Understanding the "As At Date" for Disbursements

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This article explains how to set and use the "As At Date" when disbursing funds from your Client/Trust Account. The "As At Date" allows you to disburse funds effective from a particular date, streamlining your financial records and ensuring accuracy on owner statements. We'll show you the steps to change this date and explain the parameters and limitations of this function.

There are two dates for every transaction - The 'processed date' and the 'transaction date'.

  • The 'processed date' is the actual date and time it was entered (or recorded) in Re-Leased
  • The 'transaction date' is the date specified by the user or defined on the bank statement as the date the payment/transaction occurred.

 

What Does "As At Date" Affect?

The "As At Date" is a crucial element of the disbursement process that determines which transactions are included in your disbursement. Understanding its impact is essential for accurate financial reporting:

Income Transactions

The "As At Date" directly affects which income transactions are included in the disbursement:

  • Income transactions are included based on their transaction date being on or before the "As At Date"
  • The processed date of income transactions does not matter for inclusion

Expense Transactions

The "As At Date" does not affect expense transactions:

  • All expense payments processed for the disbursement are included, regardless of the "As At Date"
  • Expense invoices are not filtered by the "As At Date" setting

Owner Statements

The disbursement is recorded on owner statements reflecting the actual "As At Date" selected, ensuring reports accurately show the intended disbursement period.

 

Transaction Inclusion Examples

Scenario: A disbursement with "As At Date" of 31 May is processed on 5 June

Income Payments

  1. INCLUDED: Income payment dated 25 May and processed on 26 May
    • ✅ Transaction date (25 May) is before "As At Date" (31 May)
  2. INCLUDED: Income payment dated 31 May and processed on 1 June
    • ✅ Transaction date (31 May) is on the "As At Date" (31 May)
  3. EXCLUDED: Income payment dated 1 June and processed on 2 June
    • ❌ Transaction date (1 June) is after "As At Date" (31 May)

Expense Payments

All expense payments processed for this disbursement are included, regardless of their transaction dates or the "As At Date" setting.

 

Key Rules for Income Transaction Inclusion

Income payments are included in the disbursement when:

  • The payment has a transaction date on or before the "As At Date"
  • The processing date is irrelevant for inclusion criteria

Income payments are excluded when:

  • The payment has a transaction date after the "As At Date"

 

Changing the "As At Date"

To adjust the "As At Date" during a disbursement:

  1. Start the disbursement process, and you'll notice that the "As At Date" field defaults to today's date
  2. If necessary, change the date by clicking on the field and selecting a date in the past

Limitations of the "As At Date"

While setting the "As At Date" to a past date can be beneficial, there are certain limitations you should be aware of:

  • The "As At Date" cannot be earlier than the most recent disbursement date (this includes creditor, fee, and owner disbursements)
  • If you have the Non-resident Landlord Tax feature enabled, this option will not be available

For instance, if a disbursement for an owner was last completed on October 3rd, you cannot select October 2nd or an earlier date for the next disbursement for that owner.

Best Practices

  • Use the "As At Date" to ensure your disbursements reflect the correct reporting period
  • Remember that only income transactions are filtered by this date
  • Verify your transaction dates before processing disbursements to ensure accurate reporting
  • Consider the impact on owner statements when selecting historical dates
  • If you pay creditors separately to owners, ensure the creditor disbursement "As At Date" is dated on the same date, or prior to the date you want to use for the disbursement that will produce owner statements. 
  • For owner disbursements with a statement, the selected "As At Date" will appear as the statement end date.

By adhering to these guidelines, you can effectively manage disbursements, thereby ensuring your owner statements and financial records remain consistent and transparent.

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