Who We Serve · Service-Based · Law Firms
Law firm finance has one rule no other business shares: client money is sacred and the bar is watching. We handle IOLTA trust accounting and three-way reconciliation correctly, then build matter- and practice-area profitability on top so you know which work actually pays.
Law firm accounting is the discipline of keeping client trust funds (IOLTA) properly segregated and reconciled, recording firm income and expenses accurately, and turning that data into matter-level and practice-area profitability. The trust-accounting half is a compliance obligation enforced by your state bar; the profitability half is what separates a firm that bills hours from a firm that builds value.
Get the trust side wrong and you risk a bar audit finding. Get the profitability side wrong and you keep taking work that loses money. We do both.
The trust rules are universal, but the economics differ sharply by practice area — how you bill, when you collect, and where margin hides.
Hourly billing, large WIP, and long collection cycles. We track unbilled time, realization, and the lag between work performed and cash collected.
No hourly billing — revenue is lumpy and case-funded. We handle case cost advances, settlement disbursement through trust, and contingency fee recognition.
Flat-fee and milestone billing. We structure revenue recognition around deliverables and keep matter budgets honest against actual time spent.
Retainer-heavy with frequent trust replenishment. We keep evergreen retainers tracked and trust ledgers clean across many small matters.
Recurring filings, foreign associate costs, and client cost recovery. We separate pass-through costs from fee income so margin is visible.
The owner is also the bookkeeper’s boss, the rainmaker, and the trust signatory. We take the trust-compliance risk and the monthly close off their plate entirely.
The business-model attributes that make this niche different to account for — and that a generalist bookkeeper usually misses.
Client funds must be held separately and never commingled with firm money. A single misstep is a bar-reportable violation, regardless of intent.
Every month, the trust bank balance, the book balance, and the sum of individual client ledgers must all agree. Auditors check this first.
Revenue and cost tracked per matter and per practice area, not just firm-wide — so you can see which work and which originating attorneys create margin.
Origination, working attorney credit, and draws have to be tracked cleanly to support whatever compensation formula the partnership uses.
Books that sync with Clio, MyCase, or LeanLaw rather than fighting them — so time, billing, and trust flow into accounting without double entry.
Client costs advanced by the firm are receivables, not expenses. Misclassifying them distorts both profit and the balance sheet.
Beyond clean trust books, these are the measures that tell a firm whether it’s actually profitable — candidates for the leadership Scorecard.
A 20-minute call. No pitch, no obligation. We’ll tell you honestly whether we can help — including whether your trust accounting is audit-ready.
Talk to an expertIOLTA (Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts) is a pooled account that holds client funds — retainers, settlements, filing costs — until they are earned or disbursed. The funds belong to clients, not the firm, so they must be kept strictly separate and reconciled. Errors are reportable to the state bar and are one of the most common sources of disciplinary action, which is why trust accounting needs a bookkeeper who does it every day.
Three-way reconciliation confirms that three numbers agree every month: the trust bank account balance, the trust balance in your books, and the total of all individual client trust ledgers. When they don’t match, money is misallocated somewhere. Most state bars expect this monthly, and it is typically the first thing an auditor reviews.
Beyond trust accounting, law firms need matter-level and practice-area profitability, clean handling of client cost advances as receivables, partner compensation tracking, and integration with legal practice-management software like Clio or MyCase. A generalist bookkeeper who treats a firm like any small business will usually get the trust accounting and cost recovery wrong.
Usually when the firm is growing, adding partners or practice areas, or can’t say which work is actually profitable. A fractional CFO builds realization and profitability reporting, models partner compensation, and brings forecasting — without the cost of a full-time finance executive.