So you’ve moved passed the shoebox of records containing the financial inflows and outflows that begrudgingly has to get organized by accountants or office staff. And you’ve decided the time-consuming creation of spreadsheets and reports that miss the continuous communication with accounts receivable. Now you may have hit the common fork in the road: general accounting software vs. legal-specific software.
General Accounting Software tends to be unable to handle many of the specific needs that attorneys and law firms have. There are ways to customize tools to overcome a few of the gaps but the results are less-than-optimal, not to mention time consuming and expensive.
Many firms rely on multiple programs to handle accounting and billing. However, the communication between the two is difficult and may lead to many errors. This again can be time-consuming and costly with separate reporting, analysis, and reconciliation to be done.
Have You Considered Your Trust Accounting?
Legal specific accounting software like CosmoLex has a number of trust accounting features in place that general accounting software does not have. Using software that does not include these trust accounting features can lead to errors and ethics violations. These features include:
- Individual Client Ledger Management
- Ability to add or disburse funds
- Ability to accurately debit trust funds to pay client invoices
- Safeguards to prevent common trust mistakes, such as ledger overdrafts or commingling
- Easily print disbursement checks
- Import electronic bank statements or direct bank feeds
- Automated 3-Way Reconciliation Process
- Collection of comprehensive trust recordkeeping reports.
Lawyers Have Specific Accounting Needs, So They Should Use Legal Specific Software
Legal specific accounting software, like the name mentions, is tailored to the needs of attorneys. They understand that lawyers are not accountants and create a user-friendly experience to help avoid ethics violations and avoid legal consequences.
Soon you’ll be able to focus more of your time on the clients’ needs and not the accounting behind them. Also, the clear and detailed reporting will make encounters with auditors from the bar painless. Let’s face it, you chose the career path of a lawyer, not an accountant.
Want more detail of why attorneys need legal specific accounting software? Register for our upcoming webinar on Thursday, February 16, What Every Lawyer Using QuickBooks Should Know.
Ready to try it out for yourself? Here’s a no-obligation, free trial – see for yourself how it can fit your practice needs, save time and avoid the stresses of accounting
