We compiled our top six areas you should be monitoring each month.

Top Six Reports We Recommend to Every Attorney

It’s a common scenario: You start the year optimistic, determined to take your billing productivity and practice to the next level. But with the year almost half over, how have you done? Maybe you started out great, but you didn’t quite know what information would help. If this sounds familiar, then our monthly report “6-pack” is what you need. Reports give concrete data for decisions. While qualitative data, or thinking with your heart, is helpful in some circumstances, quantitative data, or thinking with your head, often leads you to the best decisions. By evaluating your monthly performance, over time you can use it as a means to consistently improve your firm’s productivity and profitability.

Remember: even the most seasoned attorney is able to find areas to improve or adjust.

To help you start evaluating your firm’s performance, we compiled our top six areas you should be monitoring each month:

1. Billable VS. Non-Billable Activity
   You need to know how much of your work is billable and how much is not. The ratio of billable to non-billable time can determine how productive you have been during the past month. Use this ratio to improve the next month and focus on how you can limit non-billable activity. When comparing month to month, and year-to-date, you can see how you’ve improved over the course of the year and where you could still make improvements. Evaluating your billable and non-billable time allows you to assess your overall productivity for the month.
2. How much your clients owe you
   A law firm cannot be profitable if it doesn’t get paid. That is why it is important to monitor how much is due from every client each month. Imagine if you only checked in on your accounts receivable on a quarterly basis and you realized you have not collected on an invoice that was due three months ago. Because so much time has passed since you last checked in with your client, the uncomfortable conversation that you could have had a month ago is even more uncomfortable now. Chances are, your client won’t remember details of your bill or what a fantastic job you did. By checking on your accounts receivable monthly, you can talk to clients sooner, and avoid walking clients through the details of your efforts months later.
3. Time spent for flat fee services
   If you work with flat fees, then you should still be monitoring your time to ensure that your fee covers the time you are spending. Let’s say you charge a flat fee of $1,000 for a standard will, but by tracking your time you determine that you are actually spending an average of $1,200 of billable time. Evaluating your billable time can help you make smart changes such as rate adjustments for flat fees.
   
   
   This content is an abridged version of Top Six Reports We Recommend to Every Attorney by Tabs3 Software. To download the original white paper and learn about all six reports, visit Tabs3.com/LTSix.

By Guest Blogger: Tabs3 Software