The Side Spreadsheet Trap

Why do law firms still rely on side spreadsheets?

In this episode, Lynda Artesani, Sarah Prevost, and Steven Libhart dig into the real reasons attorneys lean on manual spreadsheets for trust accounting, compensation tracking, and client costs, and what can go wrong when those spreadsheets are riddled with broken formulas, missing data, and no audit trail.

The team also gets into data migrations gone wrong, the power of Google Sheets over Excel, MyFirmData as a reporting game-changer, and why asking the right questions at onboarding can save you weeks of cleanup work.

00:52 Why Spreadsheets Persist
02:15 Common Spreadsheet Uses
04:06 Empathy and Client Habits
09:44 Audit Trails and Google Sheets
12:40 When Spreadsheets Help
13:42 Parsing Costs and MyFirmData
17:06 Setup Data and Migration Risks
22:35 Banks Security and Vulnerabilities
25:37 Grid Paper Throwback
26:36 AI Restaurant Story

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Accountants Law Pod is hosted by Lynda Artesani, Sarah Prevost, and Steve Libhart and directed/produced by Teaira Burge and The Proper Trust. Music by ComaStudio from Pixabay - Edited by audiovideo_uk

Disclaimer: The content presented in this podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as legal, financial, or professional advice.