LAWFIRM
firmTRAK Solutions has expert accounting services for law firms, including solo and small firms.
Our team was founded by Attorneys and Accountants with a passion for helping solo to mid-sized firms be successful as a business, as well as a law firm. To be successful, a firm has to have accurate reporting of timely record keeping client related funds, and the ability to focus on the legal work of the firm. With firmTRAK our clients no longer have to worry about the administrative work and daily accounting of the practice piling up. firmTRAK is ready to become a member of your team and help your law firm be successful.
Cloud Accounting Software Experts
Our team are Xero certified advisors and use QuickBooks Online. Each week we will post cash transactions into the accounting software of your choice and code the revenue and expenses to the correct account. This is the foundation of the financial cycle that will lead to accurate reporting at month end and accurate metrics within any expanded reporting tool you may be using, like our own firmTRAK APP. Each month you will receive the standard group of financial statements including the balance sheet and profit and loss or income statement. Any specialty reports, like partner profit allocations, can be provided upon request when signing up with us. Our team is ready to work with you to provide excellent accounting services.
Cloud Legal CRM Experts
The accountants for firmTRAK know many legal focused CRM’s including CLIO and Practice Panther. We can help process your customer billing once, or multiple times per month. We know how to integrate this data into the accounting software seamlessly. We strive to record each customer payment and update the legal CRM as timely as possible to provide attorney’s with the clearest picture of the current client trust balances and invoices receivable balances. Each month we can work with your attorneys to process time, make revisions, and send out invoices to your customers to streamline your monthly billing process.
Cloud Payroll Integration Experts
Every business has their own mix of software, checks and payment services to fund the operations of their business, i.e. their employees and contractors. firmTRAK has experience in using all the standard cloud based solutions, like GUSTO, and can integrate them to the correct chart of accounts in the accounting system. We also know that sometimes a manager will “cash app” themselves reimbursements for stamps or refund customers on the fly. firmTRAK can handle every situation and accurately record the company’s expenses while doing it.
Training
We said our passion is to help law firms be successful as a business and we meant it. Our team is ready to evaluate your current workflows for data collection and document management as it relates to the financial cycle of the law firm and provide training to your staff. If your law firm doesn’t have any official policies and procedures we can help you establish what they are and document them. Once the processes are known to the firm, improvements can be explored and the procedures can be optimized for the firm. For example, the matters of the firm should be identified and always labeled in the CRM data field for “area of practice”. If this isn’t happening, the client intake process should be examined to find and assign the appropriate staff to this function.
Historical Clean Up
We know that DIY can turn into NOPE. So historical clean up is part and parcel of the service we offer to law firms looking to gain some horsepower in their practice by outsourcing the bookkeeping. With the resources that are available to us as Xero Advisors, we can pass on some efficiencies in the process as well. Some of our clients have relied on us to complete their reports to get multiple years of tax filings completed. If you have past years to clean up, firmTRAK solutions can help.
Full Bookkeeping and Reporting
firmTRAK operates by becoming a member of the team. First we’ll get access to the data originating operating systems, legal CRM, bank/ cc, payroll, and merchant processors. As we learn more about the company we’ll ask many questions to fully understand the operations of the law firm and establish or clean up the existing chart of accounts. Once we learn and identify all the key procedures we’ll establish a workflow document to refer to the best practices for your particular law firm and how it operates. Then we’ll continue this high level of service while we move through the end of month procedures to issue your reports accurately and in a timely fashion. At the end of the year, your CPA will love us and it will save you time and money filing your tax returns.
3-Way Trust Accounting and Audits
The bedrock of our service to attorneys and law firms is a complete 3-way trust reconciliation that complies with all major state bar associations. The definition of the three accounts are:
- Receipt and disbursement journals (CRM Software, CLIO, PP, Action Step, Excel, Paper)
- Contemporaneous ledger records (Accounting Liability on balance sheet, Accounting software, Xero, QB, Other)
- IOLTA Bank Account records (checkbook registers, check stubs, bank statements, records of deposit, and checks or other records of debits)
By reconciling this each month, we ensure accurate client balances for proper record keeping and billing.
Budget Creation Assistance
Once the firm is getting regular reports and has a consistent base for business data in the firm, it’s time to level up, and start setting goals. A budget, even a break even budget, is a great way to start thinking about future financial decisions. If the goal is to hire more staff, it would be a great idea to figure out what your margins are currently and what it would take to break even. Then the firm can start to plan for any number of different decisions. firmTRAK includes a basic budget with its services for law firms. The budget variance report will be part of the standard report package and can be as simple or as sophisticated as needed.
Commitment to Prompt Communication
One of the worst feelings in the world is knowing you’re going to have to email a black hole trying to get email support or call a 1-800 # and deal with the byzantine nightmare of a phone tree to attempt to speak to an actual person. Nine out of ten times they aren’t authorized to answer the question anyways.
At firmTRAK we are a real company of hardworking people just like you. That is why we commit ourselves to answering your questions as a priority. We seek to respond as quickly and effectively as possible. When you call our phone number, one of our full team members answers the phone, not an automated phone tree, or a 3rd party answering service. We value your time and appreciate your business.
Start Using firmTRAK Now
firmTRAK is the perfect expanded reporting add-on for users of CLIO and PracticePanther
