Creating an Office Disbursement Journal

14/01/2026
Knowledge

How To

You can create Office Matter to Matter and Write Off Amount Disbursement Journals on LEAP Desktop.

Click to edit heading

Only disbursement journals with the journal type Write Off Amount will create a general ledger journal.

The general ledger entry for a disbursement journal, regardless of the accounting basis, will be:

Debit - LEAP Payments Write Off.
Credit - LEAP Office Payment.

Desktop
Web

Create a New Office Matter to Matter Disbursement Journal

A Matter to Matter Disbursement Journal is used when Office Account funds need to be moved from one matter to another.

There must be a disbursement balance on the matter that the funds are being transferred from.

Open the matter.
Click LEAP Accounting.

LEAP Accounting will open in a new window.
Click the Office Accounting > Payments & Debtors tabs.
Click New Journal on the toolbar to open the New Disbursement Journal window.
Select Matter to matter(s) from the Journal Type drop-down list.
The Journal No. is automatically numbered and can't be changed.
Enter or select the Date.
Untick the Inc. tax checkbox, if required.
In the top row of the table:
1. Click the Matter No. cell and then to select the matter that the funds are being transferred from. Click Select for your choice to fill the Matter No. cell.
2. Click the Reason cell to type a description in the textbox.
3. Enter the amount you're transferring from the current matter in the Credit cell.
4. Click the Tax Code cell and then to choose the tax code from a list. Click Select for your choice to fill the Tax Code cell.
In the following row of the table:
1. Click the Matter No. cell and then to select the matter that the funds are being transferred to. Click Select for your choice to fill the Matter No. cell.
2. Click the Reason cell to type a description in the textbox.
3. Enter the amount you're transferring to the other matter in the Debit cell.
4. Click the Tax Code cell and then to choose the tax code from a list. Click Select for your choice to fill the Tax Code cell.

The same amount must be entered in the Credit and Debit cells so that the disbursement journal balances.
Matter numbers in the date format 'xxxx-xx-xx' that contain a non-existent day or month (e.g 2025-31-12 or 2025-12-40) will not be supported for accounting actions. Users will have to manually update the matter number to a supported format.

(This is optional) Click on the toolbar to print the journal once it's been saved.
Click Save & Close.

The journals will be recorded in the relevant matters under the Office Accounting > Payments & Debtors tabs.

Click to edit heading

Please note that the original payment will still be marked as Billable on the matter it was transferred from. Therefore, you will need to manually set it to Not Billable, if required.

Open the original payment item and right-click on the line item and select Not Billable.

Create a New Office Write Off Amount Disbursement Journal

A write off amount disbursement journal can only be created if there's a debit balance in the disbursement ledger.

Open the matter.
Click LEAP Accounting.

LEAP Accounting will open in a new window.
Click the Office Accounting > Payments & Debtors tabs.
Click New Journal on the toolbar to open the New Disbursement Journal window.
Select Write off amount from the Journal Type drop-down list.
The Journal No. is automatically numbered and can't be changed.
Enter or select the Date.
Untick the Inc. tax checkbox, if required.
In the first row of the table, click the Matter No. cell and then to select the matter. Click Select for your choice to fill the Matter No. cell.
Click the Reason cell to type a description in the textbox.
Enter the amount to be written off in the Credit cell.
Click the Tax Code cell and then to choose the tax code from a list. Click Select for your choice to fill the Tax Code cell.
(This is optional) Click on the toolbar to print the journal once it's been saved.
Click Save & Close.

The write off will be recorded in the matter under the Office Accounting > Payments & Debtors tabs and will be marked as Not Billable.

Click to edit heading

If you encounter the error message "Incorrect Tax Code used for this type of transaction" while attempting to write off an office payment, you can follow the steps above to manually create a new Office Write-Off Amount Disbursement Journal. For additional assistance, please contact LEAP Client Support.

Create a New Office Matter to Matter Disbursement Journal

Click to edit heading

There must be a disbursement balance on the matter that the funds are being transferred from.

Open the matter.
Hover over the Office Accounting tab and click Payments & Debtors.
Click New Journal.
The New Disbursement Journal window will open.
Select Matter to matter(s) from the Journal Type drop-down list.
The Journal No. is automatically numbered and can't be changed.
Enter or select the Transaction Date.
In the top row of the table:
1. By default, the Matter No. cell is auto-filled with the matter you're in. Click into the Matter No. cell to select a different matter from a drop-down list, if required.
2. Type a description in the Reason cell.
3. Enter the amount you're transferring from the current matter in the Credit cell.
4. Select or change the Tax Code from the drop-down list.
In the following row of the table:
1. Click into the Matter No. cell to select the matter from a drop-down list.
2. Type a description in the Reason cell.
3. Enter the amount you're transferring to the other matter in the Debit cell.
4. Select or change the Tax Code from the drop-down list.

Click to edit heading

The same amount must be entered in the Credit and Debit cells so that the disbursement journal balances.

Clickand untick Inc. Tax, if required.
(This is optional) Toggle the Print option On to print the journal once it's been saved.
Click Save.

The journals will be recorded in the relevant matters under the Office Accounting > Payments & Debtors tabs.

Click to edit heading

Please note that the original payment will still be marked as Billable on the matter it was transferred from. Therefore, you will need to manually set it to Not Billable, if required.

Open the original payment item and right-click on the line item and select Not Billable.

Create a New Office Write Off Amount Disbursement Journal

Click to edit heading

A write off amount disbursement journal can only be created if there's a debit balance in the disbursement ledger.

Open the matter.
Hover over the Office Accounting tab and click Payments & Debtors.
Click New Journal.
The New Disbursement Journal window will open.
Select Write-off from the Journal Type drop-down list.
The Journal No. is automatically numbered and can't be changed.
Enter or select the Transaction Date.
In the first row of the table, by default, the Matter No. cell is auto-filled with the matter you're in. Click into the Matter No. cell to select a different matter from a drop-down list, if required.
Type a description in the Reason cell.
Enter the amount you're writing off in the Amount cell.
Select or change the Tax Code from the drop-down list.
Clickand untick Inc. Tax, if required.
(This is optional) Toggle the Print option On to print the journal once it's been saved.
Click Save.

The write off will be recorded in the matter under the Office Accounting > Payments & Debtors tabs and will be marked as Not Billable.

Click to edit heading

Please note that the original payment will still be marked as Billable on the matter it was transferred from. Therefore, you will need to manually set it to Not Billable, if required.

Open the original payment item and right-click on the line item and select Not Billable.

Last Modified Date

14/01/2026 7:46 pm

Title

Creating an Office Disbursement Journal

URL Name

Creating-an-Office-Disbursement-Journal-NZ

Resolution