MYOB Practice Management glossary

Activity AE/AO - Task

A category that describes the type of work performed on a timesheet entry (for example, Tax Preparation, Meeting).

Activities are selected when entering chargeable time so that WIP can be analysed by type of work.

Approver

The employee responsible for approving items such as fees, invoices, receipts, credit notes or timesheets.

Can be System Assigned based on approval settings or manually selected on each batch or document.

Batch

A group of related transactions (fees, invoices, receipts, credit notes, disbursements) processed together.

Each batch has its own Batch Number , date, processing office and totals for amount, GST and adjustments.

Batch Number

The unique identifier for a batch of transactions. Before approval, draft invoices/fees use the batch number as their temporary invoice number; a final invoice number is only allocated once the batch is approved and posted.

Biller

Defaults to the Client Partner but can be changed for a particular invoice or fee.

Billing Client AE/AO – Billing Parent

A client set to be billed behalf of one or more related clients (child entities). When WIP is billed under a Billing Client, WIP from linked clients can be included on that fee.

Billing Wizard

A guided, multi-step process used when preparing Open Item Fees. It lets you filter WIP, select and allocate WIP lines to the fee, manage adjustments and narrations, and confirm that the invoice balances before finishing.

Client

An entity (individual, company, trust, etc.) that your practice provides services to. Client records store details such as category, services (Office Costing, Secretarial, Tax), references, addresses, tax details, UDFs, WIP and debtor balances.

Client Enquiry

A dashboard-style screen that shows a searchable list of clients, key balances (total WIP, total debtors, combined balance) and quick links into client maintenance and related dashboards.

Contact

An individual person set as a Contact record used for communication and integrations (e.g. Billing Contact for Debtor Management, Nimbus contacts, ATO SmartDocs contact). Contacts can be linked to one or more clients with specific contact types and delivery methods.

Credit Note

A document that credits funds against an existing fee or invoice. It adjusts the debtor balance but does not affect WIP. Often used for discounts or writing off bad debts (with an appropriate allocation code).

Debtor

The amount a client owes your practice (outstanding invoices/fees). Debtor balances are shown on client and group enquiry screens.

Debtor Transfer

A process that moves debtor entries (fees, invoices, receipts, credit notes) from one client to another. Requires deallocating related receipts first to avoid unintended linked transfers.

Disbursement

An expense incurred by the practice on behalf of a client (e.g. filing fees, ASIC charges) and then on-charged to the client. Disbursements can be entered via timesheets or via Disbursement Bulk Capture , and sit in WIP until billed.

Disbursement Bulk Capture

A spreadsheet-based import tool for entering multiple disbursement transactions in one batch. Users download a template, populate required fields (date, employee code, client, task, disbursement code, amount, narration) and upload for validation and posting.

Entry Group

A classification used on batches (specifically receipts) to distinguish the nature of entries, such as Receipts, Receipt Adjustment or payment method–specific groups like Direct Deposit or Credit Card.

Group

A collection of related clients (e.g. family group or corporate group) used for consolidated WIP and debtor reporting, shared addresses and group notes.

Groups can be created and maintained in Group Maintenance and viewed via Group Enquiry.

Group Addresses

Postal, business and physical addresses stored at group level. When a client is set to Use Group Addresses, these addresses automatically populate and lock the corresponding client address fields.

Invoice AE/AO - Miscellaneous Bill

A profit-only fee raised to a customer that does not create or use any WIP on the client’s ledger. Typically used when you are not matching against recorded WIP.

Invoice Date

The official date of the invoice/fee. Controlled by system options and can be set as Capture Date, System Date (approval date/period), or EOM System Date (last day of the current period).

Interim Fee AE/AO – Estimate to Complete

A fee raised before work is completed. The amount sits as a negative WIP balance (credit) on the client’s WIP ledger, effectively allowing the client to pay in advance for future work.

Notes (Fee Notes)

Internal-only notes attached to a fee or invoice. A note count icon is visible on the billing screen; clicking the count lets you view notes without opening the fee. Notes can also have alerts assigned to specific employees.

Open Item Fee

The standard WIP-based fee type where you select WIP entries (time and disbursements) to bill. Prepared via the Billing Wizard, which supports filtering WIP, allocating amounts to fees and handling write-offs/write-ups.

Portal (Delivery Method)

A contact delivery method used when debtor documents (invoices, fees, statements, credit notes) are sent electronically via integrated portal/email processes.

Contacts with delivery method Portal are included in Debtor Management email runs.

Receipt

A payment received from a client and applied to one or more invoices/fees. Receipts are raised in batches, can be allocated or unallocated, and flow through to debtor balances and allocation reports.

Receipt Adjustment

A special receipt entry group used to reverse a previously posted receipt. Requires the receipt to be unallocated first and is recorded in a current or future period (not backdated to a closed period).

Secure Views / Personal Lists

Security features that restrict which clients a user can see, based on office or specific client assignments. If a client is marked as secure for one employee, you must explicitly grant access to other employees who should see that client.

Security Role

A set of permissions that controls what a user can see and do in MPM (menus, modules, reports, buttons like Approve/Post). Users can have multiple roles; roles are maintained in Settings > Administration > Security Maintenance / Role Management.

Service Line AE/AO - Department

A service area (e.g. Business Advisory, Tax) linked to employees and used on billing and WIP to support reporting by line of service. Defaults from the biller/employee but can be changed on transactions.

Standard Task AE/AO – Assignment

Tasks are used to break down at a high level the type of work and in many cases the year that work relates to. All Tasks must be linked back to a Service Line.

Tasks are shown per client in Task Enquiry , and each task has its own partner, manager, billing manager, office.

Timesheet

A batch of time entries (and, separately, disbursements) recording hours/units worked. Timesheets progress through statuses (open, submitted, approved, posted) and feed WIP reporting and billing.

Timesheet Widget

A clock icon in the top-right navigation that lets users quickly add time, use stopwatch-style timers, and view daily/weekly time summaries without opening the full timesheet screen.

Unallocated Receipt

A receipt that has not yet been applied to any invoice/fee. Identified by a “U” prefix and can later be allocated (fully or partially) to specific invoices/fees.

User Defined Field (UDF) AE/AO - Extras

Custom fields are created to capture extra, structured information about clients (or other entities) in a consistent way. UDFs can be mandatory, validated, list-based and are visible on client cards and in integrations like Nimbus.

WIP (Work in Progress)

Unbilled time and disbursements recorded against clients and tasks. WIP is captured via timesheets and disbursements, appears on WIP reports and dashboards, and is cleared when billed or written off.

WIP Management Dashboard

A tool for bulk managing WIP by client and task. It allows filtering, writing off WIP (in full per task), terminating tasks as part of cleanup, and bulk-updating task details such as partner/manager/allow time & expense capture.

WIP Transfer

A utility used to move full WIP entries (time or disbursements) from one client/task to another. Does not allow moving of partially billed WIP entries. Provides a preview and supports audit reporting via the WIP Transfer report.

Write Off / Write Up

Adjustments applied to WIP or fees to reduce (write off) or increase (write up) the amount billed compared with the underlying WIP value.

In billing, these are shown as Adjustment totals for the batch and can be automated via the Auto Adjust setting.