CosmoLex vs QuickBooks®: Why Lawyers Prefer CosmoLex Built-in Accounting
It’s simple. CosmoLex is built to handle all the unique requirements of legal accounting. QuickBooks is not.
And that is a big deal. Because it means that QuickBooks financials are always suspect, due to the need to use multiple manual (error-prone) procedures & workarounds. Plus, QuickBooks results in higher costs because you need to run multiple software systems – for accounting, billing, practice management, etc. These costs – in money, time & effort -- never go away.
Let’s take a look…
QuickBooks®
CosmoLex
Financial Data
It is up to you to collect all the data for timekeeping, billing, CRM & more. Getting that data into QuickBooks takes time & effort.
- Data sync between billing, time keeping, etc. is a manual process that requires constant checking.
- Double Data Entry. You either manually re-key financial data into QuickBooks -- which takes time & brings more errors -- or you can struggle with problematic imports.
CosmoLex’s all-in-one system keeps one set of data – that is shared across all modules (billing, timekeeping, accounting, etc.)
- No Data Sync Needed
- No Double Data Entry
- No Data Imports
Trust Accounting
Staying compliant involves manual workarounds.
- No protection against overdrafts or commingling.
- No protection against posting funds in the wrong accounts.
- No 3-Way Reconciliation. Must be constructed manually, offline. A time-consuming process.
CosmoLex keeps you compliant – automatically.
- Built-in, automatic protection for overdraft & commingling.
- Funds automatically posted to the correct accounts.
- 3-Way Reconciliation built in as a one-click process -- that even pulls in bank account data automatically.
Cost Tracking
Cost tracking is a manual process.
- Must manually check the correct posting of all items.
- Cost recovery for direct & indirect cost reimbursements is a tedious manual process.
- Inflated revenue is common due to the difficulty in differentiating between income & cost recovery.
Cost tracking is automatic, thanks to CosmoLex’s matter-centric architecture.
- CosmoLex automatically checks that all funds are posted to the correct account.
- Cost recovery reports are built in. Always available. Always current.
- Revenue is accurate & always current.
Payment Accounting
Payment tracking involves manual workarounds.
- Partial payments are applied proportionately, requiring manual adjustment.
- Payments from a trust account to an invoice require multiple manual steps.
- Online Payments –QuickBooks does not track payments to invoices. Reconciliation is a daily headache.
Payment tracking is automatic.
- Partial payments are applied first to costs, then to fees – automatically.
- Trust account payments are applied to an invoice with a single click.
- CosmoLex’s built-in online payment processing tracks transactions end-to-end. Reconciliation is automatic.
Productivity & Profitability Analyses
- Must be done manually offline by pulling data from multiple pieces of software.
- CosmoLex includes multiple built-in reports – and it is easy to customize your own.
Software Costs
- Multiple Subscription Fees for separate systems for accounting, practice management, billing, CRM & more.
- Support & Training Costs are also multiplied.
- One Flat Fee gives you ALL the tools – time keeping, billing, accounting, CRM, etc. -- needed to run your law practice.
- Free Support & Training.
CosmoLex is almost entirely automatic …
and always adjusts your financials to ensure compliance with legal requirements.
QuickBooks is almost entirely manual …
and ignores legal compliance issues – forcing you to make the constant necessary workarounds.
It is easy to see why lawyers prefer CosmoLex to QuickBooks. Sign up for your Demo today.
Separate Billing & Accounting
- Duplicate data entry
- Imports/exports that never seem to reconcile 100%.
- Multiple software subscription fees & required training add up to a real cost of both money and time.
- With billing and accounting data scattered, you have no reliable way to get a grasp on the productivity or profitability of team members, clients, or the firm itself.
Trust Accounting
- QuickBooks allows Client Trust Funds to be posted incorrectly to any account — even to rent or payroll.
- No built-in protection against overdrafts or commingling.
- Three-way reconciliation reports are not built-in. They need to be assembled manually from multiple reports, making reconciliations time consuming and error-prone.
Client Cost Tracking
- Accurate matter cost accounting is challenging because it’s up to you to manually check the correct posting of all items, all the time.
- Tracking of cost recovery between direct and indirect cost reimbursements is also a tedious manual process.
- Inflated revenue is common due to the difficulty in differentiating between income & cost recovery.
Client Payment Accounting
- Partial payments against invoices are applied proportionately – rather than first to costs and then to fees. This requires constant manual adjustment.
- Applying payments from a trust account to an invoice requires multiple steps.
- Online Payments – when QuickBooks does not know which invoices are paid, the money trail is lost. Reconciliation becomes a daily headache.
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