The fast-paced nature of business forces firms to continually find new and innovative ways of improving on all fronts: Improving client service, better cash-flow management, reduction in costs, increased productivity and most importantly, increased fees. This is where AJS comes into its own. With many years of experience in some of South Africa's largest law firms, AJS offers a tried-and-tested solution that has been refined over many years.
In addition to a rock-solid legal accounting platform, AJS also includes a number of additional productivity modules for law firms, such as document management, workflow, electronic communication, conflict of interest checking, FICA compliance management, contact management (CRM) and flexible reporting. With AJS all client and matter information is fully integrated, so there is no need to import or export information between modules or systems. Whatever your area of specialisation, AJS has been designed to save you time and keep you in control.
AJS has as its foundation a time-proven accounting system with almost 30 years of successful trust audits to its credit, an achievement of which we are justifiably proud. Whether you are a single practitioner or a major international law firm, AJS is scalable enough and flexible enough to meet your needs. To ensure compliance with audit recommendations, the AJS system makes use of 7-column ledger with support for multi-branch, multi-currency, multi-ledger, and multi-trust/business bank accounts. Standard features include batch posting, batch importing of transactions, online receipts, online cheque printing, invoicing options, bank reconciliation, debtors and creditors, asset register, investments, flexible reporting, and a host of other features you would expect from a world-class accounting solution.
The direct debiting and time recording capability is one of AJS' most powerful advantages, and firms that make use of this aspect of the system invariably report a substantial increase in fees. With direct debiting and time recording, users can effortlessly capture and account for work done and time spent on a matter ensuring that all time is recorded, and that no disbursements slip through the cracks. The result is effective and accurate billing, which equates to a significant increase in fees.
With the Work in Progress (WIP) function in AJS you have the option to record your time and disbursements throughout the progress of the matter without creating a VAT-incurring debit on the system. You can then convert the WIP entries to debits at any time and invoice your client immediately using the invoicing on demand feature. This ensures that you do not pay VAT and income tax prematurely, which improves cash flow.
Traditionally law firms record fees and time during the month and print invoices and statements at month end. This means that you invariably wait until the end of the month before your client receives the invoice, and then at least another 30 days before the client pays their account. With invoicing on demand you can produce invoices and statements at any time during the month on a per matter basis, which means that the client will receive the invoice as soon as the work is completed. In this way you can reduce your debtors substantially, which improves cash-flow. You can also generate pro-forma invoices (without creating a debit) so that your clients can budget for payment before it becomes due.
The document management module in AJS is one of the most powerful features of the system and allows you to easily attach and store all documentation pertaining to a matter alongside each matter. For example, you can append letters, emails, faxes, SMS messages, and even debtor or creditor invoices and statements to a matter, ensuring that all information related to a matter is available at the push of a button. This means less time wasted on searching for documents or copies of correspondence in files, which reduces costs.
AJS includes one of the most advanced contact management systems available to attorneys today. This powerful system combines three very important aspects of the modern practice:
Contact information is shared between all linked matters on the system. This saves time since information can be located instantly, and because information is re-used each time a client instructs the firm with a new matter. Also, since contact information is captured only once, there is less room for error.
Electronic communication has re-shaped the legal profession, and technological advances in communication continue to evolve at an ever-increasing pace. This has resulted in a dramatic reduction in the costs of communication. Today email is sent free of charge and SMS messages can be sent at a very affordable rate, making email and SMS messaging the preferred methods of communication for all law firms. AJS supports both email and SMS messaging, but more importantly, the system also raises a fee to the matter when emails or SMS messages are sent, ensuring that no time or disbursements go unallocated.
FICA is not unique to South Africa and the worldwide adoption of anti money laundering policies places more responsibility and workload on attorneys. The AJS FICA module has been designed to help law firms spend less time collecting FICA information while ensuring that the firm remains compliant.
With AJS the FICA information is only captured once, and the same information is re-used for other matters for the same client. So firms only need to collect the FICA information which is missing or has expired, saving time.
AJS has a very powerful built-in process and workflow engine that can manage any matter type you can imagine. (MVA, Litigation, Collections, TAX law, Employment law, Commercial law, Property law, Divorce, etc.) These processes can be designed to suit the individual needs of the firm or client. For example, the process might include generating various documents, diarising the next step/s to be taken and processing the fees – all in an automated and easy-to-use interface. This will ensure that users follow the same process from start to finish, which helps to create standards in the firm whilst improving productivity, accuracy and billing.
AJS was one of the first companies to introduce a Software Development Kit (SDK) that allows third party software vendors to integrate directly with the AJS system. Besides the SDK, AJS also offers integration with a number of other systems such as Excalibur (call centre software), the HP Digital Sender (document imaging direct to a matter), various document accounting and cost recovery systems such as Dynatrac, M-Sys and Softlog, a number of bank switches for debt recovery instructions, and the GhostConvey property transfers system. These integrations all eliminate re-capture of information, which saves time.
AJS uses the industry standard Crystal Reports system for its reporting. This means that in addition to the standard reports in AJS, any number of custom reports may be created to meet the unique needs of each client. Another advantage is that reports can be generated in a number of output formats, including Excel, print, PDF, etc.
Since reports can be accessed on demand, partners and directors can stay in control of the firm's finances, and they can budget and plan for the future. It goes without saying that all reports are regulated by user access rights, which means that your firm's information is safe within AJS.