Emma Reid, Author at The Cashroom

What happens when I join Cashroom?

If you are thinking of outsourcing your finance department or even part of it then you already know that it is a big decision to make!

At Cashroom, we can scale our services to suit your demands. We work with law firms of all shapes and sizes from sole practitioners to top 50 law firms. Our service is also tailored to our clients, we can service your entire law firms finance function from daily cashiering, management accounts to year end reports. We can also provide support in other areas such as our Finance Director service, credit control, payroll and statutory accounts – enabling your firm to grow with the help and support of our expertise.

A common question we are asked is what happens when I join Cashroom? The initial stage of joining Cashroom is our transition process. This is where our dedicated transition team analyse and review your processes to see where we can save you time and money as well as getting you set up on our systems ready for your cashiering and/or accounting team to get to work on your accounts.

Let us start at the beginning…

When you decide you want to work with us, we will issue a proposal to your firm. This will include our bespoke quote to you for the services requested.

Then your contract will be prepared and sent to you to sign. Once signed we can begin to get you set up as quickly as possible. We will also provide you with a link to sign up to our quick and easy direct debit service. Finally, we will conduct AML checks on all owners of the firm, once all of this is complete, we can begin the transition process.

Transitioning to your Cashroom Team

Our transition process is designed to ensure we have everything in place we need to support your firm, assess your current processes, and ensure we are working towards the same goals. The transition team will be on hand to answer any queries you have along the way and support you through your onboarding journey.

Access to our unique, secure, and dynamic portal

You will be provided access to our portal. This is where you will communicate with your team at Cashroom and track your requests. The portal provides a clear audit trail and removes the insecurities of email communication, enhancing security for your firm.

Our portal also integrates with the banking network and leading Practice Management Systems including LEAP, Clio, Denovo and Klyant. Our integrations ensure compliance with seamless workflows that reduce duplication of data entry, save time, and reduce risk of human error.

Getting started

In order to get started, we need to know which systems you are currently using such as your accounting system and online banking platform. We will send you our transition documents to be completed. Your transition administrator will then request access to the relevant accounts ready for our in-service teams to use.

You will also have a processes and procedures discussion with your transition team to discuss the agreed services and how our team will work. This gives you a full overview of how the teams will work on our end and opportunity to ask any questions you may have. From this discussion, your transition manager will then take the time to create a bespoke service guide for your firm. Your service guide acts as a reference of the agreed service and procedures and details responsibilities for both parties.

Training & Support

We will then host a remote training session for all staff members who need to be able to use the Cashroom portal and demonstrate the new accounting procedures we have agreed with the firm. Refresher training is available when required and our in-service team will be on hand to support you throughout your time with Cashroom if you need any further support with the systems.

Ready to go!

Once transition is completed you will be introduced to your dedicated in-service team to relax in the knowledge that your accounts are now in the hands of our Cashroom experts. https://www.thecashroom.co.uk/how-cashroom-is-committed-to-staff-training/

Interested in working with Cashroom?

Get in touch with our team today:

Daniel Jones – Sales & Business Development Manager

Email: Daniel.Jones@thecashroom.co.uk

Phone: 07949 177 952

About Cashroom

Cashroom provides expert outsourced accounting services for Law Firms including Legal Cashiering, Management Accounts and Payroll services. Our mission is to free lawyers from the complexities of legal accounting by supporting the industry with accurate management information and allowing lawyers to do what they do best – practice law.

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We’ve been with Cashroom for quite a few years now, and I would never go back. In any business, and particularly in times of uncertainty, it’s important to control your costs, and that’s exactly what you help me do.

Sharon Needle

Managing Partner, Needle Partners

Prepare to thrive during tough times

There is no point burying our heads in the sand and ignoring that times are tough – we can in-fact prepare and thrive in another recession. As well as previous recessions, the last few years have been pretty rough, but this means that law firms now have resilience and confidence they possibly did not have in the past.

Many of you may or may not know that Cashroom was born in the 2008 recession. Founder Catherine O’Day was asked to help law firms who wanted to ensure compliant legal accounting and that the only staff the employed were their fee earners. It was clear to many firms back then that having compliant accounting and good management information was something they needed but could outsource. Over 250 UK law firms now work alongside Cashroom accountants and legal cashiers to do this. During the turbulent times we now find our country in, law firms are thinking again about how to survive.

A lot can go badly wrong when it comes to accounting in law firms – especially if you put your accounting on the back burner even if you just plan to do it over a few months.

A lot of areas of the law are what could be called ‘recession-proof’ and some legal services will always be needed regardless of the economy. Some problems are multiplied, and work becomes even more plentiful for some during a recession, for example family and criminal lawyers are likely to be as busy as ever. Good financial data is just as important for these firms, to allow good planning for sustainable growth.

So, some areas of the law are not going to do as well but firms where there may be financial problems need good financial data more than ever – this is not the time to scrimp on good accounting. Firms must strategically allocate resources to be prepared e.g., marketing spend, staffing costs, overheads. A professional legal cashier and accountant can help you manage your firm’s revenue and ensure your firm’s financial transactions are handled ethically and accurately.

If you are the owner of a law firm, you should care about accounting for law firms and legal bookkeeping—a lot. Why?

To ensure your firm’s financial statements are accurate, complete, and up to date, you need an excellent legal cashier or cashiering team.

Your firms’ financials should be handled in your firms’ best interests. Keeping your firm’s accounts in order may not be glamorous. But having up-to-date and accurate records and professional accountants experienced in accounting for law firms is key to unlocking law firm growth and financial success for your practice.

Effective accounting for law firms is critical to your firm’s success. So be prepared, it’s likely going to be a bumpy journey ahead, but with the correct planning from good data your firm can ride out the rough road ahead.

To find out how we can provide accounting services for your law firm, please email Daniel.jones@thecashroom.co.uk or call 07949 177 952.

About Cashroom

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Sharon Needle

Managing Partner, Needle Partners

PII and Cashroom, how to de-risk your finance function?

It’s that time of year again when firms begin renewing their Professional Indemnity Insurance. This can be a stressful time for firms with so much to consider. An outsourced finance function can not only de-risk your business, but also importantly streamline efficiencies. This makes your practice run smoothly so you can focus on fee earning during this busy time.

In their ‘De-risk your finance function’ article, Lockton, one of the leading UK suppliers of PII said; ‘A good quality outsourcer will have processes in place and certifications to counter cyber threats. They will have robust recruitment and supervision procedures to minimise internal fraud and error risks. These processes will be augmented using cutting-edge technology, such as secure communication portals and training routines to ensure all staff are constantly updated on threats. Use of automation and task management tools will also minimise errors.’

You may be thinking, how is Professional Indemnity Insurance relevant to Cashroom? Let us tell you…

While Cashroom does not provide or submit any Professional Indemnity Insurance on behalf of or for firms, working with Cashroom does ensure that firms are compliant with Solicitors Accounts Rules and other legislations which can only be a positive for firms when applying for their renewals.

Being able to prove your compliance from your accounts can only support your Professional Indemnity Insurance. So how does Cashroom ensure compliance?

Unique and Secure Technology

Creating a secure service with further reduced risk payment methods for firms is a massive priority for our full-time technology development team. Cashroom has designed and developed a unique web portal which removes the insecurities of email communication for clients. This reduces the risk of human error, fraud, and other cyber-crime. Our technology has been developed in its entirety in-house and is monitored daily. Clients can log on and request tasks for their accountants and cashiers and have clear visibility of their accounts and tasks. With integrations into the leading Practice Management systems and the banking network, Cashroom makes law firms tools work better by integrating with industry leading software and custom applications right into our Cashroom Portal.

Qualified Cashiers and Accountants

Our partnership with ILFM (Institute of Legal Finance & Management) means all of our cashiers work through the ILFM cashiering programme to gain their recognised qualification. Meaning, all our cashiers are qualified or are in the process of gaining their qualification. In the case of training cashiers, they always have a team leader and manager to supervise them whilst they continue to develop their skills. With our trained staff, we are providing our clients with a unique support network in all aspects of managing their accounts department. Cashroom’s expertise and dedication to regular training means we are always ahead of the game when it comes to new regulations and compliance, providing peace of mind for our clients.

Clear Audit Trail

Our Cashroom portal not only reduces risk for our clients but provides a clear audit trail for their (and their insurers) visibility. We can deliver this through our secure web portal where clients can communicate with their Cashroom cashiers and accountants, log requests and see an overview of their accounts.

At Cashroom, we believe a good quality outsourcer will have processes in place and certifications to counter cyber threats. These processes will be augmented by the use of cutting-edge technology, such as secure communication portals and training routines to ensure all staff are constantly updated on threats. The use of automation and task management tools to also minimise errors. That’s why we ensure we deliver all of this, so our clients get the best service.

Watch the video from Lockton which discusses how Cashroom can de-risk your firm’s finance function.

If you would like to hear more about how we can ensure compliance with your law firm, please email Daniel.jones@thecashroom.co.uk or call 07949 177 952.

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Sharon Needle

Managing Partner, Needle Partners

How do you find out what’s happening in your marketplace?

A large part of running a business is making decisions. The best decisions are made when you have all the information on your various options… but how do you gather that information (accepting always that you will never have perfect information!)?

Many of the more critical decisions I made as Managing Partner of a law firm, were based on my views on the market – should we hire a Commercial Property specialist? Yes if the market’s growing, no if it’s going to crash.

But where do you get that market information? How do you know if the market is going to crash?

There are of course lots of different ways, from expensive paid for surveys, to your own reading and day to day experience. However, one of the best ways I found was to speak to as many people in your market as possible, and “distill” their collective wisdom. Of course, I came across many conflicting views, and some utter nonsense, but, for on the ground market intelligence, speaking to people operating in my market was always helpful.

When I joined Cashroom, I found there were very few firms operating in our market (outsourced legal accounting), but I could speak with lots and lots of solicitors?

Cashroom now acts for over 220 firms across the UK.

As Chairman, part of my role is to speak with as many of our clients as I can, simply the get a feel for how things are going. In these conversations, I gather lots of market intelligence.

For example, it seems the conveyancing boom ended in Scotland a while ago, but is just starting to turn in England now. Many clients are struggling to recruit, but one has been very successful in recruiting by thoroughly overhauling their benefits package, and including far more staff in (for example) private health insurance than might otherwise be the case. One client, faced with difficulty in recruitment, decided not to recruit, turned away all but the most profitable work, and is now more profitable than they have ever been.

Insolvency practitioners are as nervous as everybody else about the next few months as they fear that lack of liquidity/confidence will impact the purchase of distressed assets from insolvent companies. If that happens, there will be no cash available in many insolvencies to pay professional fees.

And finally, many (many) people are nervous about increasing interest rates and how that will impact on the market.

However, I was speaking to one client this morning who remembers interest rates of 14% … and the world didn’t end (cold comfort I know)!

So, next time you get an email from me, inviting you to fix a call I would appreciate 30 mins of your time for a chat. I’ll pick your brains about how things are going, share what I’ve learned from similar conversations, and try and make some sense of where it’s all heading!

Speak to you soon.

David Calder, Cashroom Chairman

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Sharon Needle

Managing Partner, Needle Partners

Cashroom has become Xero Gold Partners

Cashroom are pleased to announce we have become gold partners with Xero. This partnership means better integration and service for our clients and increased support and training for our accountants and legal cashiers, ultimately allowing us to continue to provide the best possible legal cashiering service to our clients.

Xero was founded in 2006 and now has over 3 million subscribers utilising their cloud accounting service globally. Xero help businesses, accountants, and bookkeepers to automate, collaborate and grow. Xero’s specialist accounting services provide data insights, sophisticated account management and file storage to make accountants jobs easier and more manageable.

We share many values with Xero as a company such as innovation which made it an easy decision to become a gold partner.

Xero’s experienced board and leadership team work to ensure Xero focuses on innovation and performance for their customers. The same way innovation is at the forefront of Cashroom’s values, providing our clients with innovative, secure, and unique platforms to make their day-to-day roles and communication with teams a smoother process.

Partnering with Xero allows us to ensure more efficient workflows and collaboration with automation software to support compliance as well as opening the door for Cashroom to utilise Xero’s other products such as Xero HQ and Xero Tax for a more centralised workflow for our teams of legal cashiers and accountants.

At Cashroom, we value our employees and support their personal development within the business.

Partnering with Xero means our accountants and cashiers will have further access to tools to develop their careers and skill set through Xero’s training programs. Developing and nurturing our staff means that we can provide the best possible service to our clients and keep up to date with new innovations and workflows to make our services as efficient as possible.

‘We are delighted to announce we have become Gold Partners with Xero. We have developed a great working relationship with Xero since we began using their software. Their sophisticated software allows our accountants and cashiers to provide services for our clients more efficiently. We are excited to be part of the Xero community and look forward to working with the team.’

Chris O’Day, CEO, Cashroom

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Sharon Needle

Managing Partner, Needle Partners

Providing data security to law firms

Cashroom has renewed our Cyber Essential Plus status. This achievement is another reason why Cashroom is the leading supplier of outsourced legal finance and highlights the sophistication and robustness of our revolutionary web-based client portal. Cashroom communication is protected from the insecurities of email and our clients are safer than those who don’t use Cashroom from the rising threat of fraudulent payments.

Cashroom’s Head of Technology, Steven O’Day

“Security is at the forefront of our minds at Cashroom. These accreditations prove that we are leading the way in providing data security to clients. The team will also continue to have regular training and updates to react to the ongoing risk of cybercrime.”

Cyber Essentials acknowledges the highest levels of competency and performance. Therefore, Cyber Essential Plus has been awarded as a result of an external audit of Cashroom systems. This proves it was doing everything, and more, to meet the government’s standard for cyber security and protect law firms and their finances.

Creating an even more secure service with further reduced risk payment methods for firms is a massive priority for our full-time technology development team. We have a ‘suggest feedback’ button within our portal for easy access, we send out monthly client surveys to check in and get feedback and we also have client relationship calls where we ask for any feedback – listening to what our clients need and want is of the utmost important in all our technology development.

Cashroom works alongside legal firms managing their finance including cyber security measures. Our experts in legal finance work seamlessly in the background as part of the team taking a pro-active approach to keep everything up to date rather than being called in to react when things go wrong.

The Cashroom approach means our law firm clients can focus on their business. In addition, they can save money and they can pass this peace of mind on to their own customers with the help of our outsourced legal cashiering, management accounting and other accounting services.

“We’ve been with Cashroom for a while now, and I couldn’t be more pleased with my decision. The transition process was smooth, my cashiers are first rate, and the peace of mind it gives me, knowing everything is in order, is invaluable. My day-to-day interaction with Cashroom is managed via their proprietary web portal. It’s easy to use and ensures secure communication, and prompt responses. I’ve recommended Cashroom to several colleagues in the profession.”

Mark Gawor, Founder/Senior Partner, Gawor & Co

With integrations into some of the leading Practice Management systems and the banking network, Cashroom makes law firms tools work better by integrating with industry leading software and custom applications right into our Cashroom Portal. Our portal is secure and provides an encrypted means of communication between Cashroom and our clients. Our software can reduce duplication of data entry, reduce risk by minimising the potential for human error and save time.

Firms understand the importance of cyber security and they want the best processes and legal accounting service possible looking after their law firm’s finances – that’s Cashroom!

About Cashroom

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Sharon Needle

Managing Partner, Needle Partners

The Busy ‘Conference Period’

I’m sure all of you Business Development Guru’s out there, like me, are prepping for a very busy upcoming conference period. How do we cope? Being on the road can be difficult but the hotel ‘break’ for an evening (or two), talking to leaders of the industry and the amazing venues we visit most definitely helps.

Conferences are a very new thing for me. Whilst I’m very much used to being on the road visiting clients for most part of the working weeks, they are very different. There seems to be a buzz around being in a room with hundreds of people from the industry, opening their eyes to how our service helps them ‘stay compliant, minimise risk and increase efficiency’ – I’m sure some of you will hear me say that line over the next few months! ITS TRUE!

But as a newbie to them, I’m certainly seeing the same trend.

Everyone loves a freebie! Especially Lionel, our special little piggy bank who’s been fortunate to travel not only around the UK, but now to the US! And then our wonderful little pens…. I’m not trying to sell you our merchandise, honest!

All jokes aside. I’ve only been to a couple conferences since my return to the Cashroom and I’ve learned so much from each:

How much effort the organisers need to go through to make sure they run ‘smoothly’ and give each attendee the intended benefits.
How fantastic some of the speakers are, the experiences that they’ve been through (even those not strictly legal related), but how it makes them forward-thinking and game changers.
And, just how amazing some of the suppliers and exhibitors are. The tech that is in place, and how much each and every one of them help support the industry.

As the title of the blog says – The busy ‘Conference Period’. That’s exactly what it is.

Whilst I won’t be attending all of them, we’ll have at least one Cashroom ‘Business Development Guru’ at The Solicitors Group (Cardiff), LegalEx, Legal Futures, Legal Geek, National Legal Alliance, Lawshare, LEAP Modern Law Conveyancing Awards and The Scottish Legal Awards. (To name a few!)

We’re very much looking forward to seeing some of you there. We’ll have the freebies ready and we’d love to talk to you about how we can help your firm.

Daniel Jones

About Cashroom

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Sharon Needle

Managing Partner, Needle Partners

Enhancing knowledge within a virtual classroom

Developing new skills

Cashroom has recently launched an in-house academy, primarily to support our expert cashiers with their qualifications and enhancing their skill set. Cashroom launched their partnership with ILFM as a training resource for client facing staff last year. The academy compliments this as well as providing a better onboarding process and training for all staff. Cashroom also support their accounts teams in AAT and CIMA qualifications. Having the academy on hand to support staff through their qualifications means Cashroom can increase their service offering and provide additional resource to clients.

You can always learn more

I am a firm believer that there is something new to learn every day. As someone who has only worked within the legal industry for 2 years now, there is still a lot to learn. That’s why I was keen as soon as the Academy was launched to get on board and book onto the courses.

As a marketing professional, it is important to know as much as possible about the product and service your business provides. Product knowledge enhances your marketing skills through more in-depth content writing and fully understanding the customers journey and what struggles they may face that you can help resolve. This knowledge allows us marketers to create more engaging content that really resonates with consumers. I found the courses at the academy enhanced my knowledge specifically around the intricate details of how our clients communicate with our service team through our unique and secure portal and a better understanding of the overall customer journey.

A virtual Classroom

Not only is the academy a positive for the business by increasing our service team’s skill set, it also provides an hour where teams get together to learn. In the new working from home and hybrid culture, we can sometimes be left feeling disconnected, the academy also acts as a communication tool, staff members who wouldn’t usually be on meetings together are in the same ‘virtual’ room. The courses are also made interactive with quizzes and questions which creates a virtual learning environment which mirrors that of an actual classroom.

The academy shows Cashroom’s commitment to employees and clients. Providing in-house training and support allows Cashroom to deliver the best possible service to clients.

Natasha Langley

See our job vacancies here.

If you are interested in finding out more about our services get in touch.

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Sharon Needle

Managing Partner, Needle Partners

Why do you need Management Accounts?

Having spent the past 12 years within the Legal Industry, undertaking various roles from Finance Manager through to Managing Director, I made the decision to join Cashroom in April of this year to lead our professional services team.

A question I am often asked is “why do I need Management Accounts?” and “how should the information be used?”

In summary, Management Accounts provide an overview of your current and historical performance for the Financial Year, a comparison to budgets / forecasts and Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s). They would normally include a “Statement of Comprehensive Income” (stating the Profit or loss for period), “Statement of Financial Position” (Assets less Liabilities) and some choose to include Cashflows (to record historical and future inflows and outflows of cash).

The information should be reviewed, ideally monthly, to measure profitability and to ensure that expenditure is under control. Typically, many Law firms focus solely on Income, without applying the mantra of “turnover is vanity, profit is sanity”! Or they are aware of the “profit” of the firm but do not consider how that profit margin can be improved.

Without accurate, relevant, and timely information, decisions tend to be made without the financial information to hand. Decisions with regards to recruitment, salary reviews, suppliers etc. are likely to me made from a reactive standpoint rather than a proactive one!

The question therefore to be asked is “how can Cashroom assist in improving my Financial Reporting?”

Cashroom provides monthly Management Accounts to over 50 separate law firms in England and Wales, providing those same firms with an insight as to the firm’s performance and highlighting those areas for review. The Professional Services and Management Accounts Team can also provide relevant financial reporting and information from an “in house” point of view, while your external accountants are likely to produce things from an accounting or audit point of view (speaking as an Accountant myself!). With many of our services being offered on a fixed fee basis you can be assured that the expenditure being incurred can be measured against the output provided, which results in one less thing to worry about as a business owner.

Should you wish to discuss any of the above in further detail then please contact my colleagues within the Business Development team, Alex Holt (alex.holt@thecashroom.co.uk) Or Daniel Jones (daniel.jones@thecashroom.co.uk)

Adam Wilson

About Cashroom

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Sharon Needle

Managing Partner, Needle Partners

Building a Community

When you think of a brand such as Harley Davidson, you may not only think about motorcycles that are manufactured and sold. You possibly also think about the community that has been created. The groups of bikers who gather together, who dress in uniform and are loyal to one another as friends and family. This is an example of a company who have created such a strong community and brand that you can instantly visualise who they are and what they represent.

So how can you start building a strong community for your own brand?

Start off with grass roots activity – this strategy is when brands plan and make content that’s highly targeted to a specific audience. This could be offering product samples or flyers and free gifts at an event. Take time getting to know your audience, especially when meeting them in real life. People will naturally spread word about your brand if you leave a good impression by showing you really do care about their business interests.

Create or join a group of people who regularly interact with your target market – meetings online with these groups or face to face you will gather market information will quickly. You can host casual meetings for drinks to build relationships with your partner group and combine target market contacts to invite too – pulling contacts from a variety of people helps increase everyone’s pool of contacts. Try to gather with your target audience at least once a month if you plan to host events for them.

Using social media is obviously an important tool to build a community.

It can take time, but consistent posting will bring results in time. Videos and adverts that focus on storytelling are important – discussing relatable aspects of your company’s back story could be a good place to start. People tend to share more content that they can relate to or find inspiring so keep this in mind when creating content or sharing others.

Use social media to create groups that can keep your followers up to date with information about your company and events. LinkedIn and Facebook have simple ways to create groups where you can keep in touch with people within your brand’s community. This is especially useful if you would like to host online meetings. Remember to only run these groups if you have the time to do so. Inactive groups don’t look great.

Most importantly, figure out who your target audience is. Find people who care about what it is your company provides. What do potential clients, contacts, colleagues need from you, where they are located and what kind of community might they benefit from?

What position do you want to be in your community?

Find groups or people in areas specific to you that know others who would be interested in your brand, and ask about local events that may be relevant for you to attend. When you attend these events, remember to let others lead the conversation – find out their interests and what it is they need. Hunting for relevant influencers who could give you a shout out or paid promotion would also help with increasing your brand awareness.

It’s especially important to consider how you want your business to be perceived within your community. Thought leaders? Humorous? Friendly? Professional? Make sure all the content you are creating for your brand work together within a theme that represents your company appropriately. Some examples of this could be creating podcasts or blogs with distinct topics. These could be about your business, personal life or professional activities depending on how you want your brand to be seen.

So, in summary, when planning your brands visibility and a community always consider – research, consistency and visibility.

Research who your target audience is, what they need from you, where they may be located and what events they attend. Be consistent with your meetings and online groups whether it is monthly or weekly and having consistent branding. Ensure visibility by attending events yourself, having conversations with potential leads and producing content for your social media.

You will be building your own community and seeing the benefits of it before you know it!

About Cashroom

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Sharon Needle

Managing Partner, Needle Partners

Does your firm have a plan for the future?

Spring and early summer are often times for reflection, and I have been reflecting on my time in practice as a solicitor, and the fact that I never came across many deliberate and detailed plans for career development. Sure, there were appraisals and performance reviews which set goals, identified areas for improvement, but they were concerned more with performing better in your current role, rather than planning and preparing for future roles, and areas of interest.

This is something we spend a lot of time on at Amiqus, and I know from experience that Cashroom does too, through their extensive training programmes for their ‘Rising Stars’ and ‘Future Leaders’.

This initiative is aimed at identifying key people for the future success of the business, and to start developing them to ensure they can perform and thrive when the time comes to step up the ladder.

At Amiqus, our benefits package includes 12 Development Days a year, where staff are encouraged to spend time on their own career development interests and requirements. We are each allocated an annual budget for that, so that we can get proper training, attend events, or purchase things we may need. We also have different career pathways within the business, so that individuals do not have to necessarily go down a route of managing other people in order to progress their career. Not everyone has the right skills to manage other people, but we believe that shouldn’t prevent career progression. There will no doubt be senior roles within your business that do not require a person to manage others to be successful.

We also have many opportunities to receive leadership training, to try new things, and other initiatives to help people progress and develop the skills they may need or want to use in the future. This all helps to develop our people so that they want to stay with the business, that they feel they are progressing in a direction that is of interest to them, and that we have staff ready to step up to help the business thrive as opportunities arise.

Have a think for a moment – does your firm have a plan for developing its key people for the future?

Law firms must plan for the future ownership of the business via the next batch of partners, it is crucial that you plan for key staff, and older partners too. The partnership agreement may provide a set retirement age but retaining people as consultants or ambassadors for the firm beyond that may be crucial for retaining certain longstanding clients who have worked with that person for many years. Equally, Paralegals or support staff may have the deepest understanding of certain clients or may be the ones who are in regular contact with them on an ongoing basis.

When developing these key people for the future, is it also crucial to find out what they want and aim for in their working lives. When was the last time you asked your staff what their career aspirations are? There are many reasons to do so – for starters, if you can’t offer what they are aiming for, they will leave at some point, and you need to know that. Secondly, the future wellbeing of your firm will need people to take care of the different areas of the business – not just practice law – so you need to find out if you have people who have an interest in being, for example, ‘Business Development Partner/Manager/Director’, ‘Client Relations/Complaints Partner’, ‘Cashroom Manager/COLP/COFA’, or ‘Managing Partner’. It is important to find and develop these people over a period of time, and also to think about these role specifications clearly so you are not setting people up for a fall. All too often, particularly the role of Managing Partner, is given to somebody without enough regard for whether they are the best person for the role, what the firm expects of them by way of splitting their time between fee earning and management commitments and, crucially, any sort of plan as to how they would return to a full-time fee earning partner thereafter.

So, perhaps there is some food for thought here for discussion at your next Partners meeting. Do you have the same people in mind to take over the reins, and how are you going to equip them with the skills to do so?

I would suggest putting a realistic plan together, with clear and achievable objectives, put in to practice as soon as possible, and keep in regular dialogue with the people involved. They will likely be motivated by the opportunity, bringing better engagement immediately, and more seamless business continuity and succession into the future.

Gregor Angus, Senior Business Development Manager at Amiqus (www.amiqus.co)

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Sharon Needle

Managing Partner, Needle Partners

Cashroom’s new way of developing skills and keeping connected

Last month our Cashroom teams met in the office, in real life, face to face, for the first time in over two years. Cashroom have adopted a ‘work where you want’ policy, which works extremely well for our staff and allows them the freedom in which they would not have if they were still working and commuting to our offices each day. This policy has also allowed Cashroom to employ staff members who live further afield but are the perfect fit for the company, another benefit of working from home.

Keeping Connected

However, it can be difficult to keep the team spirit high when working from home and ensure the team is connected, just as they would be in an office. Cashroom overcome this in a few ways, we have our portal interface which as well as added benefits to clients such as increased security, enhanced compliance and PMS integrations, there is also a homepage for our internal communications. This allows staff to share news and updates and keep everyone connected, like a Facebook homepage but for our Cashroom team.

Cashroom Academy is Launched

When we launched our Cashroom Academy last month, we decided to open the offices to those staff members who wanted to come in, we had a dominoes lunch and even went to the pub afterwards. Something we haven’t been able to do in a long time. For those who couldn’t make it or live too far away, they were able to join virtually. We ensured the presentation would work for hybrid working too, so everyone, whether in the office or at home could participate.

Be in control

Having an academy allows staff members to be in control of their own personal development at Cashroom. There are courses to suit everyone, whether you are looking to learn something new or need a recap on a specific subject, the academy is there to support all staff members to ultimately, achieve their goals.

A virtual classroom

Our academy classes take place online and are a great way for staff members to meet new people from other departments they may not work with day to day, as well as having an hour in your day to speak to people and join in activities together throughout the course. Investing in our staff this way allows us to ensure we are delivering the best possible service to our clients with highly trained staff, keeping their knowledge up to date and current.

‘Since the academy launched, we have seen a great up take in courses and have really good feedback from our teams. It is great to be able to do this virtually through video call as it still feels like we are in the classroom, video calls allows us to engage with staff members and encourage group activities the same as we would do face to face but with less resource required. We are now working on the next set of courses to release to the academy and further support development of staff skills.’

Andrew Lowe – Training Manager, Cashroom

‘Having the Academy accessible online whilst working from home is perfect for me, it has allowed me to develop a deeper understanding of the work our cashiers do in delivering the services we provide at Cashroom. The courses have boosted my confidence and I thoroughly enjoyed taking part in them with the rest of the team.’

Natasha Langley – Digital Marketing Manager, Cashroom

About Cashroom

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Sharon Needle

Managing Partner, Needle Partners

One less thing to worry about as a business owner

Having spent the past 12 years within the legal sector, in various roles from Finance Manager through to Managing Director, I made the decision in April of this year to join Cashroom to lead their Professional Services team.

Cashroom provides outsourced legal cashiering to over 250 firms.

We also provide credit control and payroll services alongside management accounts, statutory accounts, and compliance checks. My first month of employment has shown how important technology is within the business. My eyes have also been opened to the fact that accounting services, when outsourced, can be improved in terms of efficiency and cost, in comparison to traditional cashiering, which has changed little over the time I have worked within the sector.

Those who remain “within practice” may ask why leave?

Whilst Covid and “the great resignation” played a part in my decision the answer is quite simple! There has always been a shortage of experienced finance and management staff within the sector, with many Financial and Managing Directors remaining with their current employers for many years. Many firms and Partners are caught in a “catch 22” situation in that they are aware that support is required but are not able to employ someone on a full-time basis (or able to find the right person).

This is where I believe Cashroom can be of great benefit, and I would ask yourself the following questions:

Are you spending too much time on non-Fee Earning tasks?
Do you produce reporting packs to analyze monthly performance?
Do you produce Management Accounts and Cashflows to measure profitability and liquidity?
In the capacity of COLP or COFA are you meeting your audit requirements and comfortable that you would pass an SRA audit?

The Cashroom accounting team can provide relevant financial reporting and information from an “in house” point of view, whereas say your external accountants are likely to produce from an accounting or audit point of view (speaking as an Accountant myself)! With many of our services being offered on a fixed fee basis you can be assured that the expenditure being incurred can be measured against the output provided, which results in one less thing to worry about as a business owner.

Should you wish to discuss any of the above in further detail then please contact my colleague daniel.jones@thecashroom.co.uk.

Adam Wilson

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Sharon Needle

Managing Partner, Needle Partners

Helping Cashroom, and you, in the legal profession

Hello World.

This is the reassuringly gentle, innocuous phrase that most geeks use when allowing their code, company, or indeed themselves to step out into public consciousness for the first time. In my case, it is allowing myself the indulgence of introducing myself to the hallowed legal world as one of the most recent “joiners” to the Cashroom team.

My background is varied – coming initially from medicine and then into the internet and datacentre market for 20 odd years. Now, I navigate between growing companies like the Cashroom, early high tech start-ups and pushing forward the throttle on a single-engined turbine aircraft around Europe.

I would argue there are two key factors that join the dots between my past and present. Firstly, they are highly technical, well regulated, and detail-oriented endeavours. Second, regardless of all of that, success relies on what airline pilots are taught are “human factors”. This is what brought me to Cashroom.

Not only have they successfully built and grown a straightforward idea – that of simplifying and improving the quality of cash room and accounting for legal firms in the UK – but they are doing it through the integration of great technology and even better people. Helping them to take the business to the next stage by continuing to build on that culture is what some would call “my wheelhouse”.

That covers the good stuff. Now for the “not so good”.

One could argue we are about to enter the most challenging of times. Inflation. Risk of recession. Tight labour markets, and ever-increasing regulatory pressures. Whilst these are things that we, as all responsible businesses, are working to mitigate and plan for, these are the very challenges that have historically brought to the fore the advantages of outsourcing.

When one looks back to the last major recession in 2008/9, major firms like Cisco and “big pharma” managed the downturn through reducing internal headcount, outsourcing where other partners had scale and capability to help them succeed.

Hence my excitement about Cashroom.

They have a proven track record in this space, building great technology to integrate with the market leading practice management systems, banks, and other tools, but they also know what it takes to operate services with best practice, motivating great people to deliver for all their customers daily. They are well placed to help legal firms navigate the coming macro stresses and accommodate the labour market tightening – capacity and capability.

The legal industry in the UK and other Anglophone economies are still in the “early adoption” phase of outsourcing elements of backoffice such as cashroom, or professionalising their business information and analytics through better management accounting – less than 10% . Which shows there is still plenty of work to do to help the industry see the benefits to both bottom line and quality of their operations. And as history shows, it sometimes takes the shock of volatile times to motivate management (or in this case, firm partners) to revisit not just what they are doing, but how they do it.

As I hope you can see, I am excited and proud to have been invited to join the team, and look forward to helping be a small part of the journey – helping them and you in the legal profession in the coming years.

Aydin Kurt-Elli

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Sharon Needle

Managing Partner, Needle Partners

No distractions, no chores, just 6 days to ourselves

Catherine O’Day recently walked a challenging 186,415 steps over 6 days and achieved the Portuguese Camino certificate! She discussed with us her journey through Spanish vineyards, country lanes and little Spanish villages…

What made you decide to take part in the Portuguese Camino?

A good friend sadly lost her husband just before covid and had to spend initial lockdown on her own grieving which was a very difficult time for her. She decided she wanted to do The Camino to take time to reflect on last 2 years and to think about where her life goes now. I decided to keep her company.

Did you do anything to prepare?

We were both avid walkers and regularly walked 5km to 7km 3 to 4 times a week. In preparation we increased the length of our walks to 10k to 12km and increased how often we walked.

How many kilometres did you walk and how long did it take?

We walked a total of 124.33km over 6 days (186,415 steps!) You need to complete 100k to get official Camino certificate.

Which route did you take?

We walked the final part of the Portuguese Way starting in Tui which is a small town in Spain at the Portuguese/Spanish border. Our route was Tui, Porrino, Redondela, Pontevedra, Caldas de Reis, Padron, Santiago de Compostela.

What were the highlights for you?

Highlight has to be arriving in main square in Santiago de Compostela, seeing the magnificent Cathedral with hundreds of other pilgrims arriving from all directions.

Walking through beautiful Spanish countryside and through little Spanish villages with locals calling out ‘Bon Camino’.

Also loved getting up every morning knowing that all we had to do that day was walk! No other distractions, no chores, just 6 whole days all to ourselves.

How many hours of walking did you do each day?

We started at 8.30am every morning, walked about 6 hours each day averaging about 20/21km per day with a few coffee stops along the way, usually arriving at our destination around 2/2.30pm. This gave us time to see a little bit of each of the towns we stayed in.

How did you feel when you finished?

We felt exhilarated and a great sense of achievement. A bit emotional too!

Would you recommend the experience and why?

Absolutely. The whole experience was amazing. The route was so clearly marked and there were so many other pilgims or to give then the Spanish title ‘pellegrinos’ sharing the route with us, we just couldn’t get lost. Over the 6 days we met people from all round the world walking the Way with us, all going the same way to the same destination but taking different periods of time to get there. We were also very fortunate with the weather.

Do you have anything similar you would like to do next?

Yes, we plan to The West Highland Way next year and maybe someday do part of the Spanish or French Way.

What sights did you see along the way?

As above mainly lovely Spanish countryside, through vineyards and along country lanes and pathways, and through quant little Spanish villages. Very little of the route was along side of busy roads which was great.

Catherine O’Day

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Sharon Needle

Managing Partner, Needle Partners

Coffee Machines have really progressed over the last few years, haven’t they?

When I was first working in an office at Slater Heelis in Manchester it was regularly my job as an articled clerk (Trainee in modern terms) to make the drinks for my colleagues. It was a pretty onerous task to be honest. Gather up the mugs, head to the ‘kitchen’ (a pokey cupboard-like room with a small sink, a not very safe sideboard and a kettle). Wash the mugs out, boil the kettle, add the instant coffee, and try to remember who takes sugar. Deliver the coffees. Sit back down and then get sent back to add sugar to the one you had inevitably forgotten about.

Over the years things improved. Health and safety became a thing. Hot water urns meant there was a ready supply of boiling water. The posher places I worked had a percolator which made a nice large jug of coffee which would last for a few hours.

And how about now?

We’ve just had a day in the office where our normal daily activities were coupled with an all staff update so we had around 20 people in – the most staff we’ve had in one place for over two years! And what was the biggest issue?

Not the Wi-Fi.

Not the desk space.

Oh no – it was the fact that there were only three mugs, no milk and (the horror!) only instant decaff coffee.

Rebellion was in the air. Mutiny. Until the dynamic duo of Katie and Dan headed to the local superstore and returned with one of those fancy coffee pod machines. We now have self-service high-quality coffee at the touch of a button, and no need to go to the kitchen to make it.

You might think that this is the point at which I will make a tenuous link between the progress in coffee making and the progress we’ve been making as a business.

And you’d be right!

Aside from now providing cutting edge caffeine delivery systems, we have been working to optimise our processes as we have faced increasing demand for our services. I firmly believe we are becoming the default option for firms looking to improve the efficiency, risk profile and compliance of their finance function. We are receiving double the number of new enquiries when compared to a year ago and we are constantly recruiting to add to our amazing staff.

However, simply adding bodies would be the equivalent of adding another kettle. It wouldn’t be efficient or cost effective and it could be risky!

Instead we have invested heavily in the growth of our tech team who have been designing and implementing some incredible developments to our secure communication portal which improve our clients’ experience and help our teams to deliver services with increasing speed and efficiency. We’ve added to this with a programme of constant process improvement.

The point is that even the most simple and run of the mill activity can be reimagined. Something that has always been done in one way isn’t always the best method. Dare to change your approach, and joy equivalent to a caffeine high (but longer lasting and with fewer health problems) could be yours.

Alex Holt

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Sharon Needle

Managing Partner, Needle Partners

Big changes and new beginnings

Before Cashroom

Prior to starting at Cashroom I had not long finished high school and was looking into various careers that I wanted to pursue. I had worked in part time retail positions at both TJ Hughes and B&M but was looking to gain a position with a company that would give me career prospects to fulfill my eagerness to learn.

A big change

When I got the Job at Cashroom I was nervous as this was a big change. It was such a different job than what I was used to. When I began, COVID literally arrived, and I had to begin the job working from home. Any nerves I had were put at ease immediately when I started, the team were all very helpful and always willing to help. Almost immediately after starting I soon realised this was the career for me. I have enjoyed gaining a clearer understanding of what being a cashier entails and gaining and developing relationships with clients. Working from home hasn’t stunted my training, Cashroom has adjusted to new ways of learning and the whole team have been supportive in helping me achieve my goals.

This has been a surreal opportunity for me that I thought I would never get. I was amazed when I got the job but soon realised this is the job where I want to go further and succeed more and more as time goes on.

How Cashroom supported me through a tough time

Cashroom has been such a supportive employer. A short while after I started working at Cashroom my partner gave birth to a baby boy who was born with a rare condition known as CDH. It was a very difficult time with things getting harder by the day for a while. Cashroom supported me through this with regular meetings to discuss not only my baby’s health but the mental state of myself and my partner to see if they could offer any additional support. I cannot thank the Cashroom enough for all the support through all the tough times we faced and even now with myself back at work, Cashroom are supporting me to progress further in my career. I am looking forward to seeing that the future holds for me here at Cashroom.

Adam Hill

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Sharon Needle

Managing Partner, Needle Partners

Sometimes it’s good to get out of your comfort zone – I did it by attending NLP training!

It’s been 2 weeks now since I completed Tricres’ 7-day Neuro-Linguistic Programming course and I finally feel ready to sit down and write about it. It was exhausting, exhilarating and I’m going to put my neck out here and say life changing. I had a literal stop and look up moment, I have engaged my brain in a way I just wasn’t doing before.

Firstly, I was skeptical.

Anyone I spoke to that had done this sort of training said it was brilliant, but nobody could really describe it to me or say what I would get out of it. I also had a fear I was going to have to go and talk about my feelings all week. Dare I say it I was worried it was all just a bit fluffy and I’d not get a lot out of it. After day 1 I still wasn’t totally convinced but thanks to various moments throughout the days – HANDS UP, I couldn’t have been more wrong if I tried.

There were so many reasons not to go for it (7 days away from my desk, over a bank holiday weekend when my husband was away with friends and I had 3 children to juggle to name a few) but there was something in my gut telling me to do it and I am so glad I did. In-fact something Rebecca shared with us that week was that we do all have brain cells in our gut and it’s important to listen to them!

We covered so much.

Linguistics, communications and behaviours, anchoring, deletions and visualisation. I can’t share any of the secrets to NLP here – literally I cannot. It would be impossible in a blog and I’m a novice, but my mind was blown wide open during the 7 days on the programme and sharing some snippets may be useful to others.

Life is busy, life is fast moving, we spend so much time on phones and tiny screens, people hurt your feelings and we all create our own narrative around situations without stopping and using our brains. Stop. Everything I just wrote there I now think about completely differently. Confused yet? I told you I cannot share the details!

1 easy to use nugget I want to share with you is use all your senses in as many moments as possible.

You have multiple senses – use them! At least once a day on a walk, on the train, talking with a loved one try and use all your senses in the moment. Open up your eyes wider and look at the wider view, feel the wind on your face or reach out or concentrate on your feet on the ground, listen to the noises, really listen to everything around you, are there any tastes? I can’t explain how doing this frequently will benefit your experiences. In the office talking to a colleague do this, it’s harder on zoom but still possible – be present in the moment and concentrate on everything in it, it’s amazing how much more focused you will be in situations.

My week wouldn’t have been such a success if it weren’t for the cherry-picked group of people that I joined on the course. A group from all sorts of businesses came together from South Carolina, Switzerland, Edinburgh and more. A group of individuals went in and came out firm friends – we were all very different characters and yet respect and trust was built in those 7 days that normally would take years. We practiced our new skills on each other constantly, laughed together (the MOST fun group, right Tammy?) and there may have been a couple of tears together too.

Rebecca and Nick – What a week packed full of knowledge; you literally altered my brain! You threw me completely out of my comfort zone and yet made me feel at ease. You were respectful, scientific, and relatable in all teaching. These are not one stop skills you have given me, it’s techniques to use within my whole life. I have a clarity and brightness that I didn’t realise was missing!

About Cashroom

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Sharon Needle

Managing Partner, Needle Partners

Make the best of your firm’s online presence

In today’s digital world, all eyes are locked onto a brand’s every move. All businesses want to stand out. Unless you take your time and fully think through your digital ideas and plans, you may not be using your online presence to your best advantage or even worse, you may stand out for the wrong reasons!

Does your firm have a plan to target the correct audience, increase your communications and gain brand credibility?

Creating a physical plan is a great place to start. Not planning your social media content, using irrelevant hashtags, reusing the same content on all your social media channels, and creating too much content and noise are some of the easy mistakes when marketing your brand on social media.

Take time to consider your target audience e.g., their generation, gen z, millennial etc. Think about how you want your brand’s text to read. Whether it should be friendly, funny or professional and what kind of content may appeal to your target audience. Educational videos, graphic designs discussing your services, testimonials, blogs, podcasts, posts targeting your client’s pain points are all options to consider when making a monthly or weekly content plan.

The SOSTAC system can help you plan your content.

Situation Analysis – Where are we now? Asses your current KPI’S, performance, analyse competitors and market trends.

Objectives – Where do we want to be? Use the 5 S’s. Sell, serve, sizzle, speak and save.

Strategy – How do we get there? Consider target markets, objectives, your sales sequence and integrations with other businesses.

Tactics – How exactly do we get there? Who you will communicate with, your content plan and contact plan.

Actions – The details of the tactics. This will include responsibilities and structures, processes and systems, internal resources and skills and external agencies to help with content creation.

Control – How do we monitor performance? Use KPI’s and website analytics, user experience reviews, conversion rate optimisation and consider your process of reporting statistics.

Does your website represent your firm well?

A good website helps to establish your brand by letting the audience know who you are and what services you can provide. A website provides reliable information to potential clients, which helps set your firm apart from competitors.

A poor website can cause potential clients to leave quickly and not fully read what services you offer; they may even avoid contacting you. Having noticeable buttons on your website such as “Contact Us” or “Sign Up” makes it easier for visitors to find what they are looking for. Having options to submit forms, social media share buttons, event promotions or read more’s are all examples of Call to Actions that can be used throughout a website.

A slow website can cause people to leave before the page even loads. GTmetrix and Pingdom Tools are some tool options you could use or give to your web developer to test the speed of your website and make sure it’s working well.

It’s also important to ensure all the information on your website is up to date and current including contact information, services you provide, testimonials and any facts and figures about your firm.

Show off your up-to-date website! PPC (Pay Per Click) ads are a useful tool for bringing new visitors.

PPC ads are when you pay each time someone clicks on your ad. They are affordable, they effectively drive traffic to your site, increase conversions and could help grow your firm. You want to make sure your adverts are directing to your homepage or services page. If your PPC advert lands a potential client on a confusing landing page, then it will be a waste of money for your firm and visitors will leave quickly. It’s important to track your spending on your PPC ads and take advantage of negative keywords so your ads do not show to the wrong audience, wasting more of your money.

There are so many ways you and your firm can optimise your digital presence. Remember you don’t have to do it all – plan and think about where you target market is going to look for you -. A good website and consistent social media content is a great place for you to start…what are you waiting for?!?

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Sharon Needle

Managing Partner, Needle Partners

Dinner Suit diary

The dinner suit is getting far more use over the last month or two than it has for ages. I had to dust it down and there was of course the fear that pandemic pounds would have made me unable to get into it any more.

Cashroom was at the Modern Law Awards and we had decided to go mob handed. We were glad to be sharing a table with Amy Bell, Lara Squires and Louise Gilbert who helped us to do justice to the wine on the table.

For any event at all, but even more when the cost is not minor, our CEO Chris O’Day is keen to understand the Return On Investment. We had taken the decision to sponsor the champagne reception and with that and the hotels and travel costs this was always going to be one of the biggest single events in our calendar.

As far as ROI is concerned I’m sure that the brand building and networking will bear fruit.

However I’d say that one of the most valuable elements of this event was in fact the rekindling of relationships. Teams, Zoom etc- they’re great and have no doubt permanently altered how people will approach meetings and engagement. But the joyous energy that buzzed around the venue at this event was testament to the fact that human face to face contact is still valuable. In fact it’s essential in my view. While some of the talk was about business (the value of particular networking groups, system choices, tech developments and innovation) far more time was spent laughing, small-talking, dancing and generally engaging with each other in a way that solidifies existing friendships and alliances and begins to create new ones.

So, having the Cashroom logo painted on my face may seem frivolous but I’m sure there will be ROI to come…

Alex Holt, Director of Business Development

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Sharon Needle

Managing Partner, Needle Partners

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