Why this is different from ordinary bookkeeping
A trust account holds money that is not yours. That single fact changes everything about how it has to be handled, and it is why the consequences of getting it wrong are professional rather than merely financial.
Every client's funds must be tracked individually. No client's balance may ever go negative, even briefly, even if the account as a whole is comfortably positive. Every period has to reconcile three ways, and the documentation has to survive being examined by someone who did not do the work.
Most firms are not out of compliance because anyone was careless. They are out of compliance because this is exacting, repetitive work that has to be done every single month, and it is nobody's favourite Sunday.
What we prepare
- Three-way reconciliationBank balance, book balance and the sum of all client ledgers agreed for the period, with any difference identified rather than plugged.
- Individual client ledgersEvery matter tracked separately, showing receipts, disbursements and running balance, in the format your bar requires.
- Practice management tied to the booksThe invoicing system and the accounting system reconciled to each other, which is where most trust problems actually originate.
- Exception reportingNegative balances, stale balances and unexplained differences flagged as they arise, not discovered a year later.
- Documentation built to be examinedAssembled so that if an examiner asks how a figure was arrived at, the supporting record already exists.
- A file your signature can stand behindPrepared, checked and delivered for your review, because you are the one who signs it.
Who signs what
Worth stating plainly, because it matters. Trust account compliance is your professional obligation as the responsible attorney. It cannot be transferred to a bookkeeper, and anyone offering to take it off your hands entirely is describing something that does not exist.
What can be transferred is the work. We prepare the reconciliations, maintain the ledgers and assemble the documentation, and hand you a file to review and sign. You keep the obligation and the oversight. You stop losing Sundays to it.
This page describes bookkeeping services and is not legal advice. Your state bar's rules govern, and your own professional judgment applies.
Questions attorneys ask
What is a three-way reconciliation?
Three figures that must agree at the end of every period: the trust bank statement balance, the trust account book balance, and the total of all individual client ledger balances. When those three do not match, something is wrong, and finding out at audit is the expensive way.
Do you sign the reconciliation?
No. We prepare the reconciliation, the client ledgers and the supporting documentation, and the responsible attorney reviews and signs. Trust account compliance is the attorney's professional obligation and cannot be delegated away, only supported properly.
Can you fix a trust account that is already out of balance?
Usually. It generally means reconstructing client ledgers from deposits, disbursements and invoices to find where the trail broke. That is scoped as cleanup and quoted after a review. It is also the work that most rewards being done sooner.
Do you work with LeanLaw, Clio or similar systems?
Yes. Practice management systems hold the client-level detail and the accounting system holds the money, and the two drifting apart is the single most common source of trust problems. Keeping them tied together is a large part of the work.
Is this only for California attorneys?
No. The specific format and reporting requirements vary by state bar, and we build to the one that applies to you. The underlying discipline of three-way reconciliation and per-client ledgers is the same everywhere.
Start with a look at your actual books.
No cost, no obligation, and no sales pitch. You get a straight answer about where your books stand, and you can do whatever you want with it.
Prefer to talk first? (833) 653-7545 or hello@gotomybookkeeper.com