|
|
The accruals module in Serengeti Tracker provides
an integrated, efficient, and auditable process for collecting
accrual data (law firm work in progress amounts and estimates of
spending through the end of the accounting period) and sending it to
your company's finance department. Essentially, this module converts
what was a difficult manual process into an automated, web-based
process. It is similar to the conversion of paper bills to
electronic invoices that Serengeti facilitates, except this data
involves unbilled amounts rather than actual invoices.
View an online demonstration of the Accruals Functionality
Find out which of your firms are submitting financial data to Tracker.
A recent
Serengeti survey of
Association of Corporate Counsel members found the following with regard
to accrual reporting:
- 80% of
the law departments must report accrued law firm spending at least once a
year.
- 40% of
law departments must report accrued law firm spending
every month.
|
Responding to an
Urgent need
With the enhanced scrutiny of Sarbanes-Oxley and other financial
regulations, most corporate law departments are required to produce
detailed accrual-based legal spending reports. These accrual reports
must include not only pending law firm bills, but also spending for
completed work that has not yet been billed (i.e. work in progress, as
well as
estimates of spending through the end of the accounting period).
Until now, the only way to collect this accrual information, even for
law departments receiving electronic bills, was manual: issuing letters
and emails to law firms, following up with phone calls, and then
re-entering the information into a spreadsheet or database. With
hundreds of active matters being handled by many different law firms,
corporations spend significant time trying to collect timely accruals –
an inefficient exercise that many law departments must repeat every
month.
Leveraging the E-billing Connection to Collect
Accruals
Serengeti gives corporate law
departments an efficient way to request and collect accrual data online
from law firms that are already connected for electronic billing. Law
firm billing managers can either input accruals for individual matters,
or upload accrual data for hundreds of matters with a single mouse click
using Serengeti’s innovative SpeedPost™ technology.
The accrual data flows directly from law firm systems into the client’s
Serengeti databases, and is immediately available for law department
reporting without the delay and inaccuracy of data re-entry. In
addition, built-in workflows provide all required notifications,
response tracking, and law department adjustments to accrual estimates.
As with other functions in Serengeti, data integrity is ensured with a
system audit log of all data that is submitted, modified, or deleted.
Reporting on accrual information
Additional workflows automatically incorporate the
accrual information into fiscal year budgets and reforecasts. New
reports also allow law departments to easily compare prior unbilled
spending, the current month’s predicted spending, and the accrual
balance remaining for the year. The process is completed with online
transmission of accrual data directly to a company’s finance department
or accounting system.■ top |
QUICK FACTSCompany Features
• Receive 100% of your
accruals directly in Tracker
• Automatically generate
accrual estimates from
budget data (for months you
don't collect data directly
from firms)
• Optional company
review/adjustment
• Complete audit history of
accrual changes/updates
• Automated email notices and
reminders to firms when
accruals are due/overdue
• Aggregate accrual data into
reports and export for
delivery to Finance
• End of Month/Quarter/Year
accrual reconciliation reports
• Integration w/ budgets w/
summaries of actual
spending, budget, and
unbilled Law Firm Features
• Manually input individual
accruals or SpeedPost™
multiple accruals w/ one click
• Review and run reports on
accruals prior to submission |
