Insights
When most people think of accounting, two things come to mind – taxes and bookkeeping. The third, and arguably most valuable part of the accounting process is also the one that is often most neglected, especially by small businesses – insights. This middle part of the accounting life-cycle, after bookkeeping and before taxes, sometimes referred to as Management Accounting, is where KORE believes the real value lies. When you look at the accounting departments of big businesses, in addition to making sure the numbers are accurate, a big bulk of their job is to help their companies use their financial data to drive business decisions. We recognize that it doesn’t usually make sense for small businesses to have entire accounting departments, but that doesn’t mean your numbers shouldn’t be used for more than just taxes.
While bookkeeping is the foundation of what we do, the KORE Accounting Solutions Team believes that your data is only as useful as how you use it, which is why we work with each of our customers to help them get as much value as possible out of their numbers!
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.”
Developing and maintaining a useful Chart of Accounts based on your business and needs
Your business’s Chart of Accounts (also commonly referred to as the General Ledger, or GL) is the backbone of your accounting system and dictates the structure of your business’s financial reporting – too much detail and your reports will be convoluted; too little detail and it will be hard to gain any useful insights. Additionally, the data that has value to you and your firm may be different than the information that a different firm is looking for, which is why there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Leveraging our experience and expertise, we work with our customers to structure their Chart of Accounts to be as valuable as possible based on their unique needs and goals.
Reviewing and advising on your financial statements
When your firm’s Chart of Accounts is structured strategically and your transactions are categorized correctly, your financial reports tell the story of your business while also highlighting potential issues. We recognize, however, that our customers may not share our (definitely-nerdy) passion for accounting, which is why we don’t just send you your financial statements at the end of the month, but we also review each one in detail, share our analysis, highlight red flags, and make relevant recommendations. Not only should you always have a good idea of how your business is performing, but we also want our customers to have peace of mind that there is always a second set of eyes looking out for them…
Actively monitoring your accounts
In addition to reviewing our customers’ financial reporting monthly, we also look critically at each of their transactions to identify and point out things that look suspicious – over the years, we’ve caught countless duplicate expenses (we’re looking at you, Verizon!), fraudulent charges, bank fees (that are often reversible), personal expenses unexpectedly going through the business, deposits into wrong accounts, etc. In nearly all of these cases, our customers were able to very easily take action on these items, leading to lots of money back in their pockets. Ultimately, we know that your time is not best spent going through all of your transactions one by one, which is why we do it for you!
Providing guidance on past due balances to enable collection
One of the areas we see small law firms, especially those that don’t often utilize client trusts, struggle most with is collections. Despite a firm owner’s best intentions, new cases get prioritized and past-due invoices get put on the back-burner. All too quickly, it becomes hard to keep track of which clients owe what, and even if you have a team member with capacity to follow-up, they’re not always clear on who to reach out to and/or the best way to send past-due invoices. For our firms that struggle with collections, we work with the partner(s), and whoever will be actually following up, to develop a process for strategically trying to recover these owed funds. Once a system is in place, we send regular past-due balance reports and help track payments that have come in.
Advising on accounting best-practices and industry standards
Having specialized in working with attorneys since 2017, the KORE Accounting Solutions team has a deep understanding of the unique needs, requirements, and challenges associated with operating a small law firm. From our expertise in client trust account management and compliance to our proficiency with cloud-based legal practice management tools, such as Clio and MyCase, you benefit from the time we’ve invested, the mistakes we’ve made, and the many, many lessons we’ve learned along the way
Creating introductions to strategic partners
Another way in which we aim to provide value to our customers is by making introductions to vetted vendors and service providers that share our values, commitment to customer experience, and understand the unique needs of law firms. Over the years, we’ve had the opportunity to work with many service providers across numerous industries, and we’ve seen the ones that are fine, which to avoid, and the ones that stood out from the rest. Furthermore, we’ve developed formalized partnerships with various businesses where our customers can often get preferred pricing and/or service. Whether you are looking for a new payroll provider, bank, insurance broker, etc., we likely have a great partner we can put you in touch with!