Managing your trust accounting manually isn’t only enough to make you dread doing it – it’s downright risky. Doing trust accounting the right way requires accuracy, attention to detail, and avoiding mistakes and mishandling, all of which can take a big chunk out time out of the workday. Through the use of technology, lawyers have the opportunity to make their … Read More
Feature Spotlight: Bulk Trust to General Transfer
Often when following a routine billing cycle (ex: monthly) and holding client retainers in trust, you need to debit multiple client trust ledgers to pay the firm. Did you know that from the Activities area in CosmoLex, you can actually apply these funds in bulk? In one step, you can debit multiple matter ledgers and apply it to those matters’ … Read More
Question of the Week: Why do I need to run three-way reconciliations and how do I do it?
Three-way reconciliations are one of the most critical components of trust accounting. This particular report verifies the accuracy of three balances in order to make sure there is no apparent fraudulent behavior or bookkeeping mistakes. While these reports are necessary for compliant trust accounting, they’re also extremely helpful for any firm who wants to ensure accuracy and mitigate the risk … Read More
CosmoLex Spotlight: Trust Accounting Safeguards
Trust accounting is a critical function for law firms, as funds that are not yet earned or disbursed must be handled in compliance with state and federal requirements. Because of this, managing the trust account can seem intimidating. It’s essential that the firm is well aware of the requirements—regardless of who is doing the work—and doing everything possible to abide … Read More
Tech Tip #253: Always Print Backups of Trust Accounting Reports
Part of maintaining trust accounting in accordance with Bar Association rules and regulations is running regular reports to ensure client ledger accuracy and proper bookkeeping. To avoid any compliance violations and resulting sanctions, be sure to print out copies of these reports. This way even if a file is accidentally deleted or corrupted you’ll still have access to the records. … Read More
Tech Tip #250: Use The Right Reports to Ensure Accounting Compliance
Legal accounting, and trust accounting, in particular, has very specific rules and requirements. To make sure your firm is properly managing its books, you should regularly produce specific reports that will show whether or not your entries are accurate and in compliance. Don’t wait until there are issues and risk sanctions due to improper accounting. To simplify the process consider using … Read More
7 Essential Trust Accounting Reports for Lawyers (Updated for 2019)
Trust accounting compliance can be one of the most difficult tasks of running a law firm due to the many requirements and pitfalls, but it’s also one of the most critical. The responsibility of properly handling trust accounts, no matter who in a firm is overseeing the accounting or trusts, falls directly on the lawyer. Non-compliance can result in severe … Read More
Tech Tip #243: Trust Accounting Best Practices: Keep All Matter Funds in One Bank
If your firm is keeping trust accounts at different banks for any reason, make sure the funds for each particular matter are all at the same bank. Keeping half of Matter A’s funds in Bank 1 and the other half in Bank 2 creates a number of potential issues, like increased probability of bookkeeping errors, complications in paying invoices from … Read More
Tech Tip #242: Is Your Firm Inadvertently Shielding Income?
Income and tax shielding could land your firm in serious trouble and you may be doing it without even realizing. When invoices aren’t paid from trust retainers in a timely manner or if they’re not generated fast enough, it could be seen as delaying income. Avoid commingled funds and create an efficient process for tracking and transferring from trust accounts … Read More
5 Accounting Pitfalls Law Firms Must Avoid in 2019
Many lawyers make the same common mistakes when it comes to legal accounting. Mistakes that will make your accounting harder than it needs to be. However, a few small changes in how you handle your bookkeeping can simplify your entire experience. While accounting is certainly a difficult task, it becomes manageable when you take note of potential pitfalls and how … Read More