Law Firm Accounting & Bookkeeping Services in Ontario
A law firm bookkeeper is a professional who handles bookkeeping and prepares financial documents like profit-and-loss statements, balance sheets, and more. These specialized accountants (like us) have the ability to perform audits of the business’ books, prepare reports for tax purposes, and ensure that the statements and records comply with laws and regulations, and/or handle all the financial information that further assists business owners to thrive!
What does an accountant do in a law firm?
Ensures that compliance with the necessary authorities is met, such as trust reconciliations.
Growth potential – if you understand the financial aspects of your business, you can leverage that to increase profitability. Lawyer accountants provide specialized bookkeeping & accounting services for law firms. Not all lawyers are trained and/or certified within law-based financials. It is crucial for law firms to hire qualified accountants for legal accounting services to properly report finances, avoid penalties and make sure the firm is compliant. These specialized accountants will report to two different entities – the bar association and the CRA.
What accounting software should I use for my law firm?
Choosing a legal accounting software can be important for the future of your finances. The cost per software varies, and luckily for most small to medium sized legal firms, choosing enterprise software is usually unnecessary. The top software for firms based in America and Canada is Quickbooks online & Clio. Depending on your specific needs each one of these software options will provide, legal workflow processing, payroll processing, (ABA) task codes and litigation management.
We recommend QuickBooks Online as it is a helpful legal accounting software for lawyers, especially those in Canada. It automates many of the functions of cloud based financial accounting by integrating with the cloud software offerings that lawyers use. It also has the ability to provide law firm accounting, legal billing, and report creation. Used by over 8,000 law firms, Quickbooks is the standard by which lawyers can keep their financial records secure and up to date.
Are you using Clio?
Awesome! We are a certified Clio partner, expertly using CLIO to further assist law firm accounting. Clio features legal calendaring, task management, time tracking, trust accounting and document management. Clio can not be used to handle all of the accounting needs of a business. Most law firms use CLIO’s integration capabilities for their accounting software, additionally using QuickBooks or Xero to provide law firm with the financial aspect of the business, including accounting and invoicing.
Maximizing your savings
We provide expert advice on accounting and bookkeeping for lawyers to maximize their financial savings and fees. One of the effective methods is deducting specific legal fees. It is important to note that the below items are summarized (meaning there might be more nuanced deductions relevant to your specific law firm). Here are some of the more commonly used deductions:
Legal Fees for Tax Advice or Assistance
Legal Fees Concerning a Retiring Allowance or Pension Benefit
Legal Fees Related to Child Support
Legal Fees to Collect Salary or Wages
Business-Related Legal Fees
When considering the deductibility, you have to assess on a case by case scenario so it is important to work with experts, like us, to figure out what is actually deductible and how we can help.
How can I make my law firm more profitable?
We know the inner workings of profitability and what it takes to consistently increase your profits. We recommend a couple of techniques:
Stick to Your Highest and Best Use, Delegate the Rest.
Avoid Doing Non-Billable Work, and keep track of your billable hours through digital (secure) timesheets
Charge More with a Specialization or Sub-Specialization.
Identify More Ways to Implement Technology - we work with secure and up to date technology that will help you keep track of your financials.
What are the main expenses in law firm accounting?
We have identified 5 expenses that law firms are mostly concerned with:
Court filing fees.
Witness fees.
Laboratory fees.
Deposition expenses.
Medical record expenses.
Keep track of all of these expenses and more through the suggested (above) technology.
What is cloud bookkeeping?
Cloud accounting software is an easy solution to keep up to date secure records of your business financials. Cloud accounting software allows you to access all your financial documents no matter where you are working from. We only use cloud based technology and further assist all of our clients to transfer to these secure and up to date systems.
Legal Accounting Services We Provide
Bookkeeping
Know exactly where your money is coming and going. Understanding cash flow allows you to make better decisions.
Payroll
Envolta offers software that simplifies and automates your payroll process. Hours are calculated, taxes are paid and deductions are removed securely.
Accounts payable
When you know where all of your money is going, your business can flourish! Allow us, law firm accountants, to provide a detailed picture of your companies’ liabilities and expenses that accrue.
Cloud accounting
At Envolta, we use cloud-based accounting instead that hosts data remotely and securely online. This allows lawyers to operate far more efficiently by streamlining their business accounting systems while cutting down substantially on costs.
Corporate tax
Tax planning
Envolta helps corporations lower their effective tax rate by utilizing federal and provincial incentives that work to your advantage come tax time.
Virtual CFO
Acquisitions, partnerships, privatization, and restructuring all require complex accounting. Envolta Professionals have a deep understanding of law firm accounting and our experience means you can make confident decisions during periods of transition.
System implementation
Envolta provides law firms with a knowledgeable account manager that can assist with the entire legal accounting process. Depending on your needs, our account managers can schedule training, and/or observe law firm practices to provide a seamless and easy process from end to end.
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Financial solutions built for lawyers
Select A Starter Package
Bronze
Custom pricing
Software setup includes:
Desktop Software – QBO Data Migration
Trial Balance
Import Contact List
Add ons
Historical Trust Ledgers
Silver
Custom pricing
Software setup includes:
Desktop Software – QBO Data Migration
Full General Ledger for “One Fiscal Year”
Import Contact List
Add ons
Historical Trust Ledgers
Gold
Custom pricing
Full General Ledger for “Multiple Fiscal Years”
Add ons
Historical Trust Ledgers
Get your online bookkeeping services consult today!
Let’s bring your books into the 21st Century
With so many accounting firms out there, it’s hard to know who you can trust. That’s why our entire company culture is anchored in honesty and transparency. We have hundreds of happy clients, which has made us the fastest growing accounting firm in Canada.
