Unfortunately, manual processes traditionally employed by law firms often struggle to address the unique challenges of legal A/R management. Clio Payments lets Clio Manage users offer a range of payment options, from online credit card payments to eCheck payments to installment plans. It handles all trust-related transactions in compliance with IOLTA rules and uses the payment industry’s most advanced security measures.
Accounting Services
Every law firm is different, but nearly all of them share common accounts receivable challenges. To help firms address their collection problems, we have compiled a list of the questions we hear most frequently from law firms, and offer our answers. Insights on running a successful law firm with case management, client intake, billing and payments, tech innovation, and more. According to our 2021 Industry Report, half of lawyer survey respondents claimed that accepting online credit card payments reduced the turnaround time for receiving consultation fees. In that group, 13% stated they received payments more than five days in advance. The best way to prevent unpaid bills is to clarify your fees upfront.
Accounting for law firms: best practices
So, if A/R management is so essential, why do many attorneys wait until the last minute to collect bills or let invoices go unpaid all together? Clio Manage’s Automated Bill Reminder feature enables you to track outstanding bills and automatically send outstanding Balances to clients and bill recipients based on a schedule. Follow up on all outstanding bills from one place—it couldn’t be simpler.
How to Improve Your Law Firm’s Accounts Receivable
Electronic payments are easy to adjust and customize without disrupting your overall accounting processes. Then, send these bills electronically using Clio’s secure client portal, ensuring they reach the intended recipient near-instantly. Digitslaw legal billing software makes it easy to set up payment plans, send invoices and give clients real time updates about their payment via the client portal. Clients can also settle payments easily through third-party payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, Flutterwave, or Wave. With Digitsaw, you can expand your client base to different countries.
Follow up on overdue accounts immediately
Sending reminders to one client about pending payments may not seem inconvenient, but think about manually tracking tens or hundreds of them and giving a slight nudge about owing balances. That’s why you need a well-organized law firm accounts receivable process. Do not worry if you’re only getting started; here are a few strategies to help you improve the accounts receivable process at your law firm. Keeping close tabs on accounts receivable is crucial for law firms to maintain healthy cash flow.
Improving Your Law Firm’s Accounts Receivable Process
If you are ready to learn more about how you can automate and speed your law firm’s management of accounts receivables to keep cash flow strong, read more about APX, Abacus Payment Exchange here. Credit cards have become an essential tool for clients to manage their finances, and they give clients the increased payment flexibility they need in fast-changing business environments. According to a Total System Services, Inc (TSYS) survey, 75% of people expect to pay for services with a credit or debit card. A separate survey found that as much as 79% of today’s clients expect professional service providers such as law firms to let them pay with their cards. Start your free 10-day trial of MyCase today (there’s no credit card needed).
Outsourced Accounting for Law Firms
What’s most important is that you get the details right so that you can stay compliant with ethics rules and help your firm grow to its full potential. While this primarily applies to new law firms, ensuring that the basics are determined and set up correctly is critical. While there are a lot of factors to balance, here are the essentials law firm accounts receivable management for law firm accounting and bookkeeping success that you should get a handle on ASAP. So, with double-entry accounting, every financial transaction gets sorted into a specific category (assets, liabilities, or equity). Double entry accounting is a helpful practice for lawyers to know about, as it provides an extra guard against errors.
Strategies for Law Firm Accounts Receivable Management
Leveraging Rocket Matter Pay within your billing system empowers both your firm and your clients. This secure online payment portal simplifies the collection process by offering clients a convenient way to pay invoices with credit cards, debit cards, or e-checks. Additionally, Rocket Matter Pay boasts features like automatic deposits within 12 business hours and the ability to store client payment information securely for future transactions.
- Then, send these bills electronically using Clio’s legal billing software and secure client portal, ensuring they reach the intended recipient near-instantly.
- You can automate as much or as little of the accounts receivable process as you like.
- Leveraging Rocket Matter Pay within your billing system empowers both your firm and your clients.
- It involves a ton of inefficient, manual work—involving a lot of spreadsheets, paper invoices, inputting data entry, and struggles with collections.
Accounts receivable automation is also hugely beneficial to maintaining good client relationships. Since automation makes invoicing more consistent and eliminates uncomfortable personal reminders, it takes the stress out of payment reminders and other client follow ups. Go one step further by providing Click-to-pay links or QR codes, meaning clients can pay instantaneously through Clio https://www.bookstime.com/ Payments. Generally speaking, once firms send out an invoice, they’ll usually wait until their payment due date expires before contacting a client. Payment due dates vary from firm to firm—while some have 30-day payment due dates, others might be more lenient and extend this to 60 days. Accounting for law firms may be new or challenging to you, but it doesn’t have to be scary.
