For law firms, accepting credit card payments can be tricky. It becomes easier when your firm puts these best practices in place. Use a payment processor that can handle the unique requirements of law firms and trust accounts. Integrate billing & accounting record to keep them in lockstep with each other. Use providers that integrate with your billing and accounting … Read More
Finding a QuickBooks Alternative for Your Law Firm
With over 2.2 million users, QuickBooks is the go-to general accounting program for many small businesses. When it comes to law practices, however, QuickBooks does not directly address many of the crucial needs of legal accounting. Therefore there are several reasons lawyers (and their accountants) choose to avoid it. In this post, we’ll be discussing the common challenges associated with … Read More
Three-Way Reconciliation: The #1 Report to Solve Your Trust Audit Worries
Picture this: You have just found out your law firm’s trust accounts are about to be audited. What’s your first reaction? Managing client funds is a significant responsibility, and unfortunately, we’ve all heard stories of lawyers who fall short of fulfilling their duty—unintentionally and in some case, intentionally. As a result, trust accounting, or IOLTA, has drawn the increased attention … Read More
Avoiding Compliance Issues When Getting Paid
While the primary focus of any law firm should be providing sound legal advice to clients, the only way to ensure quality service is to keep business up and running—which means matters of compliance and handling payments must also be top priorities. Fortunately, technology is here to help, and in this post, we’ll be discussing best practices for avoiding compliance … Read More
7 Reports Vital for Trust Accounting
Trust accounting, also known as escrow accounting or IOLTA accounting, is an essential component of every law firm. From tracking client funds in trust accounts to meeting state regulations to maintaining a complete record of clean and accurate three-way reconciliations, trust accounting requires meticulous bookkeeping of both software records and paper trails. Although trust accounting may not be concerned with … Read More
Tech Tip #204: Your Firm Needs A Complete Picture of Matter Balances
When putting together a complete picture of your firm’s matter balances it should include account A/R, WIP, and your trust balances. Open invoices with trust retainers must first be cleared by drawing funds from trust (if any) into general and AR balances. Employing an automated legal accounting solution can help firms manage their matter balances in a more efficient manner. … Read More
CosmoLex Announces Approval from the Law Society of Alberta
CosmoLex becomes first cloud-based practice management system with built-in accounting to be approved by Law Society of Alberta. MONMOUTH JUNCTION, NJ – March 27, 2018 – CosmoLex, a leading legal software developer, announced today that they have met all the requirements to become approved for use by the Law Society of Alberta’s Responsible Lawyer Program. The Law Society of Alberta’s … Read More
Tech Tip #203: Your Firm Shouldn’t Use General Accounting Software For Trust
Trust accounting requires legal-specific accounting, so the system your firm uses to manage its trusts should be legal-specific. General systems require workarounds to create the appropriate ledgers and reports and even then it will not provide the appropriate safeguards against overdrafts, commingling, and deposits that aren’t associated with a matter. Learn more about Trust Accounting Challenges That Are More Than … Read More
5 Trust Accounting Challenges That Are More Than Just Accounting
Trust accounting challenges pose not only a compliance concern, but can also affect a firm’s bottom line. Learn more from this article.
Tech Tip #202: Cyber Security Inside Your Firm
Law firms are responsible for much more than just what happens inside the courtroom. They are the keeper of financial records and sensitive information of their clients. It’s important that only members of your firm who need to have access to this information have it. Set up strict user privileges and access controls inside your practice management system to ensure … Read More