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Payments not yet allocated

Q: What are "payments not yet allocated" and how do they differ from "unapplied payments" on the fee allocation reports?

A: The fee allocation reports (added by RTG Reports) are:

These reports calculate how much of the fees received for a matter can be attributed to each timekeeper who worked on that matter.

Payments not yet allocated are fee payments that have been entered, but RTG Bills cannot attribute them to a particular timekeeper.  For example, if you enter a payment and you uncheck Automatic Allocation, you can enter the amount of the payment that applies to fees.  But if this payment exceeds the fees that have been billed, RTG Bills cannot determine which timekeeper should get credit for the payment until more fees are billed.

If you enter all payments using Automatic Allocation (recommended), you are unlikely to see "payments not yet allocated" on the fee allocation reports.

Unapplied payments are payments that have been received but RTG Bills has not yet determined how much applies to fees rather than to expenses, late charges, or taxes.  This occurs when you enter a payment and Automatic Allocation is checked.  The amount that goes toward fees will be determined when the next bill is printed.

Some reports will take the unapplied payments and use them (that is, determine the amount to be used to pay fees, expenses, late charges, and taxes) based on the unbilled transactions that have been entered.  This is an estimate, and it will be correct when the client is paying a previous balance.  However, the fee allocation reports don't do this.

You can minimize the number of unapplied payments on a fee allocation report if you print the report right after the bills are printed.  At that time, most payments that you have received will have appeared on the bills.

You still might see unapplied payments if:

  1. You did not use today's date as the payment/adjustment cutoff date.  In that case, there may be payments that you have entered but which were not printed on the bills.  They are unapplied payments if they were entered with Automatic Allocation.
  2. The amount paid exceeds the amount due for a matter (an overpayment).

To see exactly where the "payments not yet allocated" or the "unapplied payments" on the Total Fees Billed and Collected report come from, you have to work backwards.  Look at the Summary of Fees Billed and Collected report to see which matters contributed to the total, then look at Fees Billed and Collected for individual matters to see the actual calculations.