Product Summary
Access Legal Accounting and Time Recording System has been designed to meet the requirements of the
Solicitors Accounts Rules 1998 and provide the solicitors' practice with the financial and management
information necessary to manage the practice and comply fully with the solicitors accounts rules.
The product can be run as a stand alone application or it can be fully integrated with the Access Practice and Client Database, Case Management and Time Capture systems to provide fully comprehensive practice management, marketing and fee earner support systems.
Practice Management
Financial Control
- Client matter ledgers maintained in accordance with solicitors accounts rules
- Automated bank reconciliation
- Work-in-progress monitoring for executive acting, work type, matter, client and Practice
- Interest calculation
- Credit management via client credit control, aged bill analysis and statements
- Client statistics
- Facilities for multiple bank accounts for office, client general and client designated
- Facilities for multiple branches and departments
- Nominal ledger budgeting
- Income and expenditure statement and balance sheet
- VAT analysis
Management Control
- Performance statistics for the practice, branch, department, work types, fee earners and executives
acting with comparisons to previous year and to budgets
- Budgets for branches, departments, work types, fee earners, executives acting and nominal headings
- Archiving of completed matters
- Monitoring of fees against matter quotation or cost limit and client credit limit
- Automatic checking of client name and address details for conflict of intrest
Functionality
Legal Accounting
The system provides client and nominal accounting which complies fully with "Solicitors Accounts Rules 1998" and includes the following features:
- Simple, interactive posting facility for all transactions
- Drop down lists for ease of entering data
- Split screen view of ledger card during posting
- Drill down accounting audit trail from any transaction
- Prevention of overdrawn client account
- Identification of payment type - telegraphic transfer, cheque etc.- to facilitate clearance recognition
- Journals to write-off bills and disbursements and register prepayments and accruals
- Control of unpaid disbursements
- Ability to register internal disbursements
- Standard narratives and notes against all transactions
- Petty cash ledger
- Accounting periods available for reporting for a number of years
- Posting available to more than one period
- Automated year-end procedure
Time Recording
The time recording system is fully integrated with the Legal Accounting System and allows the legal office to record cost and fees against individual client matters. The recording can take place via manually completed time sheets, direct fee earner entry to the Access Time Capture application or via the Access Case Management Time Capture facility. Charging can be based on fee earner rates, rate tables or legal aid rate tables that can be allocated at client, matter or fee earner level and can be overridden when time is recorded. Features include:
- Time costing and fee ledgers held for each client matter
- Work-in-Progress held for practice, branch, department, work type, client matter, fee earner, executive acting and solicitor responsible
- Interim billing
- Time entry narrative and case notes
- User defined chargeable and non-chargeable activity codes
- User defined units of time
- Facility to register number of items for per item charging of letters, telephone calls etc.
- Rate tables
- Legal aid tables
- Billing guides showing fees recorded, fees analysis and outstanding disbursements
Automated Bank Reconciliation
Bank reconciliation can be performed for all or selected bank accounts. Reconciliation is performed quickly and easily on the screen by selecting bank statement entries using the mouse or by searching for a reference or an amount. Reconciled entries can be printed and unreconciled entries are carried forward. The system holds full reconciliation controls.
Cheque Printing
The system maintains a fully audited cheque printing function. All cheque numbers are accounted for on the system. Cheques can be printed for all or selected bank accounts. Payments can be consolidated for a single payee. A file of regular cheque payees can be maintained. Cheques can be printed to laser or dot matrix printers.
Archiving
Matters completed are "archived" separately within the database such that they do not form part of the daily enquiry and reporting process but they can be enquired and reported on and re-instated if requried.
Interest Calculation
Rate tables can be maintained against individual bank accounts showing the rates applicable at various values of deposit. Law Society de minimus rules and interest paid low limit are held such that accurate interest due can be calculated against an individual client matter or a range of client matters or an amount of money.
Charge Out Rates and Tables
Charging for client matters can be on the basis of one of three individual fee earner rates or via a rate table or a legal aid rate table whereby different fees can be levied for different activities. Rate tables can also reflect per item charges. All chargeable rates are held with from and to dates such that time recorded on a particular date can be audited.
Legal Aid
Legal Aid standard monthly payments can be posted to a 'Legal Aid Client Matter' Office Account and allocated to individual legal aid bills via a simple payment journal. The system is fully compliant with the LAFQAS, SPAN and SPOCC requirements.
Branch and Department Accounting
The system allows for maintenance of separate branches and departments at all levels - client, matter and nominal ledger. Reporting can be by department within individual branch or department across branches.
Information is provided by screen enquiry and printed reports as follows :
Enquiries
The system provides instant screen access to:
- Client statistics
- Client matter summary and statistics.
- Client matter ledgers with full financial, time, billing and fee earner detail.
- Fee Earner statistics
- Bills delivered and bills outstanding
- Nominal ledger accounts, including bank accounts, with full supportive financial detail.
- Financial and time detail based on any field in the financial or time record
Reports
The key emphasis in the Access reporting facility is on exception reporting. Where relevant, reports can be produced for individual or a range of branches, departments, work types, clients, fee earners, executives acting and solicitors responsible.
All reports can be viewed on the screen and most enquiries and reports can be exported to other applications such as Microsoft Excel.
Client reports are available for:
- Client matter ledger including, if required, matter summary, financial ledger and time and value ledger. The report can be produced for a range of client matters and for the period, year-to-date or a range of dates.
- Matter summary giving one line summary of each client matter selected showing work-in-progress, bills outstanding, disbursements outstanding etc. Selection can be by client number or client name and there are exceptions available for last moved date, set up since date, work-in-progress totals, client monies not on deposit etc.
- Executive acting totals showing work-in-progress, bills outstanding, disbursements outstanding etc.
- Unpaid disbursements report
- Completed matter analysis giving profitability of completed matters
- Billing guide based on fee scale or charge out table applicable to client/matter and including unbilled disbursements which also summarises time recorded by fee earner and by activity code
- Credit limit showing clients over or within a percentage of credit limit
- Cost limit report showing matters over or within a percentage of legal aid limit, quotation limit etc.
- Aged debtors analysed by age - 30, 60, 90 and 120 days - and available for bills over 'x' days old
- Statements of account for clients.
Performance reports are available for:
- Bills delivered available for fee earner, executive acting, work type and client
- Monies received by executive acting, work type and client
- Fee earner fees billed showing fees billed period and year to date against budget
- Fee earner analysis - current period showing fees and time billed and chargeable time recorded against budget and work-in-progress movement
- Fee earner analysis - year-to-period showing fees and time billed and chargeable time recorded against budget, work-in-progress movement and current work-in-progress
Financial reports are available for:
- Trial balance
- Nominal ledger showing financial detail for requested nominal ledger accounts for current period, year to date
or from a date
- VAT analysis with full supportive detail
- Income & Expenditure showing practice profitability with comparisons to budget, variance and with provisions for prepayments and accruals
- Balance Sheet