Overview
The Financial Summary can show an optional Available figure alongside the standard Trust balance. This article explains what Available means, how it differs from the Trust balance, and why it shows for some matters but not others. For how to turn it on, see Enable the Available Balance in the Financial Summary.
Available appears directly below Headroom. It gives trust account staff a view of the funds available on a matter, and is not a bank balance: it does not reflect whether receipts or payments have cleared.
Note: Click any screenshot to expand it for a clearer view while following the steps.
What Available includes and excludes
Available shows how much of a matter's trust money has not yet been paid out or applied to the firm's invoices. In the Financial Summary, unpaid invoices appear as the matter's Accounts Rendered (AR) balance.
Available increases when trust money is:
- received into the matter, or
- journaled into the matter,
unless it has been applied to one of the firm's invoices.
Available reduces when trust money is:
- paid out, such as for a settlement or refund.
Recording the firm's charges does not reduce Available on its own. Fees, expenses, penalty interest and disbursements reduce it only when trust money is applied to the invoice they are billed on. A requisition that has not been posted has no effect on Available.
The standard Trust balance treats these charges differently: it reduces as they are debited to the matter, while Available does not reduce until trust money is applied. This is why Available is usually higher than Trust, and the difference between the two figures is the firm's charges not yet collected from trust.
Note: Available is not a guide to how much can be paid out of trust. It can be higher than the funds actually held, so it should not be used to decide how much to disburse.
Why some matters show a dash
Available can only be calculated for matters created in OneLaw. It cannot be calculated for matters with transactions imported or migrated from another practice management system, because OneLaw cannot confirm the imported records are complete.
On those matters the Available row still appears, but the label is greyed out and a dash ( - ) is shown in place of a value. Hovering the row displays the message "Available balance cannot be displayed for imported matters". The standard Trust balance is unaffected and displays as normal.
Keeping the Available figure accurate
Available is only as accurate as the transactions it is calculated from. To keep it accurate:
- Flag disbursement payments as disbursements when you post them, so they are treated correctly in the calculation.
- Apply receipts and credits to the relevant invoice, rather than adjusting an Accounts Receivable (AR) balance manually.
When transactions are recorded this way, Available gives a dependable view of the funds available on the matter.