End of Financial Year Made Easy: LEAP Tips and Tricks from the Client Success Team

Written by Nikhil Khushal, Client Success Manager, and Chantal McNaught, Manager for Client Success

As the new financial year draws upon us, many LEAP firms are considering what they need to do to have their financial records in tip-top shape. Here is a comprehensive post with suggestions, reports, and helpful guides on what you need to know about closing out the financial year.

EOFY LEAP Resources

Reviewing the following resources will help you with accuracy, compliance, and a smooth transition into the new fiscal year. 

• For the office accounting procedure, check out the Help Centre article here. This guide covers the essential steps for verifying and finalising your office accounts, ensuring all transactions are accurately recorded and reported. 

• For trust account procedures, check out the Help Centre article here. Proper management of trust accounts is crucial to comply with legal and ethical standards, and this guide will help you navigate through the end of year reporting requirements. 

• Both of these are also covered in the interactive LEAP University course: LEAP EOFY Procedures 

AML Reporting 

Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance is a key responsibility for many NZ law firms. Ensuring your AML reports are up-to-date and accurate is vital for compliance and to maintain the integrity of your practice. You may wish to use this time to review your AML data in LEAP. Here are some helpful links:

• AML Compliance Management App: Report on transactions and suspicious activities through the GoAML integration directly through LEAP. 

• AML Annual Report: Use this time to review your LEAP data via LEAP’s AML Annual Report to ensure your AML annual report is as accurate as possible. 

Trust Account Compliance 

Maintaining compliance with trust account regulations is essential for protecting client funds and your firm's reputation. These resources will guide you through the necessary steps to help you ensure all trust account matters are in order for the new financial year:

• Dormant Matter with Trust Balances: Understand if your firm is holding trust moneys on dormant matters and get them moving again. 

• RWT Certificate Reporting: The Interest-Bearing Deposit Statement Report can assist with preparing for Resident Withholding Tax (RWT) reporting to the IRD. 

• Trust Balances: Some firms prefer to use this time of year to also issue their clients Annual Trust Statements. Do this easily in LEAP via the trust statement email option.  

Set Up Reporting Subscriptions 

Make the review of frequent data easier by setting up report subscriptions in LEAP.  Learn how to configure your report subscriptions to receive timely and relevant financial data in your emails.  

Consider Power BI 

Power BI is a powerful tool for visualising and analysing your firm's financial data. Integrating Power BI with the LEAP Connector for Power BI will provide you with deeper insights and help you make data-driven decisions. Follow this guide to set up Power BI with the LEAP Connector for Power BI to enhance your data visualisation. 

Financial Performance 

Monitoring financial performance is key to understanding your firm's profitability and cash flow. The financial year is a great juncture to consider the firm’s position and make strategic decisions. These reports will help you track key financial metrics and identify areas for improvement:

• Aged Debtors Report: Keep track of outstanding debts and improve your firm's cash flow management. 

• Fee Earner Summary: Analyse the performance of individual fee earners to optimise productivity and profitability. 

• Firm Exposure by Client Report: Assess your firm's financial exposure and manage risks effectively. 

• Staff Invoiced Funds Report: Monitor the funds invoiced by staff members to ensure review of individual staff billing and financial performance. 

• Staff Receipted Funds Report: Track funds received by staff members to review collections by each individual. 

• Aged WIP & Disbursement Report: Review and clear aged Work in Progress (WIP) and disbursements to streamline your firm's financial operations. 

For an improved experience, you can also review Client & Matters and Management Reports in the improved Reports V2 menu option. More information about these can be found in the “Reports (BETA)” menu option on the Help Centre article.

Strategic Planning 

Strategic planning is essential for setting long-term goals and ensuring the growth and success of your firm. Utilise these resources to guide your planning and decision-making processes:

Matters Opened by Staff Responsible & Acting Chart Report: Analyse the distribution of matters opened by staff to optimise resource allocation. 

By Lawyers Guides, Precedents, and Commentaries: Explore the Practice Management area for key documents including the Legal Practice Health Check Self-Diagnostic Tool and 101 Staff Handbook. 

Need assistance? Contact your Client Success Manager via the LEAP User Portal.