Aug 17, 2016

Law Firm Financial Management – Monday Morning Report

Question:

I am the owner of a seven attorney firm in New York City. I have a bookkeeper that handles the accounting function. I receive monthly financial reports – but I believe I need a better tool to stay on top of my firm. I feel that I am lost, I don't want to take time to access different software modules such as our billing system, accounts payable system, general ledger system, etc. to get the information that I need to effectively manage the firm. We use Timeslips for billing and QuickBooks for bookkeeping. I would appreciate your thoughts.

Response:

I hear what you are saying. Most software program are good at giving you reams of paper in the form of reports but not so good at giving you the summary reports you need. Software companies are beginning to develop dashboards in their systems but the lower end systems do not give you what you need. You might consider tasking your bookkeeper with providing you with a Monday Morning Report (created in Excel) every Monday morning with the following summary information:

1. Cash in bank balances for each account
2. Bills due this week (vendors, payroll, taxes, draws)
3. Anticipated payments from clients (new engagement retainers – flat fee and time bill)
4. AR Balance
5. Work in process balance
6. Number of new retained matters for the month
7. Total billable hours for each timekeeper (month and year to date)        

Posted at 08:36 AM in Financial Management
Tags: Financial, Firm, Law, Management, Monday, Morning, Report

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