5 Affordable Bookkeeping Software Solutions for Law Firms

This is not to say one method is better than the other; rather it makes defining and understanding the classes of law firm accounting software important. If all the other components of your law firm’s billing and financial reporting don’t fall into place, it can cause difficulties in ensuring that the right lawyer gets compensated fairly for their work. This can be tough with all the different components involved with how a lawyer or legal professional should be compensated, especially if you use the billable hour where time presents an extra layer of complexity. While AltFee offers alternative fee arrangement software to help you set out the pricing structure that your law firm will follow, you’ll need something to handle the accounting side of things.

A minor accounting error could result in significant reputational damage, hindering future growth opportunities and client referrals. Law firm accounting is fairly subjective compared to law firm bookkeeping. A critical part of the legal accounting process focuses on analyzing financial reports and KPIs to uncover critical insights and  make informed business decisions.

Best for Growing Firms

Easily perform complex transactions with built-in office and trust accounting and invoice generation to help your law firm maintain compliance and simplify finances. And while LeanLaw is built on QuickBooks Online to make it so much easier, everyone can use a Pro by their side sometimes. For small to medium-sized law firms ramping up, we have assembled a directory of LeanLaw Accounting Pros to help you get started. PCLaw is a robust accounting software for lawyers and is streamlined toward accurate billing through their Time Entry Advisor. Accounting programs for lawyers make your legal services run more effectively and efficiently.

To maintain IOLTA compliance, law firms have to be extremely vigilant against commingling unearned and earned funds. Built-in payment management features ensure that any unearned client payments are automatically put in a client trust and that the fees to maintain that account are law firm bookkeeping handled correctly. Top solutions also offer helpful automation capabilities, such as the ability to perform a three-way trust reconciliation process at the press of a button. There are a ton of legal accounting software offerings available, but not all of them are created equal.

Trust Accounting 101 for Law Firms

(Some law firms try anyway, or worse yet, use an Excel spreadsheet to manage trust accounts). CosmoLex includes client and matter management, time, billing, business accounting and trust/IOLTA accounting, thereby eliminating the need for QuickBooks or other accounting software. With CosmoLex, the financials of every client/matter is front-and-center, and intrinsically linked to each case. ProLaw comes in a number of packages and editions, some of which include ProLaw’s fully-featured accounting software.

Additionally, LEAP automatically sends “back office” accounting transactions to Xero to create an audit trail of every transaction. QuickBooks made the list because it provides a powerful accounting software solution for every industry. It has detailed reporting metrics allowing you to capture the costs of all your firm’s activities. Managing cases and legal affairs for your clients takes specialized skills and lots of pre-planning. Wave’s accounting software is designed for lawyers, and can be easily customized for any type of law you practice or legal services you provide. AbacusNext offers software solutions for firms of all sizes, but it’s the best one on this list for large, complex firms that could benefit from its Private Cloud and integrated accounting features.

Business Line of Credit: Compare the Best Options

Legal accounting software is a type of program that is tailored to the legal industry, helping to keep track of time, billings, schedules, and more. You can use this software to make it easy to produce financial reports and statements and monitor your business performance. For a more in-depth look into trust accounting, read this article or download our law firm accounting guide on properly managing trust accounts. Regardless of the size of your law firm, it’s essential to understand the best practices of accounting and bookkeeping to ensure that your business is on the right track.

• CosmoLex is designed for attorneys and law firms, but it has major benefits for clients, too.
• However, with online legal accounting software, it’s easy to quickly produce reports that give you the insights you need—whether you need reports on sales, expenses, taxes, or other metrics.
• Tabs3 is part of the Tabs3 / PracticeMaster suite of law firm software.
• The highlighting feature of Xero is that is most useful for small law firms and includes comprehensive user guides as well as responsible customer support.
• Forbes Advisor rated and reviewed some of the most popular legal billing software options available to help you decide which is right for your practice.

Juris comes in two packages, Juris Core (it’s more entry-level product) and Juris Suite, it’s more comprehensive edition. Both come with rich accounting and a strong set of financial and billing reports. Managing client funds is obviously more nerve-racking than managing your own, as the money isn’t yours. It’s all the more reason to ensure that you’re keeping accurate financial records. Onboard, pay, and create tax documents for contractors in 80+ countries, all for a low monthly fee. Plus, Gusto’s easy-to-use software means payroll takes only minutes to complete.

It has a neat Accounting Export feature that lets you export time entries to other accounting software. You’ll be able to import bank statements, run trust accounting reports, and print disbursements checks, all from one platform. T hen, those can be posted directly into your accounting software, while a PDF of the invoice is pushed into your Xero accounting system. This makes all your documents easily accessible for when you are reviewing that accounting entry. However, there is no harm in using these products for trust accounting, as long as your accounting team is familiar with the trust accounting rules outlined by your local Law Society.