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NetSuite is a cloud-based business management suite that incorporates ERP, financial management, CRM, and eCommerce functionalities into a unified platform, helping organizations automate core processes and gain real-time visibility into operational and fi...Read more about NetSuite
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Workday Financial Management is a single cloud-based solution that assists global businesses of all sizes in a variety of industry verticals with financial planning, accounting, and transactions. Workday delivers user and administrative tools across financ...Read more about Workday Financial Management
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Elorus is an online invoicing, time-tracking, billing and expense management platform. At heart, it is the ideal professional solution for every freelancer, small business and creative agency. Since 2014, Elorus has been working hard to be a trustworthy al...Read more about Elorus
FloQast, an Accounting Automation Platform created by accountants for accountants, enables organizations to automate a variety of accounting operations. Trusted by more than 2,800 global accounting teams – including Twilio, Los Angeles Lakers, Zoom, and Sn...Read more about FloQast
QuickBooks Enterprise is an accounting solution designed for SMBs across different industry verticals such as construction, nonprofit distribution, manufacturing, and retail. With QB Enterprise solution, any business owner can expand business operations us...Read more about QuickBooks Enterprise
CosmoLex is a cloud-based legal management solution that offers features including time tracking, billing, trust accounting, task and document management. The solution connects all modules so that users do not have to enter information into multiple system...Read more about CosmoLex
Procurify is the leading AI-powered procurement, accounts payable (AP), expense, and payment platform designed for mid-market organizations. We empower businesses to gain full control of their spending, driving cost savings, operational efficiency, and sma...Read more about Procurify
TopNotepad is a cloud-based accounting management solution that offers invoicing, expense management, payment management and customer relationship management. Users can create invoices with built-in templates and log payments using client lists. Users...Read more about TopNotepad
Bizautomation offers cloud-based ERP for smaller SMBs. Functionality includes accounting, order management, inventory, customer relationship management (CRM), sales commissions, e-commerce (including a business portal), purchase planning, and project manag...Read more about Cloud ERP
ZipBooks is a cloud-based solution designed to streamline accounting, invoicing and financial management processes for small businesses. The platform offers a range of features tailored to streamline complex financial tasks and provide valuable insights to...Read more about ZipBooks
QuickBooks Online Advanced is a cloud-based accounting solution that helps small to large enterprises manage expenses, projects, invoices and more. It comes with a centralized dashboard, which enables users to gain insights into business trends and organiz...Read more about QuickBooks Online Advanced
Accounting Xpert is an on-premise accounting solution that serves businesses of all sizes. Primary features of the software include a general ledger, accounts receivables and payables, payroll, W2 and 1099 laser processing, bank reconciliation and inventor...Read more about Accounting Xpert
InvoiceBerry is a cloud-based accounting solution designed for small businesses in a variety of industries. Key features include invoice creation, expense and payment tracking, client management and report creation. InvoiceBerry enables users to creat...Read more about InvoiceBerry
Clear Books is a cloud-based accounting solution for small businesses. It enables users to track key financial numbers through a dashboard. The solution can send automatic payment reminders and supports multiple currencies to create customizable invoices. ...Read more about Clear Books
NextProcess is an accounts payable solution used for automating organizations’ payment structures. It is suited for companies of any size, across a variety of industries. NextProcess helps eliminate duplicate payments that can occur when companies mai...Read more about NextProcess
ALTO Accounts Payable is a cloud-based invoice approval solution for companies of all sizes, and is typically used by the oil and gas industry. Users can establish workflows to monitor budgets, create accruals, approve, reject and rework invoices. Wit...Read more about ALTO Accounts Payable
Pandle is a cloud-based accounting solution for small businesses across the UK. The platform helps streamline accounting activities including invoicing, quotations, receipt uploads, payroll services and tax estimations. Pandle supports multiple curren...Read more about Pandle
Beyond Software is a project accounting and management software system available for small to mid-size companies. The system allows organizations to manage and execute around their projects by increasing visibility and creating accountability. I...Read more about Beyond Software
NolaPro by Noguska LLC is a customizable accounting solution, featuring order tracking, inventory, POS and more. It provides a tailor-made accounting solution for companies that need to manage customers, vendors, employees and more. NolaPro features a...Read more about NolaPro
Momenteo is a cloud-based accounting solution designed for freelancers in a variety of industries. Key features include invoice and estimate creation, expense and time tracking, client management and financial reporting. Momenteo provides a guided wor...Read more about Momenteo
Fidesic is an integrated solution designed to help businesses manage accounts receivable and accounts payable tasks while reducing the need for manual, paper-based processes. It is suitable for small to medium-sized businesses who use Microsoft Dynamics GP...Read more about Fidesic
EZOTO is a revolutionary accounting and GST software in India, which is designed and managed by professionals. It looks after reducing the tedious method of accounting and GST return filing. Along with this, EZOTO has built-in features, which manage invoic...Read more about EZOTO
Kernel is a cloud-based solution that helps businesses streamline invoicing and financial management operations. Users can personalize their invoice templates and manage client databases and product catalogs. Additionally, users can view their monthly fina...Read more about Kernel
Boost project profitability and efficiency with Progressus, the first project accounting software built on Dynamics 365 Business Central* Progressus is a powerful add-on solution designed to supercharge your project accounting capabilities within Dynamics...Read more about Progressus
True Sky is a budgeting, planning, forecasting, and reporting solution that helps companies simplify and take control of their processes. The solution includes a powerful tool, dynamic integrations, a proven and tested implementation methodology, and tai...Read more about True Sky
This detailed guide will help you find and buy the right legal accounting software for you and your business.
Last Updated on January 27, 2025Legal accounting software is an essential part of an attorney’s practice management system, and frequently revolves around projects and time logs. Because law firms often bill as a function of time, work time and schedules should be highly organized to produce detailed reports for the inquisitive client.
Time can be broken down into date, activity and billable or nonbillable criteria. Goals for total annual billable hours can be recorded and compared to the actual hours worked for evaluation. In addition, software can arrange invoices based on the time logged.
We wrote this guide to help those in the legal field evaluate accounting software. We’ll explain the features and functionality to be on the lookout for, as well as best practices for evaluating systems.
Here's what we'll cover:
What are common features of legal and law firm accounting software?
What should you consider while evaluating legal and law firm accounting software?
What should you consider before purchasing legal and law firm accounting software?
Legal accounting software can help streamline the billing and invoicing process and provide law firms with valuable insight into their cash flow. Additionally, as firms deal with sensitive client data, using a legal-specific accounting software can help them remain compliant with laws designed to safeguard private client information.
Firms can purchase legal accounting software in the following ways:
Best-of-breed, or standalone. Law firms may choose to purchase a standalone accounting system if they are currently using case management software that doesn’t have an accounting module, or if their existing billing and invoicing solution doesn’t have all the accounting features they need to accurately track their bookkeeping.
Offered in suite, as part of a larger practice management system. The accounting module is bundled with other business functions, such as the client portal, document management system and marketing. Data transfers seamlessly between applications, which helps save time and reduce errors due to duplicate data entry.
On-premise, hosted on-site on the law firm’s internal servers. Usually sold via perpetual license, the law firm owns the rights to the software. They are charged a one-time, upfront fee and are responsible for supporting and maintaining the software on their own. Firms can make an additional purchase of software updates and upgrades from the vendor as needed.
Cloud-based, hosted remotely on the vendor’s servers. Typically, cloud-based products are sold via subscription licensing, which means the firm pays a recurring monthly or annual fee to use the software for that amount of time. The subscription fee includes the cost for vendor-supplied support, maintenance and automatic updates.
While capabilities vary, legal accounting systems typically include the following:
Time tracking | Most law firms bill hourly, so the ability to track the time spent on projects and bill accordingly is crucial. This feature often includes support for flat-fee, task-based, split, contingency and retainer billing. Also includes stopwatch timers, which can be set up to record billable time based on the fee arrangement. Some systems can pull data from other applications, such as calendars or document management, to fill in gaps in billable time. |
Billing and invoicing | Generate invoices based on the billable time logged by attorneys. Invoices can be sent through the mail or electronically over email and paid via credit card, electronic funds transfer or a secure payment gateway. Customization options allow law firms to personalize invoices with the firm’s logo and client information. Some systems can be set up to alert firms and clients when bills are past due and automatically calculate a late fee to add to the invoice. |
Client portal | Some systems include a client portal, which allows clients to securely submit files and make payments for services rendered. |
Contact & client management | Since client relationships are so important, a quality legal accounting solution will contain contact management capabilities, recording information for clients and related parties. Also referred to as “legal CRM.” |
Project scheduling | Manage your caseload with a tool that stores information like deadlines, events, documents, notes, action items, billing and payments. Can sync calendar with email and create tasks, set reminders and view scheduling conflicts directly from email. |
Managing a client’s funds, whether in real estate, family/estate planning, bankruptcy or any other trust situation, brings an extra level of complexity. Trust accounting software will include features to support managing multiple financial accounts, tracking funds, designating escrow agents and credit and debit allocation. | |
General ledger | Allows law firms to manage accounts payable (liabilities), accounts receivable (assets), bank reconciliation and client retainers. Includes login/access for accountant and/or bookkeeper. Helps prepare tax filings based on the information stored in the system. |
Financial reporting | Generate reports on trust ledgers, client payment history, attorney productivity and more. Filter data by practice area, case file, attorney, etc. and gain insight into business trends. |
Legal accounting software should be able to record billing and time information in different ways for flexible application. Although law work is often based on time billing, the right accounting software will provide a range of pay options, as listed above. A good software package can also come with abilities to report for multiple clients at different rates and organize the information according to user preferences.
When evaluating these systems, buyers should consider the following:
How deep are the schedule reporting abilities?
Does it include appropriate payment arrangements?
Is invoice generation linked to payment records?
Does it provide adequate project sorting, tracking and progress features?
Law firms should keep the following considerations in mind as they evaluate legal accounting software:
Integration: In a recent report, “integration with other systems” was cited as a major challenge by nearly 30 percent of legal software users surveyed. To avoid a similar issue, firms can purchase legal accounting software in-suite, as part of a larger practice management solution. Alternatively, when purchasing a standalone accounting system, firms are encouraged to demo products prior to purchase to determine if they are compatible with existing business software.
Mobility: Even in the legal industry, telecommuting and working remotely is gaining in popularity. Mobile applications allow attorneys to track their time and view client information from any location, on any device with a mobile connection. As billable time ties directly to the accounting system, check with vendors to see how popular their mobile apps are and compare uptime, speed etc.
Security: Since lawyers deal with sensitive and often confidential information, ensure your accounting software has advanced security controls to restrict sensitive information to only the people who need it.