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A "dashboard" approach to cash flow analysis is the most important management tool at a legal administrator's disposal for planning future activities and controlling a firm's financial affairs.

Every law firm is a business. In turn, every business needs a business plan, and the most important element of any business plan is the financial plan. Ironically, this is the planning element on which most law firms spend the least amount of time. The financial plan is the true guide to a firm's success or failure. Although it could involve many kinds of spreadsheets, charts and budgets, the simplest and most powerful plan of all – and the only one that really counts in any professional services firm, including a law firm – is the cash flow statement.