Recording manual bill payments accurately keeps a client's balance up to date and your firm's accounts reconciled. You record payments received outside Clio Payments, apply client funds already held for a client, edit or delete these payments, and track their history. Complete records show what has been paid, what is outstanding, and where every payment was allocated.
Note: This article covers payments recorded outside Clio Payments, such as cash, cheque, wire transfer, or client funds already held for a client. To record a payment from client funds, see Apply Client Funds to Bills. To record a credit card or eCheck payment processed through Clio Payments, see Record and Manage Online Bill Payments.
Understand manual payment sources
- Direct payment
Record a payment received outside Clio Payments, such as cash, cheque, wire transfer, or ACH. Recording a direct payment marks the transaction as paid.
- Other
Record a payment from an external platform such as Cash App or Venmo, or a credit card processed outside Clio Payments. This selection marks the transaction as paid.
- Client account
Apply client funds already received at the client or matter level towards a bill.
Record a single bill or multi-matter bill payment
You record payment for a single bill and a multi-matter bill in the same way. A multi-matter bill is one bill that includes activities for multiple matters belonging to one client.
Note: On a multi-matter bill, payment applies to the oldest created matter first. A partial payment applies from the oldest matter to the newest.
- Go to the Billing tab, or the Bills subtab in a matter or contact.
- Click the down arrow next to Send and select Record payment.
- Select Direct payment or Other as the payment source, then select the deposit account, payer, and amount paid. When the amount paid is less than the amount due, you can write off the remaining amount and add a description or note.
- When the client has available client funds, select the client account as a payment source to apply them instead.
- Click Record payment.
Record payment for one client's multiple bills
Note: You cannot record payments for bills belonging to different clients at the same time.
- In Clio Manage, click Billing.
- Click Record payment.
- Search for the client. All unpaid bills for that client appear.
- Select Direct payment or Other as the payment source, then select the deposit account, payer, and amount paid for each bill. When the amount paid is less than the combined total, you can write off the remaining amounts.
- When the client has available client funds, select the client account as a payment source to apply them instead.
- Click Record payment.
Edit a recorded manual bill payment
Note: You can edit all fields except the write-off and credit note. To apply a credit note or write-off, delete the payment first. You cannot change the amount on a client fund request payment. You will need to return the funds instead.
Via the Bills subtab
- Go to Billing, or click the Bills subtab in a contact or matter.
- Click the bill ID to open the bill.
- Under the Payments subtab, click Edit next to the payment.
- Make your changes and click Edit payment.
Via the Transactions subtab
- Go to the contact or matter's Transactions subtab.
- Select the account where the funds were deposited.
- Find the payment transaction and click Edit.
- Make your changes and click Edit payment.
Delete a recorded manual bill payment
Important: You can delete a direct payment. You cannot delete a client request payment; return the client funds instead in Record Payments on Client Fund Requests.
- Go to Billing, or click the Bills subtab in a contact or matter.
- Click the bill ID to open the bill.
- Under the Payments subtab, click the down arrow next to Edit and select Delete.
- When the warning prompt appears, select Delete.
View bill payment history
After a payment is recorded, you can see which firm user recorded it in three places:
- Bill Timeline
Open a bill, and under Bill Timeline, view the creation and payment history.
- Firm Feed
Go to Dashboard > Firm Feed, click Filter, and under Type select Bill payment or Client fund request payment.
- Matter Timeline
Open the matter Dashboard, scroll to Timeline, and filter by bill payment or client funds request.
Up next
- Record and Manage Online Bill Payments: Record and track credit card and eCheck payments processed through Clio Payments.
- Record Payments on Client Fund Requests: Record a client's client deposit before you apply it to a bill.