Lynda ArtesaniLegal Accountant and Data Migration Specialist at The Proper Trust

The Hidden Struggle - Collecting What's Rightfully Yours #legalaccounting #lawfirms

3 Feb 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:17

In this excerpt from the YouTube video "The Hidden Struggle - Collecting What's Rightfully Yours," two speakers discuss the common problem law firms and professional service providers face: doing valuable work but failing to collect the fees owed. Speaker A highlights the emotional toll of being the “bad guy” who must chase payments and points out that many firms miscalculate their true hourly rate because they don’t track the right numbers. Speaker B expands on a systematic approach: reviewing the firm’s structure to spot redundant roles, reassessing where each person adds value, and then using budgeting and especially forecasting to create a financial roadmap. By forecasting first, firms can back‑track to understand where dollars should flow, turning the collection process into a “snowball” that builds momentum. The conversation is conversational and supportive, aiming to shift firms from reactive collection tactics to proactive financial planning.

Chapters

Nobody wants to be that bad guy calling up for money that you earned, like that you should be paid for. And we see it all the time, and the clients will say to us, oh, that's never going to get collected at all. And my heart breaks because you did the work and now you're not getting compensated for it. And all you have to do is some realization numbers, and then you're going to realize that it's— your hourly rate is not what you think it is if you're writing down a lot of that stuff.
There's ways to do it differently too. It's like You and I, when we chat and we look at someone's set of books and we look at the structure, whether you're solo or a large firm, how many hands are in the pot? How many people are doing things? Where's the redundancy? And we try not to reduce someone's job, but we try— there might be value in the role that someone's playing in your business that is somewhere else. Yep. And they're just caught in this hamster wheel and it's reevaluating that. So that's why I think What we're both saying is when you're looking at the whole piece, okay, the piece that it's easiest is either start with writing a budget and/or forecasting the numbers. Those— I'd say forecasting the numbers first because I feel like that you can back into the rest of it. If you understood where to forecast to, maybe you will understand what the dollar would go to. The excitement around it is exciting. It's a snowball moment.