Brief Accounting

Spec sheet

What it does

Brief Accounting combines legal time and billing, trust accounting, and office accounting in one system.Read 21 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

Purpose

Brief Accounting combines legal billing, trust accounting and office accounting for law firms.Read 4 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

Intended users

The maker describes Brief Accounting as suitable for solo practitioners and firms of varying sizes, with Brief Accounting Pro for larger teams needing simultaneous access.Read 4 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

Support

Subscriptions include unlimited telephone and email support, and users can access an online knowledge base and training materials.Read 4 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

Headquarters

The maker identifies Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada as its location and lists a Vancouver contact address.Read 21 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

Founded

1985Read 28 Sep 2026 · brieflegal.com

Accounts receivable

Accounts-receivable tools include receipts, payments across matters, aged receivables reports, client ledgers, statements, flat-fee invoices, and integrated accounting entries.Read 21 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

Architecture

The product uses web-based time entry alongside a desktop client/server accounting application for billing, trust, receivables, payables, and reporting.Read 21 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

Billing

Brief Billing supports slip entry, prebills, invoice processing, accounts receivable and batch receipts.Read 4 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

Company founded

LinkedIn lists Brief Legal Software Inc. as founded in 2002.Read 21 Oct 2026 · ca.linkedin.com

Company size

LinkedIn lists Brief Legal Software Inc. as privately held with 2–10 employees.Read 21 Oct 2026 · ca.linkedin.com

Data control

The maker says firms retain control of accounting data, backups, and the hosting environment.Read 21 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

Data import

The company says it can import data from Excel or other machine-readable formats and regularly converts Timeslips and PCLaw users.Read 4 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

Documentation

The Zendesk help center organizes documentation into time and billing, receivables, office accounting, trust, general ledger, payables, reports, exports, installation, permissions, and troubleshooting sections.Read 21 Oct 2026 · brief.zendesk.com

Extensibility

Brief EnCounter exchanges matter lists and slips with Brief Accounting through text export and import files.Read 21 Oct 2026 · brief.zendesk.com

File-sharing integrations

The support documentation describes shared folders, Dropbox, Google Drive, or email as ways to move EnCounter exchange files.Read 21 Oct 2026 · brief.zendesk.com

Historical pricing

A 2007 Canadian Lawyer software survey listed Brief Accounting's starting cost as $995 and its current release year as 2007.Read 21 Oct 2026 · canadianlawyermag.com

Invoice formats

Invoice options include consolidated client, split-billing, task-based and LEDES formats.Read 4 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

Licence

The reviewed official pages do not identify an open-source licence or state that Brief Accounting is open source.Read 21 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

Limit: scale

That Capterra reviewer said the product became uncomfortable for a larger operation handling roughly 100 to 1,500 daily operations.Read 21 Oct 2026 · capterra.com

Limit: workflow clicks

The G2 reviewer described the interface as sometimes clunky and wished it required fewer clicks.Read 21 Oct 2026 · g2.com

Maker history

Brief Legal Software says it has been in law firms since 1985 and develops, sells and supports Brief Accounting across North America.Read 4 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

Migration

Brief Legal offers review and conversion of client and matter data, unbilled time and disbursements, trust and receivables balances, chart of accounts, and trial balance.Read 21 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

Module purchasing

Billing, Trust, and Office Accounting are integrated but can be purchased according to the firm's requirements.Read 21 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

Office accounting

Office accounting includes general-office cheques, accounts payable, vendor invoices, a general ledger, chart of accounts, and adjusting journal entries.Read 21 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

Offline operation

The maker says the central accounting team can continue working when internet connectivity is unavailable.Read 21 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

Operating history

The maker says it has been in law firms since 1985 and serves clients across North America.Read 21 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

Praise: Mac support

The G2 reviewer said Mac compatibility solved time and billing problems and reduced manual work.Read 21 Oct 2026 · g2.com

Praise: simplicity

The lone Capterra reviewer praised the software as simple, comfortable, and easy for beginners to start using.Read 21 Oct 2026 · capterra.com

Public API

The reviewed official product, support, and documentation pages describe file-based exchange but do not publish an API or SDK.Read 21 Oct 2026 · brief.zendesk.com

Rating on Capterra

4.0 out of 5 from 1 reviewRead 21 Oct 2026 · capterra.com

Rating on G2

4 out of 5 from 1 reviewRead 21 Oct 2026 · g2.com

Reporting

Reports include timekeeper, work-in-progress, payment-allocation, general-ledger detail, trial-balance, balance-sheet, and income-statement reports, with Excel export.Read 21 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

Support included

Subscriptions include telephone and email support, training, and access to a knowledge base.Read 21 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

Support scope

The support page says installation, setup, data conversion, retraining, upgrades, and new-staff familiarization are provided as needed.Read 21 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

Supported systems

The contact page says Brief Accounting is supported on all current versions of macOS and Windows.Read 21 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

Time and billing

The billing module supports time-slip entry, prebills, final invoices, batch editing, consolidated billing, split billing, and LEDES or task-based billing.Read 21 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

Timekeeping

The included Brief EnCounter application supports default rates and one-click start/stop timing.Read 4 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

Timekeeping companion

Brief EnCounter is a separate timekeeping application that records time and disbursement slips for import into Brief Accounting.Read 21 Oct 2026 · brief.zendesk.com

Trust accounting

Trust functions cover receipts, cheques, applying trust to invoices, multiple banks, reconciliations, trust journals, liability reports, and client trust histories.Read 21 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

Trust compliance

The maker says the product meets North American trust-compliance requirements, including Alberta's Law Society Trust Safety Accounting Upload.Read 21 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

User licensing

Timekeeper licenses are needed for users billed under their names; assistants entering time for lawyers do not need their own licenses.Read 4 Oct 2026 · brieflegal.com

Plans and prices

Every Brief Accounting plan and price →

Where Specifiction places it

• Trust Accounting Software#6 of 428.7
• Law Firm Accounting Software#5 of 178.6