Why Lawyers Should Care about Accounting

As an aspiring solicitor or barrister, there’s a lot of topics you need to be across. Sure, you’re probably already deep into torts, legislation, human rights concerns, and trade agreements, but what about accounting? Dry and boring accounts might seem like the last thing you need to worry about as a lawyer.

However, at least a basic level of knowledge in accounting is critically important for lawyers. For starters, many lawyers operate their own practice or at least need to do some sort of administration as part of their work. They have clients, deal with money, and need to report any and all expenses that crop up during legal proceedings.

Due to the nature of the business, they conduct, they need to have a clear record – accounts, if you will – of all their income and outgoings. Lawyers need to carefully manage their accounts, whether it’s to explain themselves to the government or their clients.

Why Accounting is Important for Lawyers

Every business needs to keep a clear record of expenditure, income, and other financial information.

For lawyers, well-organised, comprehensive financial records are essential for two main reasons:

• To maintain the highest ethical standards at all times
• To determine the value of their work

When it comes to ethics, keeping a record of clients’ funds, property, and other assets help lawyers provide an accurate record of how money has been spent. Clients pay significant fees for legal services, not to mention court fees along with professional fees. To comply with internationally-agreed standards for ethics, it is necessary to report all expenditure in the name of transperancy.

In this way, your clients have a clear picture of the fees they need to pay, rather than simply receiving an invoice for a certain amount. This ensures that no one is overcharged and fully understands the services they are paying for.

Furthermore, by keeping accurate records, lawyers can determine the final value of the services they have provided. Good accounting means lawyers know exactly how much money they have recieved, the expenses they paid, and the exact profit margin. Only with this information can they know the absolute value of services rendered and be able to set a fair and profitable fee schedule for their services.

How Accounting Helps Lawyers

There’s more to accounting than simply providing value and supporting ethical practices. Having the skills and knowledge to keep their books in order is valuable for lawyers in a range of other ways.

It Allows you to Set up Good Accounting Processes

There are a number of accounting best practices that make managing your practice a lot easier, as well helping you to stay compliant with government regulations and tax responsibilities. Having some knowledge of accounting means that you know how to implement and maintain these kinds of procedures.

For example, it’s important to keep good records of how, when, and where client funds are spent, and the best practice to be able to do this well is to keep seperate bank accounts. Established lawyers and law firms usually have separate client accounts that receive the funds and through which all transactions are made.

A separate bank account helps keep the tally separate, making it easier to track all transactions, and allowing you to create to an accessible financial report that you can present to the client and any other government bodies at the end of the case.

It Avoids Unnecessary Losses

Having separate accounts and a clear record of all funds and transactions also helps to prevent unnecessary losses. Clients pay for all the legal costs and fees for the duration of their case. If these costs are not properly accounted for, the money might end up coming out of your pocket.

These are unnecessary losses that can hurt your professional value and your wallet. For larger firms, such accounting mistakes can greatly hurt the bottom line and affect the salaries of everyone associated with the firm. Good accounting from the beginning can end helps avoid such issues.

It Helps Determine Final Profit

Accounting is more than just tallying up expenditure – its main function is to provide an accurate picture of profit. For lawyers, the final profit on a case or cases determines the value of the work they’ve put in, so they can later determine whether the work they have done was worth it. Later, lawyers can use this information to adjust their approach to the clients they accept, procedures, or the fees they charge, and better refine their business.

It Prevents Any Accidental Financial Fraud

Nobody wants to accidentally commit financial fraud – least of all a lawyer! Without the right accounting, there’s a chance you could end up overlooking certain expenses, income, or other items. This simple oversight could result in serious financial fraud.

You also need to consider taxation. For your taxes, you’ll need a clear record of all expenses and the separate legal fees you charged. Clear and comprehensive records are best for everybody involved!

It Gives You a Better Understanding of Financial-Legal Matters

Finally, some knowledge of accounting can be helpful for cases related to financial fraud or similar. Whether you like it or not, certain cases will require some technical know-how, such as understanding accounting terms and knowing how to find mistakes in ledgers. If nothing else, some understanding of accounting will allow you to finesse your arguments and better explain things to your client.

Wrapping Up

As a lawyer, you don’t necessarily need in-depth knowledge of accounting and its processes. However, there’s a distinct advantage to having working knowledge of this field. This can help you with certain professional situations, legal requirements, and your own finances.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you need to do everything yourself. It can be a good idea to consult with the professionals such as hodgebakshi.com. You can choose to outsource all of your accounting to a professional accountant, or manage your own records and consult with the experts on specific matters.

However, you decide to manage your accounting, the most important thing is not to underestimate the importance of this area. Not only will good accounting help your clients, reputation, and make your processes more efficient, it keeps you maintain the highest standards of ethics.