If you’re trying to decide whether QuickBooks is a bookkeeping or accounting software, the truth is that QuickBooks does both.
What Is the Difference Between Bookkeeping and Accounting?
The difference between accounting and bookkeeping is that accounting involves the preparation of financial statements (income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement) using recorded data from bookkeeping.
Bookkeeping & Accounting Software
So you’ve decided to stop searching for a “bookkeeper near me” and do your own accounting and bookkeeping.
QuickBooks is an online accounting software company that develops desktop, online, and mobile software solutions for small businesses.
You can use QuickBooks for legal and personal accounting.
What is QuickBooks for legal accounting?
When you’re a lawyer, your primary job is to practice law. But being a solo practitioner means spending two-thirds of your day on non-billable tasks like accounting. If you are looking for a better way to manage the business side of your law firm, you should try QuickBooks for legal accounting. Efficient accounting processes are essential in helping you get on top of things and focus on your practice area. QuickBooks helps lawyers stay organized and improve efficiency, giving them peace of mind regarding cash flow, client information, and invoice automation.
What is QuickBooks for legal accounting?
QuickBooks is a software program many small businesses use to manage their finances. It’s not just for keeping track of your accounts payable and receivable, though that’s part. The program also helps you track your income, expenses, and cash flow.
You can set up multiple bank accounts in QuickBooks to see how much money is coming in, going out, and sitting in each account at any given time.
If you’re an attorney looking for bookkeeping software, QuickBooks can work for you. It’s a user-friendly program makes it easy to collect payments from clients or communicate with them. In addition, QuickBooks can integrate with other platforms like Google Drive so that you can share documents and collaborate on projects quickly from one place.
Why are many law firms hesitant to use QuickBooks?
QuickBooks Online is not a standalone solution for law firms — there are legal-specific features you will miss. But QuickBooks Online has come a long way since it was first introduced — there’s a lot of power under the hood and integrated with the right add-on software. Many law firms are hesitant to use QuickBooks because it’s not designed for legal accounting. The software is not specifically designed for anyone other than small business owners, who might also be lawyers or accountants.
QuickBooks may be helpful when you want to consolidate your business transactions and see where your money is being spent.
How can lawyers use QuickBooks?
Time tracking is essential for attorneys to ensure they are getting paid for every minute of billable work. QuickBooks have multiple time-tracking capabilities that can be used on mobile devices as well as web apps.
There is no streamlined workflow in QuickBooks Online for managing your invoices. But it has an integration that covers drafts, reviews, and approvals. Invoices are integrated with the timekeeping software at the beginning of the workflow and QuickBooks Online for accounting at the end. That means a fully automated workflow once you’ve entered your time.
If your law firm uses checks to move money around in client trust accounts, QuickBooks for lawyers can simplify the process. With the integration, you can sync financial information and print checks securely. You can enter trust records once in the integration, and that data automatically syncs with QuickBooks. Then you can quickly print trust check disbursements.
Manually inputting financial data and managing transactions takes time and puts you at risk of unnecessary error. That’s why QuickBooks for lawyers automatically syncs with bank accounts to categorize transactions and save you hours each month.
Is there an alternative to Quickbooks for Legal Accounting?
Yes, there are alternatives to Quickbooks for legal accounting. But before you jump ship and abandon all hope of finding a solution, let’s look at what they are.
- Xero: The most popular alternative to Quickbooks is the online accounting platform Xero. It has many of the same features as Quickbooks, but one significant difference: it costs $19 per month (or $149 per year). You can also try out its free version for 30 days and decide if you want to upgrade afterward.
- FreshBooks: Another option is FreshBooks, which offers cloud-based accounting software that costs $14 per month or $150 annually. It has 5 million users worldwide and a slew of features that make it easier for lawyers to manage their finances on their own time and from any location—and without charging exorbitant fees like those charged by Xero or Intuit!
You should try Quickbooks for legal accounting if you are looking for a more straightforward way than complicated and expensive accounting software.
You should try QuickBooks for legal accounting if you are looking for a more straightforward way than complicated and expensive accounting software. This software is ideal for small law firms that do not have much experience with the process of bookkeeping or managing their finances.