bills the email accurately and immediately to the client.
Imagine an accurate bill for every email message sent or received.
There are only some many hours in a day. Spending additional time to
manually update an account based on email is not worth it.
Bill for every email sent. Bill for every email received. Never miss a fee for an email, ever, again. The choice is yours.
If
you are not billing for email, perhaps it is time to ask yourself the
question Why are we not billing for email? Is it time to
consider a billing tool that supports your daily activities? A tool
which allows fast, accurate email activity billing? A tool which
keeps your Fee Book up to date?
The
good news is that such a tool exists. Dynamic Lawyers Trust Account
software is much more than simply a bookkeeping system for attorneys.
Dynamic is also a billing tool, allowing fast, easy, reliable billing
between Microsoft Outlook and the Fee Book. This makes Dynamic very
affordable for the attorney in a small legal practice. Increased
billing is the first step towards increased revenue, and eventually
profit. Convert your Inbox into a FeeBox and drive revenue with
Dynamic’s email billing.
If
you are interested in what Dynamic’s Outlook interface can do for
your bottom line, scan the QR tag below.
For
implementing additional Outlook features, please contact us
Outlook@DynamicLTA.com.
What is a Recommended Update and why is it important?
[This page was updated on 4 August 2023]
The current Recommended Update is
2.0.1.470 released 4 August 2023
Previous recommended updates were
2.0.1.300 released 27 April 2021
2.0.1.243 released 19 November 2020
2.0.1.225 released 18 September 2020
2.0.1.169 released 14 April 2020
2.0.1.122 released 29 August 2019
2.0.1.115 released 21 August 2019
2.0.1.81 released 29 May 2019
2.0.1.46 released 6 March 2019
2.0.1.20 released 13 December 2018
2.0.1.19 released 12 December 2018
2.0.0.200 released 6 November 2018
2.0.0.192 released 16 October 2018
2.0.0164 released 28 September 2018
2.0.0.120 released 10 August 2018
2.0.0.116 released 30 July 2018
2.0.0.105 released 19 June 2018
2.0.0.71 released 13 April 2018
What is a Recommended Update?
We pursue customer driven design. This means that we are constantly listening to user feedback to improve our product. Over time, these improvements culminate in a new version which embodies the best of what we have to offer. This becomes a recommended update.
A Recommended Update refers to the minimum version that should currently be in use.
Are all updates not Recommended Updates?
No. Think of a Recommended Update as a milestone, a major achievement along the way. In between those milestones can be many smaller, minor updates which are not relevant to all users.
Smaller updates may apply to specific users or issues resolved, but will not necessarily impact on all users.
How do I get this Recommended Update?
All Dynamic updates are available through the online distribution channel and can be obtained by running the Quick Update. Please see elsewhere for the Quick Update and remember to Refresh after the update is complete.
Description: Outlook integration for Windows Status: Effective immediately Date: 27 April 2021 Dynamic interface: Two, Core, Front Desk Version: 2.0.1.300
Starting with version 2.0.1.300 on 27 April 2021, Dynamic can now be set up to monitor Outlook. These activities can be billed directly to the Fee Book.
Description: Client Billing Documents toggle and Billing Management Report Status: Effective immediately Date: 26 February 2021 Dynamic interface: Two, Core, Front Desk Version: 2.0.1.254
Individual matters may now be set to allow Client Billing. This directly affects Statements and Invoices. The toggle is available in various places for ease of use.
Billing Management Report replaces the General File Detail Report. The client balance as calculate on the Billing Management Report corresponds and can be verified on the Ledger History Statement View and the Statement.
Workflow: it is recommended that for each Fee Earner two reports are printed. A report on files marked for NONE, to clearly identify matters where routine billing documents should not be generated, such as conveyancing and estates. A report marked for DEFAULT to show matters where client billing will take place.
Description: Reconcile Cash Book Import – Advanced Status: Effective immediately Date: 21 February 2021 Dynamic interface: Two, Core Version: 2.0.1.253
A new feature has been added to the import screen. It is now possible to automatically allocate receipts on import.
Description: Fee Book Combo Status: Effective immediately Date: 13 February 2021 Dynamic interface: Two, Front Desk Version: 2.0.1.249
Explanation:
The Fee Book is the most important work area in Dynamic. User feedback over the last few weeks indicated several areas which could be improved.
Fee Book Combo is intended as a single point of entry where important day to day work can be done. The new Fee Book Combo incorporates the existing Fee Book Entries page, File Notes, Agents Journals and Ledger View into a single consolidated workspace reducing the number click and navigating required to get work done. It’s definitely faster.
Description: Fee Book workflow Status: Effective immediately Date: 19 November 2020 Dynamic interface: Two, Front Desk Version: 2.0.1.243
Explanation:
The Fee Book is the most important work area in Dynamic. User feedback over the last few weeks indicated several areas which could be improved.
Changes were implemented and new feedback started coming in almost immediately. Not everyone liked it, and some functionality changed, in some place only a little bit, and in others a lot. Continuous improvement requires making changes and responding to user feedback. It is our intention to make the Fee Book better than ever. If you have suggestions please let us know.
Time Billing is now simplified and smooth, with only the number of minutes required: the hourly rate should be correct and the final, VAT inclusive amount calculated directly.
Search to Fee Book allows a one touch display of results directly from the Search screen, making for a faster, smoother ride.
Description: Import from Fee Book Status: Effective immediately Date: 11 November 2020 Dynamic interface: Two, Core Version: 2.0.1.240
Explanation:
Import from Fee Book was slow. The new fast import works as before, but in a fraction of a second. Just watch the screen, the import will be done before you can even say “This is really fast“.
These changes have been affected based on end-user feedback. We would love to hear from you.
The Tariff covers the High Court, Magistrates’ Regional and Magistrates’ District Courts. This is also the first comprehensive tariff update since November 2019.
The Tariff is available in the Fee Book and appears as 2020 Sept P&P Scale Gazette 43592.
A Refresh will make the tariff available.
The tariff was published on 7 August 2020 in Gazette No. 43592, Regulation Gazette No. 11156.
Ever wondered how to customize your Dynamic Profile Pic?
Each of those little pictures represent somebody already logged in to Dynamic. Those are other people working.
It’s quite simple really. Dynamic is an hybrid cloud based solution, which means it shares a certain number of characteristics with other online products. One of these is the Gravatar.
You can read more about Gravatar on their website.
If you do not have a Gravatar account, don’t worry, Dynamic will automatically create a pixel image from Gravatar, linked to your unique login. Just make sure you use the same login for Gravatar and Dynamic. Please use a different password. 🙂
Unhappy with your current Profile Pic? If you don’t feel like the bee or frog your pixel image represents, or tired of your current Profile Pic, its easy to change. You can easily select an image to upload to Gravatar, and it will automatically refresh in Dynamic. Gravatar uses a WordPress.com account, so you need to complete your registration through WordPress.com.
How to do it
Get a new picture ready, on the same device you log in to Gravatar
Log in to the Gravatar site
Update the profile pic
Yes, it really is that simple!
Once your login is linked to both Gravatar and Dynamic, your profile pic will change.
If you feel the need to force a Gravatar refresh, to show your new image immediately, simply use the Utility >Refresh Gravatar menu option.
Bear in mind that after changing the pic on Gravatar, it may take a few minutes before it becomes available in Dynamic.
Of course the Profile Pics are also enabled for the Dynamic Online Reports.
Make Dynamic your own. Upload your Profile Pic now!
And what about the robots? 🙂
Yes, sometimes you will see a robot image. Those are the robots working tirelessly in the background to make sure everything keeps running smooth. Just ignore them, they are shy 🙂
Dynamic’s unique new Trust to Business Analyzed Transfer analyzes the funds transferred from Trust to Business and gives an instant breakdown of the nature of these funds.
Disbursements refer to refunds – essentially the business account is being refunded for costs incurred on behalf of the client. These funds cover costs and are not available to be spent.
Fees refer to profit – Yes, we can discuss this extensively, but the Fees we transfer refer to our net earnings, which can be applied to business expenses that do not affect clients: rent, salaries, stationery etc. Fees indicate the financial health of the business.
Why is this important?
Trust to Business Transfers can be extensive and cover many files with transactions broken down over a the entire life time of the account in our books. Understanding the composition of the transfer amount gives immediate insight into (a) which portion is begin refunded and (b) which portion is available to pay expenses. Only the fee portion of a transfer is available to cover expenses. The Disbursement portion is being refunded to the business account, those funds cannot be allocated a second time.
We cannot use refunded Disbursement money to pay expenses. We can only use money from Fees to pay expenses.
Why do you need this now?
The immediate breakdown of cash flow into fees (free cash) and disbursements (refunds) provides insight into the cash stream entering the business and an indicator of financial health.
Introducing Dynamic’s Trust to Business Analyzed Transfer
It works like
before, only better.
Balancing the
trust by quickly, accurately and responsibly transferring funds between the
client’s trust and business ledgers.
Before…
A manual or
one-to-one transfer would typical require a single payment from the trust
account to the business account. Each transactions required a trust payment and
a business receipt. For few accounts, and large sums, this allowed a very high
level of control, but creates unnecessary risks concerning accuracy and
duplication. Further it leads to higher than necessary bank charges.
Other
Systems
Custom
attorneys accounting solutions provide for various degrees of semi-automated
trust to business transfer mechanisms. Ideally such a system should transfer
funds from trust to cover any business transactions, while preventing trust
debits from occurring and neutralizing business credits. Not all systems
correct for business credits. A single “Transfer from trust” entry was not very
informative, and only automated an otherwise tedious accounting process.
Dynamic’s
Analyzed Transfer
Dynamic’s
transfer system prioritized the trust. This means any trust debit
balances are corrected first. It also scans for and corrects business
credit balances. The magic, however, happens when the system detects fee
transactions on the ledger. Dynamic analyzes the transfer amount and identifies
the fees and disbursements. This distinction is noted on the individual ledger
accounts, is available for scrutiny on detailed reports and forms the building
block of a basic cash flow forecast report.
TRANSFER
DISBURSEMENTS from trust
TRANSFER FEES
from trust
The accuracy of
the analyzed transfer makes business cash flow management easy.
The transfer auto-corrects,
once the Transfer button is pressed, it will write up the ledger
and check for corrections. Transfer all the items on screen immediately until
the report shows 0.00 to transfer.
VERIFY TRUST INTEGRITY
Trust integrity is confirmed by comparing the
post-reconciliation cash book balance to the trust ledgers. This is easily done
on the Management Snapshot, this is an extract based on formal reports.
This post deals with the circumstances under which trust funds may be transferred to the business, and the procedure for doing so.
Bulk Trust to Business Transfers
When may Trust Funds by paid out?
Trust funds belong to the client. The lawyer maintains the trust on behalf of his client. Only in very limited circumstances is the disbursement of trust funds authorized. Disbursement here has the wide meaning of paying out money, and it means payment to any party not the client.
Generally,
the client may always receive payment of funds held on his behalf;
third parties, if duly authorized by the client, by receive payment from the trust;
the law firm, as payment for its professional services rendered.
This post does not deal with retainers and the point at which a retainer may become transferable from trust to business.
Where payment is made directly to the client, or a third party, this will be a direct bank transaction, such as an EFT (electronic banking) or a paper cheque. A specific beneficiary for such payment must be apparent and trust payments may not be made to unspecified (“cash“) recipients.
The ledger will merely reflect a trust debit entry.
Trust to Business Transfer
Few Transactions
For a very few law firms, it may be suitable to transfer trust funds as settlement of its bill on a one-to-one basis. In this case a simple trust payment is made, and should then be received on the same account with a business receipt.
In any busy law firm, with many active files and high transaction volumes it would soon become impossible to manage the number of files and keep accurate tabs on the current balances. This one-to-one type transfer is not recommended.
Problems associated with this method include
an increased administrative burden
additional costs (bank charges)
multiple additional transactions
increased reconciliation workload
for no apparent benefit.
Many Transactions
Dynamic is designed for trust accounting. This means that a sophisticated and dedicated trust-to-business-transfer function is available.
The trust-to-business transfer is composed to of two distinct set of transactions, (a) the Ledger entry, showing the movement of funds from trust to the business, and (b) the Banking transactions, which show payment from trust and the receipt in the business account.
The benefits of this method include
reduced administrative burden
lower costs (bank charges)
few individual transactions to track
reduced reconciliation workload
less time spent on administration allows more time for professional activities.
How Trust to Business Transfers should be done
The Bulk Trust to Business Transfer procedure
The discussion below is designed to give a complete and accurate description of the transfer procedure. It is the recommended procedure. This can be done on demand, any time, any day.
Bear in mind that Dynamic is designed to ensure compliance in a legal trust accounting environment. Following the steps outlined below will facilitate compliance. The Bulk Trust to Business Transfer procedure will ensure the integrity of the trust.
The goal throughout is to ensure that the trust cash books are always equal to the trust ledgers.
Required
Recent, accurate trust bank reconciliations.
A business Transfer Control Account, we recommend a generic account such as #99000. If separate control accounts are required for each trust account, #99001 can be used for bank 1, #99002 for bank 2 etc.
Procedure
All current transactions must be up to date.
Confirm most recent Bank Reconciliations. Unprocessed banking transactions, or outstanding transaction may present a problem. Please see elsewhere for details on the bank reconciliation procedure. If either the cash book is not up to date or there is no recent bank reconciliation, do not proceed beyond this point.
Management Snapshot prior. The purpose is to verify the integrity of the system at the start of the process. Check the trust assets and liabilities, make sure it does not report a problem. This document represents the state of the books at the start of the process. If anything is unclear, do not proceed beyond this point. Print this report.
Management SnapshotManagement Snapshot with Trust in balance
Processing > Trust to Business Transfer. This journal entry totals the current business and trust client ledger balances on a by-account basis, then typically debits trust and credits the relevant ledger. This will reduce the trust obligation, which will reduce the trust creditors. This report should be printed, but it can also be found in the diagnostic reports.
Processing Trust Transfer JournalsPrint the trust transfer list
Management Snapshot post. The purpose is to find a summary of the trust funds in excess of the trust creditors. These funds have become available due to the trust to business journal entry. This document is a summary, and a detailed report such as the Trial Balance may be required in some areas. Find the trust surplus on this report. Print this report.
Management Snapshot with Trust Surplus
Banking Transactions. Process this trust surplus amount with a trust payment and a business receipt. Take the funds out of the trust banking account with a Trust Payment. Process this transaction against the Transfer Control Account. Receive this payment in Business, against the same Transfer Control Account. These transaction should show a nil balance on the Transfer Control Account once we are done. Unbalanced control accounts indicate a problem.
Management Snapshot final. The purpose is to confirm that the books balance correctly after all transactions have been processed. Print this report.
Age Analysis. Inspect the Age Analysis for Accounts Receivable at this point to ensure that Management is fully aware of the extent of outstanding Receivable accounts.
Common Questions
Sometimes we make mistakes or the unexpected happens. What happens to the trust then?
How do I recover VAT on my transfer ? No. There is no VAT applicable to the trust to business transfer transactions. VAT is calculated on transactions as they occur. This means when a Fee is processed, Output VAT is calculated and processed in the system. Similarly when a payment on an expense is made, Input VAT is processed. The cash transfer from trust to business is only that, a cash transfer, and no additional VAT should be raised on that amount.
Must we wait for month end to do a transfer? No! Dynamic is fully integrated and immediately up to date. Post all the necessary transactions and do a transfer immediately. There is no reason to wait for month end. Transfers may be done daily.
I did not do a transfer at the end of last month. Can I force transfer on a specific date? Yes. Simply select the date on which you want to process this transaction and a ledger entry will be processed on that date. Do follow the remaining steps in order to avoid creating a double transfer.
The bank reconciliation is a few months behind, or inaccurate. May I proceed with the transfer ? No. The bank reconciliation is a required preceding step. Proceeding without an up to date cash book and a recent, accurate bank reconciliation undermines the entire process.
My system shows a Trust Deficit. What do I do now? The discussion above assumes the normal position where positive cash flow is from the Trust account to the Business account. It may happen, for reasons not explored here, that a Trust Deficit arises: this is a situation where the net Trust Cash Books are worth less than the Ledger requirements. In such a situation Dynamic will clearly indicate the Trust Deficit position and banking transactions must be processed to correct this state of affairs.
Process a Business Cheque and Trust Receipt against the standard Trust Transfer Control account.
Check the Management Snapshot for the Trust Position.
The Trust to Business feature balances the ledgers. Any remaining differences between the cash books and ledger balances will be reflected by the Management Snapshot.
Mary, the attorney, was at home, surrounded by her files. It was late at night, her household was sleeping. It was that time of night when it was quiet enough to work, and not so late as to get cold and tired.
Mary picked up another file.
She read the cover, to remind
herself of what they were doing. Paged to the back and systematically started
scanning each of the pages in the file.
Every now and then she would inspect the client ledger on the file, in order to verify that the professional work done had been accurately converted to an accounting transaction and recorded on the client’s statement.
Every now and then a missing item would crop up. A “Fee receipt and perusal of something or another…” had been omitted, slipped through the cracks of outdated systems. Every item omitted impacted her cash flow, and the rework and checking was a waste of time. Capturing fees for work done on the go, in real time would prevent omissions. Mary worked hard, but it seemed as if there just was never enough time to get everything done. As the sole owner of her firm, Mary did almost everything by herself. She had a receptionist who also did some typing, and the clerk who seemed to be more interest in taking selfies than actual legal work. Mary’s firm was small, but it was hers.
Time to make a new fee note.
Mary reached for her Fee Book.
The Fee Book was an old school black, hard cover counter book. Battered, it almost looked ancient. It was not old, merely well used, the pages covered in dates, fee notes and amounts. Some lines had been struck through where the entries had been carried over to the ledger.
The stories those
pages could tell!
But Mary’s thoughts were not sentimental.
Mary was annoyed. She had to
turn pages in the file to locate client statements and ledger reports, she had
to write new fee notes by hand. And where billing was on tariff, she had to
pick up the tariff sheets to get the correct tariff items. For commercial work
she had to make special notes. Every activity should be noted to keep track of
the value of the work done, but not billed as individual items.
This is not working for me,
thought Mary.
Too many pages. Too many duplicate reports. Multiple reports, supplied by different people, always out of date by the time she got to read it. Like so many other small law firms, cash flow management always required attention. The first step was converting professional activities into billable hours, and then making sure clients were invoiced regularly, with enough easy to read reports to follow up on outstanding accounts.
What if, Mary thought, there was a better way?
What would it be
like, thought Mary, if there was a system, designed for lawyers, which allowed capturing
all business and trust transactions on a single accounting ledger?
A system which
supported the lawyer’s professional activities. All the transactions clear and
integrated so that it was easy to see exactly what was going on. A system with
a single central, cloud based Fee Book, so that all fees were immediately,
directly written to a single sheet. A Fee Book where events could be captured
as they happened, and not months later. A Fee Book that allowed for Memo
Fees for the commercial files, and To Be Reviewed Fees for the work
the attorney had to check.
A cloud based Fee
Book that could be easily managed and imported into the accounting Ledgers
without retyping.
With pro forma
invoices for clients who insisted on changing the fee descriptions, and
itemized invoices detailing all the work done. With recurring monthly
statements and Accounts Receivable trackers for those clients who always paid
late.
A system that
does all the things expected of an accounting system, and a smart Trust to
Business transfer feature to balance the Ledgers.
A system that
supported law firm operations on a daily basis, reducing the time required to
manage the business, allowing more professional time to write fees. A system
accessible from anywhere, not just the office, with accurate, real-time
reports.
And if the Fee Book is online, thought Mary, maybe her clerk would actual write fees on his cell phone too!
The good news is that such a system is available. A system which
is
Mobile time billing is a vital part of legal practice. The Hours keeper app offers mobile timesheet creation on all major mobile devices. Walking into a client’s office for consultation, or attending a taxation at court, nothing is easier than tapping the start and stop on the Hours Keeper app.
Description: Extensive Quality of Life improvements Status: Effective immediately NEW Date: 14 April 2020 Dynamic interface: Two Version: 2.0.1.169
Explanation:
Extensive Quality of Life improvements have been implemented over the past several months. These are mostly based on end-user feed back. All basic functionality remains available. Visual triggers and reminders have been implemented to support end-users in daily activities.
Description: Client Billing Documents Status: Effective immediately NEW Date: 14 April 2020 Dynamic interface: Two Version: 2.0.1.169
Explanation:
A simple logic has been implemented which allows an immediate Pro Forma invoice to be generated, including Fee Book transactions. The formal Invoice and routine Statement has been streamlined to provide commercial invoicing capabilities to clients. Original functionality remains available.
Layout has been improved and the full 200 character transaction description now appears on itemized client billing documents.
Multi-VAT rate compliance is supported.
These changes have been affected based on end-user feedback. We would love to hear from you. 🙂
Windows 10 Updates change the way Windows works. Not only does the entire Operating System change from time to time, but the various components upgrade in between. Windows Defender was recently updated. This updated (March 2020) has changed the way Defender behaves.
We have previously written on why it is necessary to set folder exclusions and how to do so. That post can be found here.
The current procedure is hidden, but follows the same basic pattern.
NOTE: That accessing the Defender menu through the Control Panel does not work. The option for exclusion is not available there.
Start by finding the Defender shield icon in the icon tray
Scroll down to Virus & threat protection settings
Click Manage Settings
Scroll down to Exclusions
Click Add or remove exclusions
Click the + button to Add an exclusion, and select Folder
Browse to locate the folder to be excluded. For a standard installation this should be the local c:\Dynamic folder
Do not let current uncertainty undermine your professional independence or disrupt your business activities.
At the time of writing this, the future is uncertain. Small law firms are faced with the distressing thought that staff who interact every day, will not see each other for the next few days or weeks.
Dynamic was designed as an online integrated business & trust bookkeeping system, to be used in a geographically distributed working environment. Why work from home when you can work from anywhere?
Instead of having to ask someone else, or having to wait for someone to become available to supply a required report, simply log in and get the report you want, write up the fee in the Fee Book, issue the invoice. Don’t wait.
We aim for 100% uptime, but the truth is, that is a very difficult objective to reach.
Uptime is a measure of reliability. When a user logs in, is the system available. Five-nines or 99.999% availability means 5 minutes, 15 seconds or less of downtime in a year.
We can only reference our own server’s availability. Unavailability caused by client-side issues are beyond our control.
2019
For 2019, we were up 100% of the time. This quite an achievement and a lot of thanks go to our server support team. Well done!
We give ourselves a five star rating: ★★★★★
2019 uptime
2018
During 2018, we experienced a few minor connectivity issues which were mostly related to hardware related updates. Even so, we had only partial down time on several dates. We were up and working almost always.
We give ourselves a four star rating: ★★★★
2018 uptime
2017
The 2017 stats are no longer available, but server upgrades and other issues occasioned several downtime sessions, although these were all quickly resolved with no failed remote logins.
As a hybrid cloud based solution Dynamic uses a familiar Windows user interface, with access to a range of Windows features, such as saving PDFs to the Documents folder and integrating with Microsoft Office components, such as Outlook and Excel.
But, sometimes you just need to check something. What to do when your computer is not around, or it’s simply too much of a hassle to walk to the room and fetch it? Do you really need to switch on the computer to see whats going on? Or wait for the office to open to ask somebody to check?
Fortunately, Dynamic understands that sometimes you need easy online access.
Dynamic Online Reports
Dynamic has a light weight online access portal which allows basic activities on any mobile device.
Online means browser based.
Online means access anywhere.
Online means any device, at any time.
The online access portal is designed to provide focused access, restricting access and reports to client matters. Sensitive business information is not accessible. Transactions cannot be processed.
Ideally suited for easy access on the go, or limited to Reception or clerk level activities, the online access portal contains the following features:
Search – Find Files or Transactions
Ledger History Analysis
Fee Book
File Notes
General File Detail Report
Imagine a Receptionist, tasked with channeling income phone calls. The online access portal allows name searches, which displays sufficient information to accurately identify the reference and the attorney involved.
Routing is now easy.
The attorney walks into an important meeting. Accurate information is critical. The online access portal makes it easy to confirm the last transactions and read the most recent file notes. Afterwards a fee is immediately debited to the Fee Book.
On a cell phone.
Online accessibility makes it possible to work at any time, anywhere, on any mobile device.
Conditions apply. All current versions of major browsers are supported.
Ever wondered how to customize your Dynamic Profile Pic?
If you do not have a Gravatar account, don’t worry, Dynamic will automatically create a pixel image from Gravatar, linked to your unique login. Just make sure you use the same login for Gravatar and Dynamic. Please use a different password. 🙂
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