Bookkeeping for Attorneys

Bookkeeping is something that is essential to every business in order to stay compliant with the rules and regulations, and so that you are making the most out of your profits. A bookkeeper will not only record your financial transactions but (s)he will also balance the financial accounts for your firm. As such, through bookkeeping, you can track what money is coming in and moving out of your firm and have access to financial data that is accurate and easy to work with for your legal accountants. Bookkeeping is not a topic that is heavily covered in your law school courses — this is where we come in handy and help you out! We’ve been working with lawyers in Washington for over 2 decades. Our CEO worked at the WSBA and we have represented numerous clients who were being audited by the WSBA for trust account violations. Don’t let this be you!

How Bookkeeping Is Helpful To You

It is evident that you need to be compliant with ethics regulations just like any other law firm, and that any firm will face consequences such as large penalties, a suspension of the firm’s license, and even disbarment if they violate these regulations. That is one aspect where having a bookkeeper like us is useful. Also, bear in mind that at your core, you are still a business. Just like any business, it is crucial for you to be able to have data collected that enables you to make decisions based on analyzing what money comes in and out of your firm. Keeping track of your finances also means that you will make the most out of your revenue by not missing out on things such as tax deduction opportunities, and you will be able to identify which segments of your business are the most successful so that you can use your resources accordingly and focus on those high-profit type of cases. In addition to this, it is very important to keep in mind that your reputation is a large factor in the success of your business. When you make accounting mistakes it makes you look unprofessional which can hinder your opportunity for growth and even make you miss out on clients and referrals.

The Benefits of Bookkeeping

With the above information in mind, a bookkeeper can help you to be able to make sense of these numbers by collecting the data and clarifying any questions or concerns that come up in real-time, while you still remember what happened. It’s crucial for you as a lawyer to be able to spend your precious time focusing on more important work that needs to be completed that is pertinent to you and the cases you are working on. When you have a bookkeeper who is specialized in law bookkeeping, like us, you will be able to get a trust account balance, income statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows that reflect your firm’s financial activity and get insight to the success of your business. Do not be misled, bookkeeping is more than just punching numbers into a software. When a bookkeeper is skilled (s)he will be able to take the reports that software produced and turn them into tools that can be very useful to you and your business.

Here is a video I made which explains our lawyer bookkeeping services:

Sources:

https://www.clio.com/blog/essential-accounting-for-law-firms/

https://www.bookkeepingconfidential.com/how-a-bookkeeper-can-help-a-law-firms-profit-margin/