Desktop billing: what will the accounts department say?

Before moving on from fee-earner desktop systems, there is one frequently misunderstood facility that deserves further explanation: desktop billing software.

The concept here is that instead of the relevant partner or fee-earner creating a draft bill, perhaps with the assistance of a computer-generated billing guide, which is then forwarded on to the accounts department for preparation before going back to the solicitor for approval and eventually - once any final amendments have been incorporated - sent out to the client, it can all be done automatically from the solicitor's desktop.

Despite the fact that this software has been available from most of the main legal accounts and practice management system suppliers since the mid-1990s, it has never really taken off.

This is primarily because of opposition from the cashiers in law firm accounts departments, who argue that creating client bills and posting them to the relevant ledgers is something far too sensitive to be left to mere lawyers.

It is probably also fair to say that most lawyers would rather leave this task for someone else to deal with.

However, this resistance to desktop billing does ignore some of the financial realities of modern legal life.

For example, not just lawyers but almost all professional service-type businesses recognise that the quicker you prepare and deliver a bill after the successful completion of a project, not only will it be more accurate (because you will still remember all the work you did and the expenses you incurred), but also the more likely you are to be paid promptly and in full by the client.

On the other hand, the longer you delay a bill going out - and it is quite common for bills to be submitted weeks after the completion of a matter - the greater the risk the client will have grown disillusioned (just consider conveyancing clients who, a few weeks down the line, will have started to spot faulty appliances, leaking pipes and cracks in the plasterwork in what were previously their dream homes) or else, on reflection, decided that you actually seemed to have charged a lot of money for doing relatively little and challenge the bill.

So, although desktop billing systems do raise some procedural issues that must be resolved with your accounts department, surely this is worth doing if such systems can improve your cashflow and reduce the amount of working capital tied up in unpaid bills?

Next time, we will start looking at case management systems.

Charles Christian is an independent adviser to the Law Society's Software Solutions guide