Step by step
Receive client money
Record money a client sends the firm, such as a deposit for disbursements, purchase money or a settlement, on the client's matter in the client account.
When a client sends money to the firm’s client account, record it in Kila on the client’s matter. It then shows on the client’s ledger, and it can be paid out for the client or, once a fee note is delivered, moved to office to pay it. In the demo, Cynthia Achieng (associate) records KES 50,000 that Nuru Solar Kenya Ltd sent by bank transfer for the filing fees of its Series A.
Open Client money
Go to Fees and client money › Client money and tap Receive. “Money held for a client: deposits on account of fees, purchase money, settlement sums, money recovered. It is not the firm’s until a fee note is delivered.”
Choose the matter
Type part of its number or name and choose it: “The money is held for this matter.”
Say how much and how it came
Type the Amount, choose the client account it went Into, and choose How: Bank transfer, M-Pesa, Cheque or Cash. Then type its reference, which Kila names after how it came: the Bank reference, the M-Pesa code or the Cheque number. Receive waits until it is there; cash needs none.
Say whether it is held as stakeholder
Leave Held as stakeholder unticked for the client’s own money. Tick it for a deposit “Held for both sides until a condition is met (a deposit on a sale); it cannot be paid out or to office until released.” Kila then asks who it is Held for (for example “The vendor and the purchaser”) and Until when (for example “Registration of the transfer”).
Tap Receive
Add a Note if it helps. Kila says, for example, CM-000048: KES 50,000.00 received into the client account.
Check the client's ledger
Tap Client ledgers (“What is held for each client and matter.”), find the matter and open it. It shows what is Held, what is held As stakeholder and what is Free, with each movement. The receipt is there as Received, with how it came, its reference and who recorded it. On the statement says Not yet until the bank statement line is matched to it.
The law says
Client money is held for the client in the client account, apart from the firm’s own money, under the Advocates (Accounts) Rules. As the dialog says, it is not the firm’s until a fee note is delivered. The firm’s practice rules also keep Client identified before client money is received switched on, marked with a lock: “The two marked with a lock are required by Kenyan law for a law firm and stay on.”
The money is not for a matter yet
Link to this section: The money is not for a matter yetLeave the matter empty and choose the client under “Or the client (money not yet for a matter; accounts and the partners only)”.
The bank reversed it, or it was recorded in error
Link to this section: The bank reversed it, or it was recorded in errorKila never edits a receipt. A partner who did not record it opens the client’s ledger and taps Reverse beside it: “For a receipt the bank reversed (a cheque returned) or recorded in error: a correcting entry is posted, never an edit. If money was already paid out against it, the ledger goes overdrawn and an exception opens.” The partner gives the reason.
- Identify a client: before the firm holds their money.
- Pay out of client money: paying it for the client.
- Agree the fees on a matter: a deposit asked for.