Quickbook Case
For solo and small firm lawyers, handling finances can be a daunting task. Think about it. You just started your own firm. You have few, if any, clients, and you are using your savings and credit cards to finance the business. Sure, you may, like me, have an accountant who handles your taxes, but because accountants and other financial professionals charge for their time, just as we do, you tend to do anything you can to avoid incurring that expense until tax season rolls around. You could hire a bookkeeper to handle the financial aspects of your firm, but a secretary, paralegal, or even another attorney is more likely to be the first person hired when a solo or small firm attorney decides to take on employees. Few law schools offer any classes
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First, QuickBooks organizes your finances by putting all the information about your firm's income, expenses, and even your receivables in one place. Second, if you have employees, the QuickBooks payroll service is easy to use, inexpensive, and allows you to handle payroll far more efficiently and accurately than the traditional manual methods. Third, QuickBooks compiles the information your accountant needs to prepare your tax returns, so the process isn't a chore--and it costs less than providing only paper records. In our office, for example, all I have to do is create and provide to my accountant an "accountant's copy" of my firm's Quick-Books file, along with a few reports, and he has all the information he needs to prepare my taxes. As an added benefit, if you scan all your receipts, checks, and bills, your accountant's job is even easier because you can provide the accountant with that data on a CD or flash drive. Finally, the biggest benefit for law firms that don't regularly rely on an accountant may be QuickBooks' ability to generate reports allowing you to easily analyze your firm's financial status. What reports can do for …show more content…
Clicking on that menu displays reports on a wide range of subjects. Lawyers will frequently use the Company Snapshot as well as reports available on the Company & Financial, Customers & Receivables, and Vendors & Payables submenus. Although there may be times when you need to create a custom report, most of the standard reports can be easily tweaked from the specific report screens. Profit &
First, QuickBooks organizes your finances by putting all the information about your firm's income, expenses, and even your receivables in one place. Second, if you have employees, the QuickBooks payroll service is easy to use, inexpensive, and allows you to handle payroll far more efficiently and accurately than the traditional manual methods. Third, QuickBooks compiles the information your accountant needs to prepare your tax returns, so the process isn't a chore--and it costs less than providing only paper records. In our office, for example, all I have to do is create and provide to my accountant an "accountant's copy" of my firm's Quick-Books file, along with a few reports, and he has all the information he needs to prepare my taxes. As an added benefit, if you scan all your receipts, checks, and bills, your accountant's job is even easier because you can provide the accountant with that data on a CD or flash drive. Finally, the biggest benefit for law firms that don't regularly rely on an accountant may be QuickBooks' ability to generate reports allowing you to easily analyze your firm's financial status. What reports can do for …show more content…
Clicking on that menu displays reports on a wide range of subjects. Lawyers will frequently use the Company Snapshot as well as reports available on the Company & Financial, Customers & Receivables, and Vendors & Payables submenus. Although there may be times when you need to create a custom report, most of the standard reports can be easily tweaked from the specific report screens. Profit &