You can also strengthen and protect your firm’s finances from preventable problems. From sending payment requests and tracking them to integrating with your go-to legal software products, LawPay will fit your needs. LawPay also ensures your law firm accepts payments that comply with your state bar’s regulations surrounding trust (IOLTA) accounts and the American Bar Association (ABA) guidelines. Managing your books via accounting software may get you started as a solo attorney. But, if you want to spend your time focused on practicing law rather than deep in the weeds of your firm’s finances, you’ll likely want to consider hiring help.

TimeSolv is both a bookkeeping and billing solution that integrates with standard programs such as QuickBooks, Xero, Microsoft 365, and Dropbox. It’s cloud-based software, but it backs up data securely law firm bookkeeping with 256-bit SSL encryption (in non-techie speak, that means it’s very secure). It works for law firms of all sizes and even provides some project management features, like timekeeping.

How to hire the right CPA

In other words, if your law firm even considers borrowing from its IOLTA account, you may not be in the best position to handle clients. With this method, tax liability attaches before funds are even received. And although accrual accounting gives you a good idea of your future income and expenses, it does not provide as clear a picture of your cash flow situation as cash accounting. This is a more appropriate accounting method for large firms with high client turnover.

It is a great tool for tracking all of the firm’s financial transactions. Industry specific accounting software is always the way to go and attorney-specific software actually does exist. This gives you the best of both worlds while making your law firm’s comprehensive accounting situation easier to manage. Trust accounts are one of the most common areas where legal accounting mistakes are made.

Download the Law Firm Financial Management Guide

Now you cross off law bookkeeping out of your to-do list and feel stress-free about the financial aspect. As a result, you take comfort in allowing yourself to offload financial tasks and turn your attention exclusively to business development and legal cases. Law firms can use double-entry bookkeeping as a way to better monitor the financial health of a company.