AlphaLAW-Vantage Accounting
AlphaLAW-vantage accounting is possibly one of the most flexible and comprehensive legal accounting systems available today. Together with its integrated Nominal and Purchase Ledger AlphaLAW-vantage ensures that the fundamental requirements of the firm are completely and securely controlled.
It is totally Solicitors Accounts Rules (SAR) compliant and contains many features that will assist you in complying with both LAFQAS and the Lexcel Practice Management Standards.
Based upon over a quarter of a century's legal accounting experience, and with well over a thousand firms using AlphaLAW legal accounting systems, has ensured that not only does AlphaLAW-vantage handle all the accounting requirements efficiently but is also easy to use and flexible. It also contains many 'cashiering aids' that are of invaluable assistance in the day to day running of the account's department. As an example, the 'Find A Value' function will enable you to search part or all the system for all occurrences of a required amount - invaluable when trying to reconcile!
Please note that the following list and descriptions are only a very brief overview of the main features and functions contained within AlphaLAW-Accounting. Only by viewing and using the system can its full functionality and benefit be fully appreciated.
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CLIENT & MATTER SEARCH & FIND
Throughout AlphaLAW-vantage is a very powerful and simple to use search and find facility. ou can locate the required client an/or matter by AlphaLAW reference number; by your own alternate reference number; by NI number; by Legal Aid Certificate; by name, part name or name contains; by address; by UFN; by DOB; by matter description; by Post Code; by bill number.
ACCOUNT CARD LAYOUT
The layout of the accounting details is based upon the traditional ledger card format allowing office, client and deposit entries, together with running balances, to be clearly displayed showing the overall account position on one clear and uncluttered card.
Drill Down technology is employed on the ledger card to enable you to expand a bill showing you all the items that make up that bill.
BRANCH ACCOUNTING
AlphaLAW-vantage will handle an unlimited number of branches. Reports generated can reflect either a single branch or a consolidated report for the complete firm.
BANKING
An unlimited number of client and office bank accounts can be maintained each with its own reconciliation facility. Designated or notional deposit accounts may be maintained for each matter.
CLIENT ACCOUNT
- Multiple bank accounts
- Integrated Interest Deposit Calculator
- Full details of all deposit movements
- Cashier's notes facility
- Record Undertaking facility
- Comprehensive bank reconciliation system
- Full audit trail including name of cashier making the posting
- Library of user defined standard posting descriptions
OFFICE ACCOUNT
- Multiple bank accounts
- Disbursement recording - paid, unpaid, billed, unbilled and anticipated
- Flexible billing using WORD format bill templates
- Statement generation
- Fee Note production option
- Library of user defined standard posting descriptions
- Automatic client to office transfer option during bill payment function
- Full audit trail including name of cashier making the posting
DEPOSIT ACCOUNTING
- Integrated Interest Deposit Calculator enables you to calculate interest due on client funds, either on a single matter or over all matters.
- Interest can be calculated either in total or based upon Law Society recommendations.
- Multiple interest rate tables can be maintained enabling you to calculate the interest based upon the rates being offered by differing agencies.
- All deposit movements, including running balances, are clearly shown on the ledger card enabling a clear and concise view of the position of the client account.
NOMINAL LEDGER
- Multiple nominal ranges, income, expenditure and capital
- Sub account facility allows for detailed analysis
- Standing Order facility
- Full budgetry control
- Multiple branch
- Controllable accounting periods
- Full archiving enables current and multiple previous years analysis
PURCHASE LEDGER
- Stores details of suppliers' names, addresses, invoices and payments made
- Monitors and controls firm's liabilities
- Part payment and payment on account options
- Invoice batching option
- Archive storage allows purchase analysis
- Full range of liabilities management reports
STANDING ORDER PROCESSING
Vantage Accounting - screenshot of this legal accounts software Standing orders may be recorded within the system. AlphaLAW-vantage will automatically notify the cashier when a payment is due and pre-load all the details into the posting form ensuring accuracy and speed.
CHEQUE REQUESTS
Cheque requests made by fee earners using AlphaLAW-desk can be listed for selection and posting.
BILLING
- There are two types of billing within AlphaLAW-vantage - private and Legal Aid. For Legal Aid billing see Legal Aid product brief.
- Private bills can be interim or final.
- A Draft Bill, or Billing Guide, may be produced at any time. This will include details of any unbilled disbursements together with details and totals of any unbilled time recorded.
- During the actual bill issue operation all current unbilled disbursements are displayed for selective inclusion in the bill. Likewise, all unbilled time is listed for selective inclusion. All VAT components are automatically calculated.
- Bills are produced using WORD, thus allowing you to set the format of the bill layout to your own required layout.
- Multiple bill formats may be used thus enabling client specialisation and presentation.
- Full Credit Note and bill cancellation options are available.
- An 'Estimated Billing Date' may be applied to a matter. This is accompanied by an Estimated Billing Date Tracking & Analysis report. The Estimated Billing Date function is of invaluable assistance in controlling and analysing current and future cash flow forecasts.
- Building on our existing time recording and billing systems is the enhanced Crown Court Billing module. AlphaLAW-Vantage allows for all of the different activities to be recorded at the relevant rates for the Fee Earner. The new module will automatically generate the entire Crown Court Bill with all of the time records and disbursements automatically accumulated and placed in the relevant sections of the bill.
FEE NOTES (PRO-FORMA INVOICE)
Fee Notes produced may be recorded within the system. As payment against a Fee Note is received so it is selected from the Fee Note list. Once selected AlphaLAW-vantage will process that Fee Note by automatically issuing and paying a bill in one automated sequence.
STATEMENT GENERATION
- Statements may be produced for a single client or a range of clients.
- A summary report accompanies the statement run showing the details of all statements produced.
- The statements themselves are generated via integration with WORD.
- Multiple statement layouts to suit your own specific requirements.
CHEQUE PRINTING
- Cheques may be printed during the posting process.
- The cheque layouts can be specified by the user via a simple 'cheque design' function.
- Cheques may be produced individually or may be stored for a later batch print run.
REPORTING
Flexible and comprehensive reporting is, arguably, one of the most important aspects of any accounting system. AlphaLAW-vantage comes with a number of reporting categories. See REPORTING for further details of AlphaLAW-vantage reporting system.
First is a wide range of standard reports that will satisfy a vast majority of your requirements. These include Bills Listing and Analysis, disbursement analysis, Purchase and Nominal ledger listings and analysis through to a comprehensive set of Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet reports.
Next is a powerful Select Report Generator. This, via simple select option lists, enables you to produce reports based upon your own requirements. For example, list all matter for a specific branch, opened between two given dates, where unbilled disbursements are in excess of a given amount and no bill has been issued; list all matters where unbilled time (Work In Progress) is in excess of a stated amount. The list of possible permutations is almost endless.
Thirdly AlphaLAW-vantage has an optional Report Writer. With this you can create almost any type of report, designing the layout of the report, selecting from the database the information required, and applying any totalling and sub totalling that you may require. With AlphaLAW-vantage you have no need to invest in other software to produce the specialised reports that the account's department, partners or fee earners may require in the execution of their duties.
VAT CONTROL
Full and complete VAT Reporting is an integral component of AlphaLAW-vantage. When producing a VAT Return a list of all entries that make up the totals are produced thus giving you a fully auditable VAT Return.
DIARY
The fully integrated diary system may be accessed by all users of the accounting functions. Personal and department specific diaries may be configured.