If you’ve ventured into the world of online accounting, then congratulations—you’ve taken a significant step in the direction of happiness and self-sufficiency. But assuming that step can be intimidating! It seems as if there are hundreds of different accounting software options out there, which may leave you feeling like you don’t know where to start.
Luckily for you, we have the answer. We’ve compiled a list of our favorite legal accounting software options that could suit your needs to help make this process easier for those who need it. I hope this article provides some guidance and knowledge about these types of programs so that everyone can find something they like.
Our Top 5 Best Legal Accounting Software
Best Legal Accounting Software Reviews
1. Best Overall: Clio
Clio Legal Accounting Software is a cloud-based software application for law firms. It helps with managing and billing clients, tracking time, organizing documents, and more. In addition to assisting lawyers to do their jobs more efficiently, Clio Legal Accounting Software also allows for smoother communication between team members. Furthermore, Clio Legal Accounting Software integrates with QuickBooks Online to sync accounting data in real-time.
Clio Software Features
- Time Tracking: The software provides a way to track time according to specific tasks and projects using advanced workflows that allow users to divide their time by project or task type. This helps with billing clients, modernizing billing processes, and keeping track of workloads.
- Client Management: Clio Legal Accounting Software generates invoices, manages clients, and views their statements easily. Users can also view client relationships and track payments and other information by the business sector as well as by client.
- Project Management: Clio Legal Accounting Software allows users to design new projects that include documents or tasks they need to complete. They can also customize projects so that they include all the necessary information to make them workable for the project at hand. It gives users the ability to track time, keep track of expenses, and see the status of their projects.
- Document Management: The software keeps track of all documents used during a lawsuit or other legal processes. Users can also view files from different locations on their computers to easily access important documents.
- Legal Invoicing: This accounting software can set up payment plans and times for client payments and communicate with clients regarding payment amounts. They also offer simple online bill payment systems to make it easier for clients to pay their bills online using an integrated interface.
2. Best for Small Law Firms: FreshBooks
Billed as “#1 small business accounting software,” FreshBooks is legal accounting software that offers its clients the ability to manage invoices, customers, and expenses. They also provide seamless integration with banking institutions and credit cards such as Visa and MasterCard.
The software itself is user-friendly and can be operated by anyone in minutes. Furthermore, it does not require any additional training or technical support to operate the essential functions of word processing, emailing, printing, etc.
It also includes reports such as profit loss statements for your business that you can update at any time without the need for professional assistance. In addition, FreshBooks allows businesses to manage their accounting needs right from their desktop.
Main Benefits
FreshBooks provides all the benefits of a typical accounting software program, including:
- Accounting, invoicing, & bookkeeping features.
- Fully customizable customer and expense tracking.
- Sales reports for quick financial management.
- Key financial and operational data with full reporting and analysis tools.
3. Best for Billing and Reporting: LeanLaw
LeanLaw is cloud-based legal accounting software for law firms. The service provides all the tools necessary to manage and track the finances of law practice. Full-featured, LeanLaw includes time tracking and billing, collections management, case management, reporting, e-signature capabilities for documents and agreements, and customized workflow rules to help firm owners run their practice efficiently.
Core Benefits
LeanLaw offers many benefits that will appeal to both solo practitioners and large firms alike. While the service is affordable for firms of all sizes, its freelancer and template pricing packages are designed to accommodate sole practitioners. The service also features a free trial option for those who want to try LeanLaw before committing to the service. Additionally, LeanLaw is designed to work seamlessly with other legal software programs that lawyers use, which means you won’t have to learn a new system once you sign up for LeanLaw.
Main Features
LeanLaw’s features include:
- Reporting to track finances, including a profit and loss statement.
- Billing and invoices: The billing feature lets you create, send, and track invoices easily.
- Time tracking: With LeanLaw’s time tracking system, you can track your hours to generate an accurate estimate of your billable rate.
- Collections management: In addition to tracking how much money your law firm has collected and how much it owes, collection management lets you look at the history of all debtors and view where your money is going.
4. Best for Small Business: Xero
Xero is an accounting software solution that offers businesses of all sizes the opportunity to access their data in real-time, anywhere, anytime. According to Xero’s website, the goal of this product is to make accounting fast and easy. This article will review some of the benefits that this software can provide for different businesses.
Main Xero Accounting Software Benefits
- Xero saves time by automating tasks that would normally take extensive amounts of time for humans to complete, such as reconciling accounts or managing budgets. Once these processes are automated, there is no need for human interaction, and they are done automatically in seconds rather than days. Another benefit is that there are no errors or mistakes because the data is stored in the cloud, which allows it to be accessed on any device. The last benefit is more security and increased data backup.
- Xero allows businesses to grow and expand without worrying about money because it helps them save money and grow.
- Xero helps businesses save more time by simplifying their accounting tasks by making accounting fast and easy, no matter if the company is small or large. At first glance, with Xero’s interface, it may appear to be complicated and confusing, but once you get used to its features, it starts to make sense and can help you maximize your time and efforts towards business development.
5. Best Dashboard: AbacusLaw
The Legal Accounting Software market is growing, and as more legal professionals realize how beneficial it is to have software to help them with their work, the demand increases. AbacusLaw wants you to be able to do your work faster, more efficiently, and in a way, that better protects you against human error.
If you want software that will allow you the freedom to tailor your accounting solutions according to your individual needs, then there’s no better choice than AbacusLaw. Whether it’s for taxes or billing clients, or just operating your business, this unique legal accounting software can seamlessly handle all of these tasks.
Legal professionals have a lot of paperwork to go through: contracts, filings, citations, general research, etc. And that’s just the beginning: they also have to deal with bills and invoices. You can meet these challenges quickly if you have AbacusLaw by your side. This clever software will allow you to streamline any work-related task and free up more of your time for the actual practice of law.
The software is also user-friendly, so even those who are not particularly tech-savvy will be able to learn how to use it in no time at all. The best part is that it comes with training videos to help you get started as soon as possible.
Buyer’s Guide
All of the in-person accounting software systems on the market today were created with the needs of compliant professions in mind. However, considering that this is a niche market, you may be surprised to learn that there are quite a few different choices to choose from.
In this buyer’s guide, I will discuss all of the popular accounting software systems on the market and what they have to offer. You will also learn about getting your financial records ready for your accountant and how legal accounting software can help prepare you.
What Is Legal Billing Software?
At the most basic level, the faster a law firm can produce accurate and well-documented work for a client, the more profitable it will be. So, where does accounting software come in? First, it is an invaluable tool that can help law firms maintain some degree of control over their finances despite ever-growing demand.
Legal accounting software is designed to make billing easier by tracking expenses automatically and sorting out complex financial transactions with ease. In addition, the right accounting software will save lawyers loads of time at a busy firm where every minute spent on manual data entry or repetitive tasks is time not spent upfront doing work for clients.
The right legal accounting software will save money. Clients love software that saves them money, and they are sure to praise the work of the lawyer who uses it. In return, a lawyer will gain client loyalty that can further increase his or her client base.
Benefits Of Using Legal Accounting Software
For a law firm, legal accounting software is one of the most important pieces of technology in their day-to-day. It means many things; it means being able to keep accurate records, invoice clients accurately and on time, and allow the law firm to have a clear overview of where their finances are at any given moment.
Obviously, if your finances aren’t entirely in order, then you’re going to find running a law firm much harder than it needs to be! With that in mind then we are very excited today because we’re exploring the benefits of using legal accounting software for your business.
Accurate Invoicing is another core benefit of using legal accounting software that helps to ensure that the invoicing process is accurate. This will be an excellent benefit for your company as it helps to ensure that your law firm has a great relationship with clients, leading to repeat business and ultimately more profit for the law firm.
Legal Accounting Software Features
Such kinds of systems have numerous features depending on the developer. Therefore, while choosing the best legal accounting software, you should consider the main of them.
- Billing Flexibility: Legal accounting software for attorneys should offer billing flexibility. This allows you to bill by the hour or as a flat fee, which is more appealing to clients.
- Invoice Creating: When it comes to invoicing, providers should allow you to create quotes and then turn them into invoices with one click. The system should also communicate how many outstanding invoices there are and when they need to be sent out.
- Time Tracking: The system should be compatible with existing time tracker apps so you can have complete control over the way you track your time.
- Online Payments: The legal accounting software for attorneys that you choose should allow you to accept online payments reliably in a compliant way with all legal requirements. The system should provide easy integration with a payment gateway provider and will enable you to create different payment methods, including ACH transfer and credit cards. In addition, it should be possible to set up automatic recurring invoices, and the documentation can be stored efficiently within the system for future reviews and audits.
- Secure Statements: The legal accounting software for attorneys needs to provide a way to view, edit and print statements. Statements should be inexpensive or free to print, and the system should have an easy-to-use print function with minimal time and effort required.
- Reports: The system should provide users with an easy-to-use interface for creating reports. Information should include all kinds of available reports, such as a statement of financial position, detailed income statement, balance sheet, and profit & loss account. There could also be the option for daily cash flow reports, which show how much cash is entering/leaving your bank account daily.
FAQ
Are Law Firms Use Accounting Software?
Yes, law firms use accounting software. There are several different types of software that specialize in the legal industry – like Legalware – which can be used to automate accounts receivable, billing, collections, and other financial tasks.
Is Quickbooks Good For Law Firms?
QuickBooks is not specifically for law firms; it can be used by any business, making it difficult to tell the best choice. However, one thing to consider is that a QuickBooks package includes more than accounting software—it also provides marketing and project management tools. These features may be beneficial for law firms since they are often on the go and have multiple projects going at one time.
What Software Do Law Firms Use?
Law firms use many different types of software to keep their business running smoothly and effectively. These programs fall into one of two categories: Information Technology (IT) tools or collaborative law tools for working with clients, partners, and other attorneys within the firm. For IT tools, this may include things like document management or litigation support systems (LSS). For collaborative law technology, this might consist of document assembly programs and e-signature services for contracts and pleadings.
