Why QuickBooks Online Is a Great Solution for the Mid Market Law Firm
Mid market firms are moving online. Servers are cumbersome and expensive tools of the past. Getting more efficient and transparent with data is pushing law firms into the cloud.
And if you’re already in the cloud as a mid-market law firm used to paying $20 thousand each year for your financial software — even if it’s not all that you want it to be — why would you consider a solution like QuickBooks Online. That’s for small law firms, right?
No, that’s not right.
QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Online Advanced are positioned to support you. QuickBooks Online Advanced is especially geared toward the mid-market and a focus for Intuit in 2020. The secret sauce to law firm success with QuickBooks Online is to use it with the highest rated legal app in the QuickBooks Online App Store: LeanLaw. Yes, it sounds braggy, but it’s a fact. Highest rated. Here’s why:
LeanLaw combined with QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Online Advanced provides:
- Real-time reporting of financial data without having to ask someone to get it for you or go into the accounting program
- Compensation, productivity and client management
- Ready to bill, billed, paid
- Trust balance, trends against the trust balance
- Timekeepers recent activity with client – drill down into matters
- Integrated QuickBooks Data: Payments, AR Balances
- Collections Reporting
- Custom Reporting Available
- Automated Trust Accounting
- LEDES invoicing
- Bulk Time Entry & Digital Invoicing Workflow with Review / Edit before delivery to a client
- Custom Invoicing
- Scalable Workflows for larger law firms
There are three types of people at mid-market law firms who will be considering buying the new software: the office manager, the law partner and the technical advisor.
The Law Partner
This person is interested in data and reports. Is the data accessible in real-time? Can I make reports in an automated way? We currently have the reports listed above (plus some more) and we are in process to add more. Smart data points give you an advantage when you manage the firm and its clients. Don’t see what you need? We can create a custom report just for your law firm.
The Office Manager
This person is interested in workflows. Are they scalable? Can LeanLaw scale up with me? Are there a certain number of invoices that I can export each month? Can I distinguish email from print? The answer to all of these questions is yes. LeanLaw has an enterprise feel with all the customization and automation built into our integration with QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Online Advanced. LeanLaw provides a smarter way to organize your finances with less manual work.
One quick example: LeanLaw allows you to enter expenses in QuickBooks and LeanLaw will sync those immediately. This data shows the legal team in real time the cost of their matters, mitigates manual work of dual entry, and ensures you’re not missing reimbursable costs that can drain the profitability of the law firm.
Technical Advisor
This person wants to know if the software is functional, safe and integrates with what she’s already using. If you’re not yet using QuickBooks as a platform, you might have questions about transferring and onboarding. LeanLaw offers basic and premium onboarding.
We are also affiliated with the leading QuickBooks ProAdvisers who work with law firms. We call them LeanLaw Accounting Pros. If you don’t have an accounting person who is a law firm expert, you are not achieving the best functionality with your financial operations. Whether it’s a LeanLaw Accounting Pro that we recommend or another law firm accounting expert, that person will help you succeed in your business: we strongly encourage law firms of all sizes to find that person.
Transitioning
We transfer law firms every day from their current billing platforms to LeanLaw. We facilitate the data migration, the application setup and the user training. LeanLaw works closely with LeanLaw Accounting Pros to ensure success of the transition and implement best practices to make the most of the combination of LeanLaw and QuickBooks Online (Advanced).
LeanLaw allows the legal team to work in LeanLaw, a tool that makes sense to them, while the accounting folks can work in QuickBooks. There is no sync, but rather, integration. With QuickBooks as the source of truth, meaning that there is only one set of data – you never have to reconcile and you get the data in real-time. Everyone feels comfortable where they access the data.
If you’re intrigued, please contact us. We’d be happy to provide a demo and get you started with a free trial. We can assist in onboarding and create custom reports. We’re here to make it easier for mid-market law firms to process their timekeeping /billing/reporting.
