Worrying about accounting and time tracking errors at the end of an eighty hour work week is the last thing you need.
Helping clients navigate the legal system is difficult, but your industry challenges you to track billable time by the minute. Therefore, you bill that time in 6-minute increments. Wow! That is a little tedious. Even with an hourly system, digging deep into legalese one second and then running a profitable business is exhausting. Time tracking systems and accounting will never be the least of your troubles. However, a law practice like yours is built on receipts. So, that retainer fee belongs with them.
Luckily, mobile devices and many software applications make tracking your time incredibly easy. As you know, I am a big proponent of the application, LeanLaw. It is by far the easiest, most effective software for time tracking, billable expenses and tracking the trust accounts. It works seamlessly with QuickBooks Online. Therefore, this is why it is one of Intuit’s preferred applications. If you want the lowdown on time-tracking software, read the article here, written by Nicole Black, for the ABA Journal. Whether you are super savvy in your application of software tools or not, there is always room for more issues.
Potential Headaches:
- Reconciling accounts is difficult.
- Matching up billable time and expenses is a nightmare.
- The retainer is incorrectly applied or missing.
- Making sense of credits, debits or journal entries is impossible.
Eighty-one hours into your week, you’re just bleary-eyed enough to know that being capable of doing something yourself, doesn’t mean you should be that person. Accounting mistakes happen, particularly with those who aren’t paying close attention to the small details, for one reason or another. Some Common bookkeeping mistakes are procrastination, commingling of funds, or errors in reconciliations. This is described by writers at the Lawyerist and are often the result of being too tired, ill-equipped, or just too busy for the work that needs doing.
You help clients navigate the legal system, accountants help maintain the books while you do what you’re best at. And time tracking software is another bridge that can pull things together. Plus, outsourcing keeps your higher earning potential from being weighted down by work you have no intention of doing in the first place.
Don’t spend another six minutes on accounting, spend it on outsourcing.
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