Law Firm Trust Accounting
IOLTA trust account management and reconciliation for attorneys. We integrate Clio with QuickBooks and keep your trust accounting California State Bar compliant.
Client Funds
An IOLTA account holds money that belongs to your clients, not to you. California State Bar Rule 1.15 requires you to keep client funds completely separate from operating funds and maintain detailed records of every transaction. This is not optional and the Bar does not offer grace periods for getting it wrong.
Regular bookkeeping does not cover this. Trust accounting requires a three-way reconciliation every month. Your bank statement, your trust ledger, and your individual client ledgers must all match down to the penny. When they don’t, you need to find out why and fix it immediately.
Three-Way Reconciliation
Three-Way Reconciliation
The State Bar wants to see that your bank balance matches your trust ledger and that both match the sum of all your client ledgers. We do this reconciliation monthly and document it properly so you always have a clear record of where client money sits.
Clio Integration
Clio Integration
We connect Clio directly to QuickBooks Online so trust transactions flow between systems automatically. Client payments, retainer deposits, and disbursements all get recorded without duplicate data entry or transcription errors that create discrepancies later.
The Stakes
Trust account violations are among the most common reasons attorneys face discipline in California. Commingling funds, failing to maintain adequate records, disbursing before deposits clear. The State Bar investigates these matters aggressively because client money is sacred.
Most attorneys who get in trouble were not trying to steal. They were busy practicing law and let the accounting slide. They trusted a staff member to handle it without proper oversight. They did not fully understand the technical requirements. None of these explanations satisfy the State Bar when they come knocking.
Discipline
Discipline
Sanctions for trust account violations range from private reproval to public discipline to suspension to disbarment. Even if no client money was actually lost, failing to maintain proper records is itself a violation that goes on your permanent record with the Bar.
The Audit
The Audit
When the State Bar decides to audit your trust account, they ask for records going back years. Bank statements, ledgers, reconciliation reports, disbursement documentation. If you cannot produce organized records that reconcile cleanly, you have a serious problem on your hands.
What Changes
Your trust accounting happens without consuming your time. Client payments get recorded. Disbursements get documented. The three-way reconciliation gets done every month. You review the reports and sign off without spending hours producing them yourself or worrying that something got missed.
When an audit notice arrives, you are not scrambling to reconstruct records from old bank statements and email threads. The documentation already exists in organized form. The ledgers balance. You hand over the files and get back to practicing law.
Focus on Your Practice
Focus on Your Practice
Trust accounting becomes a background function of your firm rather than a recurring source of stress. You know it is being handled correctly by someone who understands both the State Bar rules and how Clio works with your accounting system. You can actually focus on your clients.
Audit Ready
Audit Ready
Every month your trust account is reconciled and the documentation is filed properly. If the State Bar sends a letter tomorrow, you have organized records showing exactly where every dollar came from and where it went. No scrambling. No panic. No long nights reconstructing history.
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The Next Step:
A Short Conversation
Tell us about your business and what you're dealing with. We'll listen, ask a few questions, and give you a clear price for the work.