Lynda ArtesaniLegal Accountant and Data Migration Specialist at The Proper Trust

Don’t Confuse Busy With Profitable #lawfirms #legalaccounting #profit

2 Oct 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:33

In this segment, the speaker warns law and accounting firms against equating high activity levels with financial success. He highlights the common trap of celebrating busyness—long hours, overtime, and a packed workload—while neglecting the firm’s bottom line. The discussion points out that many firms appear busy but fail to generate profit, urging leaders to scrutinize staff productivity, overtime costs, and actual profit metrics. By distinguishing true profitability from mere busyness, firms can uncover hidden inefficiencies and implement corrective actions to stop “burning money” in the pursuit of activity for its own sake.

Chapters

Well, and how about don't confuse busy with profitable? Oh, that's so true. I've seen this in law firms and accounting firms. Um, you know, your staff productivity, if you, if you're like, oh my God, we're so busy and we're doing all this overtime and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Why? You know, and what, what does the bottom line tell you? And what's the difference between the two? And what can you unearth to fix it? Because that's like, like your point of going in the backyard and burning up the money. Yeah, and we've seen busy firms that are not profitable, right?