Financial Administrators
Financial Administrators are finance and administrative resources who are both proficient in the use of GhostPractice and basic legal accounting. These resources generally perform the following functions in a legal practice:

Processing all relevant financial data including:

• Invoices to Clients (general, correspondents, etc)
• Invoices from Suppliers (general, correspondents, advocates, business creditors, Disbursements, Office Creditors)
• Receipts
• Payments
• Bank statements (business and Trust)

Bookkeepers / Accountants
Bookkeepers are finance and administrative resources who are both proficient in the use of GhostPractice and have a solid legal accounting experience. In addition to the duties performed by a financial Administrator, a bookkeeper generally performs the following functions in a legal practice:

• Processing all relevant financial data including:
  • Fee Reversals (Credit Notes);
  • Bad Debts
  • Trust & Business Journals where needed
• Financial Accounting functions:
  • Management of Invoice and Statement Generation for distribution to your Clients
  • Reconciliation of bank statements
  • Creditors management assistance
  • Debtor management assistance
  • Cash-flow management assistance
    • Investments
    • Borrowing
    • Trust Transfers
    • Provision for VAT and other liabilities
  • Month-end closure
  • Reviewing reports to ensure capturing is correct
  • Troubleshooting- accounting, user & system issues
  • Interpreting reports and financial information
  • Implementation of budgets
  • Implementation policies and procedures
  • Provision of monthly management accounts
  • Year End preparation and closure

Practice Managers
Practice Managers are finance and administrative resources who are both proficient in the use of GhostPractice, have a solid legal accounting experience and have experience in the overall running of a legal practice. In larger firms a Practice Manager’s role would be separate from that of a bookkeeper, whilst in a smaller firm the Practice Manager’s role might be combined with that of the bookkeeper’s role. In addition to the duties performed by a Bookkeeper, a Practice Manager generally performs the following functions in a legal practice:

• Statutory Compliance Assistance
  • Assistance with Completion and submission of Vat returns
  • Assistance with Completion and submission of PAYE returns
  • Assistance with completion of your UIF returns
  • Assistance with completion and submission of Law Society Fidelity Fund Applications
  • Assistance with Audit preparation and liaison with auditors
• Payroll Management
  • Assistance with calculation salaries and processing thereof
• Financial Management
  • Month-end and Year End Management reporting
  • Analysis of Practice Performance
  • Maintenance of Financial and internal controls
• Human Resource Management
• Customer Relationship management
• Facilities Management
• Vendor/Supplier Management
• IT Services Management
• Management of other items required in the day-to-day operations of the legal practice

Contract Staff
Through our Business Process Outsourcing unit you can hire Finance and Administrative staff on a contract basis (e.g. 1 day a week, 2 days per week or for 3 months, etc). Staff provided are employed by GhostPractice; are certified users of GhostPractice, are competent in legal accounting and have legal practice work experience.

The categories of staff your firm can hire on a part-time basis:

• Financial Administrators: data capturers with legal accounting knowledge and GhostPractice experience
• Bookkeepers: people who can perform all your firm’s financial administration needs and who have GhostPractice experience
• Practice Managers: people who can manage all your firm’s administrative functions and who have GhostPractice experience

We can provide you with resources based on your firm’s needs (volume of work and services required) and our service is competitively priced.

Full-time staff
Through our Recruitment unit you can hire full-time practice management staff carefully vetted by GhostPractice– this includes people who have successfully completed our Academy courses. All resources recommended will be able to perform the financial and/or administrative functions your firm requires.

We will endeavour to always provide you with resources that have Legal Practice experience.

Our service is competitively priced and if performed as part of our consulting services we will not charge you a separate placement fee.