Precise Takes On Firm’s Dysfunctional Billing Dept, Profits Grow 20%

Billing and collections are critical to the success of any law firm, yet ensuring timely issuance and payment of invoices is a struggle for many legal practices. That was certainly true for one law firm that recently asked Precise to tackle its dysfunctional billing department.

Poor communication between billing personnel and the partners heading up various practice groups, along with a complete failure to take a proactive approach to slow-paying clients and collections, were behind much of the dysfunction. As a backlog of unpaid invoices slowed an already unwieldy and inefficient process, the firm’s billing issues only grew worse. Some delinquent clients were no longer being invoiced, yet the accounts languished in collections long after they should have been written off.

The Solution

The Precise team took over the billing and collection departments, overhauling the entire process, from pre-billing through invoicing and collections, to ensure a seamless workflow. After performing a WIP analysis, the team better understood what had transpired in the past. They identified all delinquent accounts no longer being invoiced and determined which would see a resumption of billing and which would be finally written off.

Monthly meetings with every partner established new lines of communication, ensuring everyone understood their roles and responsibilities related to the billing and collections workflow.

The Result

The Precise team eliminated the billing department’s backlog within 5 months. With efficient processes for invoicing and collections in place, the law firm saw profits improve by 20% while the realization rate climbed to 92%.