Financial
A fully integrated, IFRS-compliant accounting system built for law firms: from time tracked, to invoice sent, to payment collected, with a full general ledger behind it.
IFRS-compliant financial management
Financial in the left sidebar. The module covers the complete financial lifecycle — recording expenses, issuing invoices, collecting payments, posting journal entries, managing a chart of accounts and generating reports — across seven sub-modules: Expenses, Invoices, Journal Entry, Payments, Budgets, Chart of Accounts and Reports.

- Invoices sit inside the Financial module, next to Expenses, Payments, Budgets and the Chart of Accounts.
- Quarter totals update as invoices are raised and paid. Billable hours come straight from logged time.
- Every invoice is linked to a client and a matter, so revenue is always attributable to the work that earned it.
- Three statuses. Only Approved invoices post to the ledger. Proforma is a draft, Voided is cancelled but kept on the record.
Every invoice is linked to a client and a matter, so revenue is always attributable to the work that earned it. Quarter totals update as invoices are raised and paid, and billable hours come straight from logged time.
Transaction lifecycle
Every financial transaction follows a three-stage lifecycle.
| Stage | Description | Editable? | In reports? | Who can set it? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draft | Created but has no impact on the books. Can be freely edited or deleted. | Yes | No | Any user |
| Approved | Locked, posted to the general ledger, appears in all financial reports. | No | Yes | Financial Controller |
| Void | Marks the original entry at zero. Remains visible with a "Voided" tag. | No | Yes (zeroed) | Financial Controller |
Initial setup
Settings → Financial. Four things to configure before the first transaction.
- Configure currencies. Set your base currency and add additional currencies with conversion rates. Rates only affect new transactions — there are no retroactive updates.
- Create invoice templates. A drag-and-drop builder with Header, Body and Footer zones. Blocks: Logo, Company Info, Client Info, Items Table, Timekeepers. Starter templates: Classic Professional, Modern Minimal, Detailed Legal, Invoice Summary.
- Create receipt templates. The same builder, for payment receipts. Blocks include Receipt Details, Invoice Reference and Amount Received.
- Set up the billing profile. Your firm's billing identity: Profile Name, Company Name, Country, City, Address, Phone, Fax, Email and Tax Number.
Expenses
Financial → Expenses. Expenses track money going out of the firm. Each expense has a header and one or more line items.
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Yes | Descriptive name for the expense. |
| Currency | Yes | Currency for this expense. |
| Creation Date | Yes | Date the expense was recorded. |
| Payment Due Date | No | When payment is expected. |
| Legal Matter | No | Link to a matter for matter-level cost tracking. |
| Contact | No | The supplier or vendor. |
| Payment Account | No | Which bank or cash account this will be paid from. |
| Recognition Period | No | Start and end dates for straight-line expense recognition. |
Pairing the expense account
An expense names two accounts, not one. Payment Account is where the money leaves from. Expense Account is the cost line it lands on. Naming both lets the expense post itself against the right pair, so you never open Journal Entries to move it by hand.
Following the money on an account
Every account carries its own movement history: each debit and credit, what it came from, and where it went. Open the account rather than the report when the question is "why is this balance what it is" — the history answers it directly, and it is the fastest way to spot an entry facing the wrong way.
Worked through: an asset account holds an opening balance of 1,000 with its paired expense account set up alongside. Record an expense of 250 with the asset account as Payment Account and its pair as Expense Account. The asset account drops to 750 and the expense account shows a debit of 250. Both accounts' histories show the same movement from their own side, which is the check that the pairing is right.
Client funds held on account
Money a client advances for costs moves in stages rather than landing straight on the matter: from cash, into an advances or imprest account when it is allocated to whoever will spend it, then onto the client's current account as it is actually spent. Each stage nets against the one before it, and the client's account returning to zero is the signal the advance is fully accounted for.
Finding an expense in a busy firm
With tens of fee earners filing costs, the expense list needs narrowing before it is useful. Filter by status to separate what is approved from what is still waiting, and by creator to pull up one person's expenses when you are reviewing their work rather than scrolling the firm's.
Invoices and revenue recognition
Financial → Invoices. Auto-numbered invoices tied to client contacts, with a billing profile, matter link, line items, discounts, tax calculations and multi-currency support. Pull unbilled timesheet entries straight into an invoice with the "+ Add Timesheet" button, pre-filtered to show only unbilled, billable entries for the same matter or client.
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Billing Profile | Yes | Which firm billing profile to use. |
| Client | Yes | The client being billed, from Contacts. |
| Client Email | No | Email for sending the invoice. |
| Legal Matter | No | Link to a specific matter. |
| Currency | Yes | Invoice currency. |
| Issue Date | Yes | Date the invoice is issued. |
| Due Date | Yes | Payment deadline. |
| Recognition Period | No | Monthly revenue recognition schedule with automatic journal entries. |
Time tracking
The Start Timer button in the top bar gives you three modes.
| Mode | How it works |
|---|---|
| Timer | A live clock that runs while you work. Click stop when done. |
| Manual | Enter hours directly after the fact. Useful for forgotten entries. |
| Range | Set a start and end time; the system calculates the duration. |
Journal entries and chart of accounts
Double-entry accounting, with debits and credits that must balance before submission. The Chart of Accounts ships pre-configured and organised by account ranges.
| Range | Category | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 100000 | Assets | Cash, Accounts Receivable, Prepaid Expenses |
| 200000 | Liabilities | Accounts Payable, Accrued Expenses, Client Trust |
| 300000 | Equity | Partner Capital, Retained Earnings, Distributions |
| 400000 | Revenue | Legal Service Revenue, Expense Reimbursement, Other Revenue |
| 500000 | Expenses | Direct Legal Costs, Admin, Marketing, Insurance, Facilities, Travel |
| 700000 | Non-Operating | Interest, Gains and Losses, Depreciation |
Payments
Financial → Payments. Payments record the actual movement of money — collecting from clients against invoices, or paying suppliers against expenses. Each payment links to an invoice or an expense, with a payment method, amount, date and account, and receipt templates are customisable for payment confirmations.
Financial reports
| Report | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Income Statement | Revenue minus expenses for a selected period. |
| Balance Sheet | Assets, liabilities and equity at a point in time. |
| Cash Flow Statement | Cash inflows and outflows. |
| Trial Balance | Debit and credit totals for all accounts. |
| General Ledger | Every individual journal entry line, in full detail. |
| Budgets | Budget versus actual, by account. |
| Time Keeper | Time entries by person, matter and billing status. |
Multi-currency, import and export
Configure multiple currencies with conversion rates relative to a base currency. Each account is denominated in a single currency, and cross-currency transactions auto-convert using the configured rates. Import data using the system-provided templates for expenses, invoices and the chart of accounts; export to Excel or CSV.
End-of-month billing
Open Justinian — which requires an active AI Engine trial or subscription — and prompt: "Generate invoices for all active matters with unbilled time entries this month. Use our default billing profile. Set payment terms to Net 30." Justinian creates a draft invoice per matter, each linked to the correct matter with its timesheet entries attached, ready for the Financial Controller to review and approve.
Where to go next
See where billable time originates in Legal Matters and Tasks, and who an invoice is addressed to in Contacts.