The Global Settings feature under the Maintenance menu is used to modify the software options and settings to suit the way your firm operates. These options apply to everyone who uses the program. Only users with full administrative access can change global settings and the software must be set to single-user mode to access the feature.
About Firm tab
This section contains firm name, address and contact details. This information is used in various areas of Unity Accounting, for example, in bill templates. Your province/state setting will automatically update tax settings that apply to your province or state, as well as enable the access to certain features. Some examples include:
- British Columbia – the global settings will automatically enable Trust Administration Fee.
- Alberta – the global settings will unlock the Law Society Audit Export in the Reports menu.
- Ontario – the global settings will unlock the Ontario Levy report in the Reports menu.
General tab
This section allows you to enable and disable certain automatic features to customize the way software works to suit the needs of your law firm.
- Client and vendor automatic numbering – you can set up the software to automatically generate client/matter and vendor numbers for you. Note that automatic numbering only works with digits – if you wish to have text or special characters in your client/matter numbers, you should disable automatic numbering enter them manually.
- Use matters and sub-files – when you go through the initial set-up process, you will be prompted to select whether you want to have a unique client number for each case or you want to group matters and sub-files for each client. If you want to change this setting after beginning data entry, please contact our Technical Support.
- General – this section allows you to enable/disable the following features: the use of originating lawyers, automatic conflict search during new client entry, trust overdrafts, totals/sub-totals for general checks and vendor invoices and reset one-time messages.
- Auto-populate – you have an options to automatically pre-fill the city field with the city where your firm is located.
- Printing – customize your printing settings for cheque postings.
- Receipt numbering – enable/disable automatic receipt numbering and specify the number to begin the numbering from.
- Identification and Verification – prevent trust receipt entry until client is marked as identified and verified.
- Fee Distribution – set-up a default method of fee allocation for bill payments; you can also customize this setting individually for each client/matter to override the global settings.
- Trust Administration Fee – will be enabled only for firms operating in British Columbia.
Accounting Method tab
You will choose your accounting method during the initial set-up process of your Unity Accounting. You cannot change the accounting method after beginning to post new transactions.
Control accounts are general ledger accounts in your Chart of Accounts which are used to reconcile your general ledger with your clients/matters and are used for automatic journal entries when you use any transaction feature. The Control Accounts enables you to configure and modify your control accounts. We strongly recommend to consult with our technical support team prior to making any modifications to the control accounts.
Billing and Financial tabs
You can enable automatic billing numbering and specify which number to start your billing sequence from. The Financial tab contains your financial fiscal year settings, allows you to create and modify a password for closed financial year adjustments and create a cash receipt limit.
Tax tab
Tax tab contains your tax settings such as your business tax number and tax rates. The software will automatically create tax rates based on your province/state. Note that you can customize tax settings for each client and matter to override the global tax settings, e.g. for tax exempt clients.
e-Payments tab
This section controls the settings for the credit card processing feature. Please contact us for more information about the feature and for instructions on how to set-up a merchant account.