Feel like a small fish in a big pond? Feel insignificant compared to larger, more experienced law practices? Nonsense! Your small law firm is perfectly capable of sneaking past bigger fish and scaring the bejesus out of them as you coast on by.
Simply be proactive about your accounting practices and choose the right software partner.
Step 1: Make Administrative Tasks a Pleasure with Automation
Time is money, especially for legal practices. Unfortunately, lawyers and solicitors spend too much time on administrative tasks like data entry, receipts, and invoicing. The result: a bleeding bottom line.
Accounting software with automation cauterizes the financial wound by generating quotes and invoices and reconciling transactions.
The bottom line for your bottom line is that you can avoid cash infusions with software that virtually eliminates errors by automating repetitive tasks. You’ll be amazed at how much billable time becomes available.
Step 2: Quoting and Invoicing Can Be As Smooth As A Baby’s Bottom
Manual financial systems: There’s no better way to waste time and money by creating quotes and invoices and chasing payments.
Small legal practices are caught in a catch-22. They need to track quotes and payments to stay in business. But they need more billable hours to create more invoices and chase more payments.
You can shed these never-ending admin tasks by implementing legal accounting software that accelerates these processes and Improves cash flow.
Step 3: Embrace the Benefits of Real-time Financial Reporting
Manual financial processes are inefficient and can cost you an arm and a leg. You don’t need that kind of drama. You need accounting software that improves visibility into your financial health.
Leading legal accounting software solutions, like Sage Intacct, use real-time reporting tools to track payments, monitor cash flow, and provide insights into client profitability.
Data is a powerful weapon in your financial management arsenal. Learn how to wield it effectively so that you can make wise decisions – and keep all your limbs intact.
Step 4: Inexplicably Losing Track of Billable Hours and Expenses? You Need a Software Solution
You’ve got a lot on your plate, what with client meetings and filing lawsuits, not to mention recording billable time and expenses. If you’re stuck with manual processes, you risk losing valuable revenue amid disorganized finances.
Luckily, legal accounting software tracks time spent on each client’s case and records expenses digitally within the financial management system.
Isn’t that a lawyer’s dream? Accurate billing and a reduction in lost revenue from untracked time and expenses.
Step 5: Bridge the Divide Between You and Your Bookkeepers and Accountants
Communication is the cornerstone of human interaction. Poor communication causes no end of grief, whether it’s the silent treatment from a significant other or misunderstanding your firm’s billing processes.
Effective communication and collaboration between legal practices and outsourced financial services is the best way to monitor and understand your firm’s financial health.
Sophisticated cloud-based software improves communication through real-time data sharing with financial experts. It accelerates accounting processes and ensures that everyone has access to the most current financial data for more effective decision making.
Step 6: Keep Your Firm In The Taxman’s Good Books With Compliant Digital Tax Reporting
You’re juggling clients; you don’t need to juggle compliance with tax regulations. Too many balls in the air is the best way to make mistakes and end up in tax jail.
Thank heavens for accounting software that ensures compliance with Making Tax Digital (MTD) to automatically record and submit tax actions.
It’s stress-free tax reporting with no risk of noncompliance. Enjoy a user-friendly tax accounting system and a reduced risk of errors and penalties. It makes your tax accountant redundant – almost.
Step 7: Paper Is a Pain to Record Keeping (and the environment isn’t too happy either)
The legal industry still uses paper for hard proof of transactions, agreements, and disputes. However, managing paper records is inefficient and can lead to misplaced documentation. It’s not even organized chaos.
Digital transformation is the answer as advanced legal accounting software ensures the accuracy of expense records and receipts. Automated data entry systems only help your cause.
The beauty of digital record keeping is that it banishes chaos and improves organization, maintaining a clear digital paper trail for audits.
Step 8: Monitoring Cash Flow is Critical to Long-Term Planning
Oh, for a deck of tarot cards and a crystal ball! How else are you going to forecast cash flow and manage long-term finances? Well, you can fire your fortune-teller for a start.
The right legal accounting software enables cash flow forecasting, so you can plan for future expenses and revenue. You have greater control over your firm’s financial health and growth.
Exchange your crystal ball for a disco ball and you’ll be dancing, not laughing, all the way to the bank.
Conclusion
Sometimes it feels like the odds are stacked against your small legal firm, but the right accounting software can be your secret weapon that increases your chances of long-term success. Choose software like Sage Intacct to enhance your accounting processes, save time, and improve overall financial management and you could give your larger competitors an unwelcome surprise.
