Service 01 · Legal Practice Accounting
Records that hold up when it matters most
Financial reporting for law firms is different. The accounts are different, the compliance requirements are different, and the cost of errors is higher. This service is built with that in mind.
What This Delivers
Monthly accounting that reflects how legal money actually moves
Most accounting setups treat all money the same. In a legal practice, that causes problems quickly. Client retainers belong in trust, not in operating accounts. Partner draws depend on compensation structures that vary by firm. Billing has to reconcile against both client ledgers and firm records at once.
What you get here is a monthly accounting cycle designed around those realities — not adapted from a general-purpose template.
Outcomes You Can Expect
Trust and operating funds kept strictly separate
Every report distinguishes between the two. No commingling at the record level, ever.
Billing reconciled before each cycle closes
Invoices matched against ledgers monthly — discrepancies caught early, not at year-end.
Audit-ready records maintained month to month
Every entry documented with the supporting detail a bar review or external audit would require.
What's Often Getting in the Way
General accounting wasn't designed for trust accounts or partner draws
Law firm accounting looks straightforward on the surface — income comes in, expenses go out, the firm pays its partners. But the underlying structure is more complicated than that, and general-purpose accounting software often isn't set up to handle it correctly.
Retainer funds held in trust need to be tracked at the individual client level, reconciled separately from operating funds, and handled in ways that satisfy bar association requirements. If those funds aren't tracked precisely, the problems compound quietly over months before anyone notices.
Partner compensation is another layer. Whether distributions are based on ownership percentage, a points system, or performance metrics, the calculations need to tie back to the firm's actual numbers — and the supporting documentation has to be there when partners ask questions or tax time arrives.
Trust fund misclassification
Retainers recorded to the wrong account — one of the more common compliance issues that accumulates silently.
Quarterly reconciliation gaps
Reconciling less than monthly creates windows where errors sit undetected and harder to unwind.
Documentation assembled after the fact
Records reconstructed for audits or bar inquiries are incomplete and carry real exposure.
How This Works
A monthly cycle built around legal accounting requirements
Legal Practice Accounting covers the full scope of financial recordkeeping for firms with up to twenty attorneys. The engagement is structured around a monthly cycle — not reactive check-ins when something looks off.
Trust accounts are maintained with individual client ledgers and reconciled against both the bank statement and the master trust account each month. Operating funds are tracked separately, and billing is reconciled before each cycle closes — not after the fact at year-end.
Partner compensation tracking is included: draws calculated based on your firm's structure, whether that's ownership percentage, points, or another arrangement. Supporting schedules are prepared with each cycle.
IOLTA-compliant trust account management
Funds handled and reported in line with bar association rules — individual client ledgers, reconciled monthly.
Three-way reconciliation every month
Bank statement, individual client ledgers, and the master trust account verified together — not in sequence.
Partner compensation tracking included
Draws calculated per your firm's structure. Supporting schedules prepared with each monthly cycle.
Audit-ready documentation as standard
Full audit trails on every transaction — assembled monthly, not reconstructed when a review arrives.
Working Together
What the engagement actually looks like from your side
It starts with a practice assessment — a short conversation to understand your current account structure, how billing is handled, and what your compensation arrangement looks like. That determines the setup, which we handle.
Once the accounts are structured, the monthly cycle runs with minimal input required from you. Reconciliations, billing reviews, and financial statements are prepared on a fixed schedule. If a discrepancy appears, you hear about it — not at year-end, but within the same billing cycle.
Each quarter brings a summary review, and annually we look at account structure and any regulatory changes that affect how your reports need to be assembled.
The Engagement Timeline
Practice Assessment
We review your current setup before anything is configured. This step determines what's actually needed.
Account Structure Setup
Trust, operating, and capital accounts organized to match bar requirements and your compensation structure.
Monthly Cycle
Reconciliations, billing reviews, and statements on a fixed schedule. Discrepancies flagged same-cycle.
Annual Review
Structural review and update for any changes in regulatory reporting requirements for your jurisdiction.
Investment
Transparent pricing for the full monthly engagement
Covers firms with up to twenty attorneys. Fixed monthly engagement — no variable billing based on transaction volume.
What's Included
IOLTA-compliant trust account management
Three-way reconciliation every month
Individual client ledger maintenance
Billing reconciliation before cycle closes
Partner compensation tracking and schedules
Full audit trails on every transaction
Fund-separated financial statements
Quarterly summary reviews
Annual account structure and compliance review
Discrepancy alerts within the same billing cycle
Suitable for solo practitioners and firms with up to twenty attorneys. Firms with more complex requirements — multiple offices, more partners, specialized compensation structures — are welcome to reach out for a conversation about whether this scope fits.
Why the Approach Works
The monthly cycle catches what quarterly review misses
Trust account violations are among the most common reasons attorneys face bar discipline. Most of them don't begin with deliberate wrongdoing — they begin with a retainer recorded to the wrong account, a reconciliation done quarterly instead of monthly, or a report that doesn't separate client funds from the firm's operating balance.
The monthly engagement model means those errors surface quickly, when they're still manageable. Three-way reconciliation — bank, client ledger, and master trust — means the numbers are validated from three directions simultaneously, not checked against one source and assumed correct.
Partner compensation tracking adds the other piece that general accounting often handles loosely. When the calculations are done monthly and documented in supporting schedules, questions from partners or from tax advisors have clear answers already in place.
Reconciliation frequency
Monthly cycles catch discrepancies within weeks of their origin — not months later when the paper trail is harder to follow.
Reconciliation depth
Bank, client ledger, and master trust account verified together — three sources, not one.
Audit trail coverage
Every entry documented. Nothing reconstructed. The records exist when they're needed, not assembled afterward.
How We Stand Behind the Work
If the records aren't right, we make them right
If a reconciliation report contains an error that originates from our process, we correct it — no additional billing, no argument about whose fault it is. The standard is accurate records, and that's what the engagement is built to deliver.
Starting a conversation doesn't commit you to anything. We're happy to understand your current setup and explain how this service would work for your firm before you make a decision. If it's not a fit, we'll say so.
Errors corrected at no additional cost
Any reconciliation error that originates from our process is resolved without additional billing.
Response within one business day
Questions during the engagement are answered within one business day — not queued.
Initial consultation at no obligation
The first conversation is about understanding your firm's setup — not about closing a sale.
Getting Started
A straightforward path from first conversation to ongoing work
There's no lengthy onboarding. The setup is designed to be efficient, and monthly work begins once the account structure is in place.
Send a message
A brief note via the contact form — your firm size, services you're considering, any relevant context.
Practice review
We look at your current account structure and billing cycle to understand what setup is actually needed.
Account setup
Trust, operating, and capital accounts structured to match your firm's requirements — handled by us.
Monthly cycle begins
Reconciliations, statements, and reporting run on a fixed schedule from the first full month.
Ready to Talk
Tell us about your practice
A short message is enough to start. We'll follow up with questions about your firm's current setup and whether Legal Practice Accounting is the right scope for you.
Get in TouchAlso Available
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