MatterShpere Accounts Integration | Law Firm Services (LFS)

MatterSphere - Accounts Integration

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Account Integration

MatterSphere has been integrated with many accounting products but in the main the feature-rich integrations exist for Indigo (formerly known as Paragon), 3E, Enterprise and Aderant. Other integrations have been built so that “high-level” information can transfer from MatterSphere to accounts. LFS has focused on enhancing integration with Indigo – the features are detailed in the modules to the left.

eChits Electronic Accounts Slips

The process for requesting monies to be paid or informing accounts of monies that are being received is often a laborious process that is using handwritten slips (pink and blues!) or as a typed document that ultimately does not retain/capture the information for reporting or analysing. Even if the information is typed on the originating slip, the same data is then re-keyed into the Accounting system and so doubling the effort to make a posting.

LFS has worked with Indigo to build a fully integrated posting routine from front office requests through to back office accounts postings. The posting requests are created, authorised and then approved by the front office team prior to the posting request being transferred as an eChit into Indigo to the Accounts/cashier office as a Pending Transaction for their final approval and to accept as a posting to the Matter.

The eChit process is adaptable for Client or Office and applies to Payments and Receipts. All payment types are catered such as Cheque, BACS and TT. LFS has also designed solutions that will take the payment information of BACS and TT items that are approved and posted to Indigo for importing to your online banking system and so no further re-key even to your bank! A truly integrated solution

eBills Electronic Bills

The process for issuing a bill to a client should be straightforward but often takes much longer than it needs with Fee Earners requesting Billing Guides and Disbursement sheets from their accounts team to then identify what items can billed/written off before then drafting and ultimately issuing a bill to the client. The bill is many days later than it needed to have been and this affects the cash/WIP lockup of the business.

LFS has built a fully integrated billing system. Front office teams create billing requests that look at the live financial position of time entries, disbursements and additional fees. The Fee Earner can easily identify the matters that a due a bill, commence the bill process and generate a bill document that is attached to an email (or printed if you prefer) and sent immediately. No more delays in billing.

The bill template is fully versatile and if you choose to do so also sends a detailed breakdown of the time entries. The bill is given the next sequential bill number and at that stage is sent to the Accounts Office (as data) for accounts to accept and post as an eBill. No re-key for accounts and all the time and disbursements are assigned to the bill as you expect and of course updates the unpaid bills balance. A far greater experience from front to back office (and for your client!) and a fully integrated solution.

Management Accounts

Using the Command Centre to actively manage your case load helps a fee earner understand the tasks required and cases that require attention.

The Management Accounts solution that LFS have created embraces all of the standard matter views and applies rich financial information to present a whole position to the fee earner of the WIP, Unpaid Bills, Bills Delivered and the balances of client and office account by matter. Using this financial information with the matter details helps a fee earner identify the cases requiring attention.

WIP management is paramount too. Getting WIP into Bills and then cash in the bank in the shortest period of time is the goal of all businesses. The Management Accounts solution helps a business to achieve this and provides a better tool for the business owners to manage their teams

Bank Account Management

Unfortunately, cybercrime is on the up and the onus for an organisation to have accurate, verified and certified bank details of a 3rd party is essential.

The Bank Account Management technology from LFS provides a solution for the law firm to store and manage the correctness of the sort code and account number of a contact / associate record. The bank details are entered and then approved by a second party. The sort code and account number are then re-validated against a payment request when an eChit is requested as a further check.

Bank Export Files

As part of the eChit and Bank Account Management solution, LFS have created Bank Export files for BACS or TT file using the information for the payment to import to your bank.

To reduce even further re-key of data, the payment information of a payment request can be exported to a file that matches the requirements of your bank so the accounts team do not have to re-enter the data into the banking software. Accuracy of the data is maintained and auditing of the eChit from start to finish is guaranteed.