In a recent blog post, Advocate Capital, Inc. President and CEO, Michael J. Swanson shared with readers, “Recent Ruling Confirms That Case Expenses Are Loans, Not Expenses”. According to the IRS ruling, costs paid on behalf of a client are to be treated as a loan to your client or in accounting terms, an accounts receivable item. If you’re just now getting on board with the proper accounting of case costs or if your accounting team has been struggling with implementing the proper set up, great news, we have resources to help get you on the right track quickly and easily.
If you are like many law firms across the country using QuickBooks as your law firm’s accounting solution, you’re in luck! There’s a wealth of information and resources available to meet the specific accounting needs of law firms who use QuickBooks, including information about how to properly set up and track client case costs. If tracking this information correctly and efficiently seems overwhelming, here are a few resources to help you get started quickly:
QB Seminar Systems, a network of QuickBooks consultants, is one resource and provides the following:
How to Setup QuickBooks for Law Firms
How to Setup a QuickBooks Chart of Accounts for Law Firms
The Sleeter Group, a network of consultants providing software consulting services for hundreds of businesses across the US, many who use QuickBooks as an accounting solution, recently posted the following two articles related to QuickBooks for Law Firms:
QuickBooks for Law firms: Setup
This article is a great resource for first time set up using QuickBooks. It can also help you re-think your existing set up and enhance both quality and efficiency in reporting.
QuickBooks for Law Firms: Time, Expenses and Invoicing
If you don’t track attorney time, simply skip to the section that discusses step-by-step help for the proper tracking of case costs/client expenses in QuickBooks.
Let us know if you find these helpful or if you have other resources you would like to share with our readers. We’re always looking for solutions to help our friends and clients achieve the best possible results.
Lastly, if you are an Advocate Capital, Inc. client and would like further support, I am a QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisor and am happy to help you free of charge. Click here to reach me.
Senior Vice President, Client Services
QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisor
