In this video, the presenter evaluates Clio Accounting, a new accounting module from the legal‑tech giant Clio, aimed at solo or very small law firms that do not plan significant growth. The review highlights the product’s core promise—integrated trust accounting with a three‑way bank reconciliation and a free accountant seat—while stressing that it is essentially a standalone, beta‑stage system with limited integrations, reporting, payroll, and check‑printing capabilities. The speaker notes practical concerns such as the lack of automation (e.g., no Dext import), weak reporting tools, and the difficulty of migrating data if the firm later expands. Recommendations include involving a bookkeeper or accountant early, considering alternative stacks (QuickBooks paired with Clio Manage, LeanLaw, MyCase, CosmoLex), and using Clio Accounting only if the firm will remain tiny and can accept its constraints. The overall tone is measured and cautionary, acknowledging Clio’s brand strength but warning that the product may box users into a non‑scalable solution.
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This week we're going to talk about Clio Accounting. It's a new software that Clio has developed. It is a software for the very small solopreneur, very small law firm, solo law firm that is just an attorney working alone by themselves, not planning on any firm growth. Maybe they have a paralegal or a virtual paralegal or something of that ilk that's outsourced, not a payroll person. Not someone on their staff because you can't have payroll in this software. But even their own advertisement of it is, it's called Clio Accounting, accounting made approachable. Manage your finances in one system of record with intuitive accounting software designed to keep law firms compliant. So what they're trying to tell you is this is a way for a small law firm. And I, I kind of look at this as a software that's for a company that perhaps is using a spreadsheet or of that size. So someone who's just kind of managing it on their own, maybe have a checkbook, maybe have some trust accounting inside of a spreadsheet. It's tiny, it's easy to manage, but they want to have a system in place so they can get that 3-way bank reconciliation. They can remain compliant, which this is what this software is for. So I wanted to take a cautious look at this because it is the new kid on the block. It is the newest and latest and greatest from a company that's very large. One of the things I was thrilled to see about it is that they do let accountants have a free seat. So we get that free seat, free way to log into this file, which is great because it's not in QuickBooks. So we would have no other way of accessing it unless they charged for that. So that was a little bit surprising to me that they actually built it this way. We were told when we asked for a client login for regular Clio Manage that it was never built that way. Don't forget, this is the grandpa of the software. It's been around a long time. And it was never built or constructed in that fashion where they could do a login for the accountants for free. And so the attorney has to pay for it, which I highly recommend because it's just too crazy trying to share a login, which they are aware that we do. I just don't like having to do that practice. I want my own audit log so I can see if my own staff is making the entries or if it's the attorney themselves or somebody in their staff. So it's very complicated when we start to look at legal tech. Especially if you're an attorney working at a big firm and you're planning on branching out to your own on your own. This is very enticing to look at, first of all, because it's got the big name behind it, Clio, one of the biggest software companies. It's the biggest software company for legal tech, I believe. And also it's a solid company. It's a good company. So looking at this software, you might think this is a great entry point for me to start my firm. Everything's in one place. I don't have to think about all the other pieces that I might, may or may not need. I just have this one place. I don't need QuickBooks at all. It's just Clio, Clio, Clio for everything. Standalone. The part of the problem with standalones is that you get the software that it doesn't integrate with anything. So if I wanted to automate the process of the vendor payments, the bills, the accounts payable, and have a place to export receipts and bring them in in a nice robust platform, That does not exist. You don't import into Dext as this video is being recorded. I mean, these things will change. Don't forget, this is very, very new. So it's very much a beta, almost a beta-like process, beta testing at the very, very beginning. So you're looking at a product that doesn't have a lot of add-ons, not a lot of things that can import into it. So right now, as we speak, it doesn't have all the bells and whistles, and it also doesn't have a way to automate some of the processes that we're used to automating. You pull it into Dext, you can code it. Pushes all the details in. We don't have to type it all in. So that's not in here. So you're not going to have those bills and, and things like that. Now, if you're that small tiny firm, quite honestly, most firms just have a credit card and they pay for all their expenses by credit card. So that would actually work with this system if you don't have that. And you're not going to have robust reporting. Regular Clio doesn't even have robust reporting. So this product is not going to have robust reporting. And if you want to purchase a product to go on top of it. Let's say a Live Flow, a Fathom, Reach Reporting. None of those connect to this product. It's brand spanking new, so we don't have those integrations built yet. So know that you're not going to get robust reporting. But usually with small firms like of this size, and I'm talking about the really boutique size or actually even smaller than that, this product will probably give you the amount of reports you need for your tax return to be done. Your tax person will not be able to access it or understand it very well. So you're gonna be running over that hurdle because they, they may know QuickBooks. They probably don't know Clio Accounting. It does kind of have that QuickBooks look to it. So I think that it's not that difficult to figure out if you're familiar with software. But again, they might say, I don't know how to do that. Just send me the financials, you know, put it out under a PDF and I'll take them that way. They probably won't access it to put any adjusting entries in. They'll rely on you or your bookkeeper to do that work. Now, the biggest issue I see with the program is when we talked to the folks over at Clio and said, so if the firm grows all of a sudden, say you're planning on being this little tiny firm and then somewhere along the line you meet another attorney and you decide that you have 2 complementary businesses which make one great business. How can I work here and just kind of have him, she or he come into my business and be a partner? and grow this firm, add some employees. There's no real payroll solution with this product, so you really can't do that here. You would have to put your payroll outside the program, I guess, send some journal entries over to get that into the program to get the full— don't forget, that's your whole system of accounting, so you're gonna have to have everything in there. The other thing I didn't see when we looked at it last was there's ability to print a check. So they're counting on you to have that system Don't forget, Clio's made in Canada where they really don't do a lot of check printing and writing. In the United States, we still do. So there wouldn't be a way to write a check. And I have a lot of firms that actually write a check, take it out of the trust account, put it into the operating. You're not going to have that ability. You do have the ability to connect a bank feed. So you're going to connect your bank feeds there. You're going to be able to control everything all in one spot. So if you're looking at trust accounting, you're going to be able to create that 3-way bank reconciliation right inside this program because you got all the pieces together. So that part's really cool. And if you're looking for that compliance piece, if that's— say you're a small attorney out in California, you know, this compliance rules that you have to follow, and you don't plan on being a very big company, know that if you do decide to grow, you're gonna have to like abruptly stop one program and start with a new one. Say you move to Clio Manage, you can't just flip a switch and have this become Clio Manage because it's got the accounting in it. It's not the same. So you would have to stop and then start a QuickBooks file. Start a Clio, brand new Clio file, import numbers over. It's going to be an expensive data migration to move you off of this to another platform. So you might hesitate on that as well. I think a better solution, honestly, if you're not looking for the all-in-one, and I understand that a lot of folks, my case did the same thing, they box people in this all-in-one feature, this product, you're really boxing yourself in into a little place that you really can't grow out of. And I think sometimes it's better to have something like a really robust accounting ledger, like a QuickBooks or a And then also add the billing software on top of that, whether it's a LeanLaw or Clio Manage, beautiful software that integrates with QuickBooks. And then you have the ability to be flexible and grow from there. You've got a lot more reporting capabilities within QuickBooks itself, or you have more reporting capabilities if you add like a LiveFlow or Reach, you know, even Fathom. Those are all going to be really helpful for you to track KPIs and goal setting and all the things you like to do. As you grow. This product's not that for that. So you just know that those things aren't there when you make the decision to pick it, this product. Now, I'm sure they're giving great pricing on this. You have to call to find out what that is. You do have that ability to look at this product as a stepping stone, but just know that you're gonna have to pay to start over. So make sure you start to plan that. Starting at the beginning of the year is always a better time than starting mid-year, because you're gonna have to rebuild a lot of things. If you have a lot of trust accounting, Think twice because you're gonna have to rebuild all the trust ledgers that are open when you data migrate. So it's just some of the things to consider if you're considering Clio Manage versus Clio Accounting. It's really kind of what works best in your firm. One is not better than the other except for when it look at what your practice is and what will be in the future. So always keep all of those things in thought and front of mind when you're trying to figure out what software to pick. And always involve your bookkeeper or accountant in this process and decision-making, because we know from the other side what it looks like for us to work with and manage it and see what works best for you. I'm not saying that's not a good product, not a good solution. For some companies it may be. But as I see it now, if you're looking at a firm that you're just going to stay small and just yourself, I say go for it if you think that's what your future is. If you're okay with the lack of reporting, lack of payroll and other things that are missing, and you don't write checks. If you are, if you are a bigger firm or you think you might grow in the future, stay with Clio Manage, stay with what's already been out for a while and you know what it is, or LeanLaw or whatever other product, MyCase, whatever else is out there. Like I said, MyCase has a similar really new program that's 3 all in one, all the parts together. So you might wanna look at that. And, and also CosmoLex. So it's another all-in-one that's far more robust, but also is not as easy to use, not as logical, not as pretty, not as modern. So know that when you start to look at all these programs, really test them out and talk to your bookkeeper or accountant and see which one works best for you. Hope that's helpful, and we'll see you all next week. Bye now.
