BQE CORE
Best for Accounting-led project billingWebsite: https://www.bqe.com
Best for: Accounting-led project billing
Starting price: quote only
Free plan: No
Pros: Project accounting and billing share one ledger; strong work-in-progress visibility
Cons: Interface feels dated in places; setup takes longer than lighter tools
BQE CORE grew out of accounting for architecture and engineering firms, and that heritage shows in the way it handles project budgets, time and billing in one ledger. For a consultancy that supports law firms, the appeal is the link between hours worked and money billed: time entries flow into invoices, work in progress stays visible, and project managers can see which matters are drifting over budget before the month ends. The tool also covers expense tracking, resource scheduling and client billing, which keeps most of the commercial work in one place.
The trade-off is breadth against polish. Setup takes longer than a lighter tracker, and some screens feel older than the newer tools here. Firms that already run their accounting in CORE will get the most from it.