Having spent many years working with solicitors we have experienced the same conversation time and time again – “I’m making profits, I don’t need to worry about looking at my financials in any further detail”. 

Have you considered that looking at your monthly management accounts and analysing some of the data within them could make you even more profit?
You may discover key things that could completely change your opinion on how your business is performing. For example, what if one department is working at a loss when another is making a substantial profit? Without any analysis of your figures, you would have no idea! Removing the loss-making department would create an instant increase in profits!
We’re not saying you should do something so drastic as ceasing a whole sector of your business, but there may be an opportunity to make simple changes that would turn that loss into a profit. Things to consider might be:
1. Fee earner performance. Are yours generating enough fees for their salary level? A good fee earner should generate on average 3 times their annual salary.
2. Is the department over staffed? Are there too many secretaries for the number of fee earners?
3. Does the department time record? Many firms offer fixed fees for conveyancing work but is the fixed fee high enough to cover the departments costs?
There are many other things that could be considered but as you can see, answering these three initial questions could present the opportunity to considerably improve profitability.
Our new FREE benchmarking tool will allow you to look at your practice in a way you haven’t considered before. Analysing your performance to industry averages and our own client base will give you the opportunity to compare your practice to other firms and discover ways to improve your performance. We have picked out what we believe to be some of the key areas within a solicitors practice including:
1. Super Profit
2. Fee income levels
3. Fee earner and support member salaries
4. Overheads
5. WIP
6. Debtors
7. Bank borrowings
Complete our quick and easy report now at https://charnwoodforsolicitors.co.uk and discover ways to make more profit.