California · Law Firm Accounting
Operating books for California law firms and solo practices: QuickBooks setup, catch-up and the monthly close, client costs tracked by matter, flat fees and earned fees recorded where the rules put them, and statements your CPA can use, kept by your TechBrot team, with every close reviewed by a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Each year the State Bar’s Client Trust Account Protection Program asks you to register every client trust account and certify compliance; reconciled records are what that certification rests on.
California rule: Rule 1.15 and its record standards require a ledger for each client, a journal for each trust account and each monthly reconciliation of both with the bank statement, kept five years; in QuickBooks, that is a client ledger balanced monthly. Source: State Bar of California.
Bookkeeping & advisory · Fixed-fee · written scope in 3 days
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California law firm accounting keeps two sets of books apart: the operating books, closed monthly in your own QuickBooks file, and the client trust records rule 1.15 requires, a ledger per client and a monthly reconciliation kept five years. TechBrot’s signed trust-accounting specialist practice prepares the trust records; the attorney controls the account.
California’s rule puts dates and documents on the trust account: when money arrived, when it became undisputed, which flat fee went where. Books that do not record those facts cannot answer for them.
Once the firm’s interest and the client’s share are fixed and nothing is disputed, rule 1.15 presumes a violation if the funds are not distributed within 45 days, absent good cause. Books that record only deposits and checks cannot show when a balance became undisputed. An aging of client balances by that date can.
Rule 1.15(b) lets a flat fee paid in advance go to the operating account only when the client has received the written disclosures the rule lists, and above a set amount only with the client’s signed agreement. Without those papers, the fee belongs in trust. The books should show, fee by fee, which account it went to and why.
The State Bar’s record standards call for each monthly reconciliation of the client ledgers, the account journal and the bank statements. A trust account checked only against the bank can hide a negative client balance for months, until a check bounces; California law requires banks to report trust-account overdrafts.
Scoped to your matters, attorneys and billing system, in your own QuickBooks file, by your TechBrot team, with every close reviewed by a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor.
Operating and client trust accounts on separate ledgers, matters tracked as customers or projects, practice areas as classes, and the billing-system sync tested before the first close.
California QuickBooks setup →Missing months rebuilt oldest first, bank and card accounts reconciled, and earned fees matched to the deposits they came from, so the monthly close starts from a balance that ties.
California cleanup & catch-up →Operating bank and card accounts reconciled every month, receivables aged by client, payroll posted, and a close note that says what changed and what needs your answer.
California monthly bookkeeping →Each advance fee recorded where it was deposited, flat fees with their disclosure on file, and transfers from trust posted on both ledgers once the fee is earned.
California bookkeeping services →Filing fees, experts and court reporters the firm advances, recorded against the matter and cleared when the client reimburses them, so unbilled costs never hide in expenses.
California QuickBooks cleanup →Profit and loss by practice area and attorney, a balance sheet that ties to the bank, and draws kept out of expenses, ready for your CPA at year end. TechBrot does not prepare or file tax returns; we work with your CPA or EA, or introduce you to one.
Financial statements →On TechBrot’s engagements, the client trust side of a California firm’s books is prepared by TechBrot’s signed trust-accounting specialist practice, built to the record standards the State Bar adopted under rule 1.15. Every month the practice delivers:
A Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor reviews every close before it reaches you. Trust (IOLTA) reconciliations are also checked by the signed trust specialist.
Law-firm trust accounting engagements are backed by a specialist partner practice that has signed with TechBrot for this work, reviewed by a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor.
The boundary is fixed. Neither TechBrot nor the practice holds, signs on, deposits to or disburses from a client trust account: the attorney controls the account, approves every disbursement, completes and certifies the annual CTAPP reporting, and stays responsible to the State Bar of California. The practice keeps the records that show each step. For the full service, see law firm trust (IOLTA) accounting.
On another practice-management system? If it exports matters, bills and payments, the books can be built around it. Ask on a call.
Every California law-firm engagement runs in the same order: the accounts mapped first, the history caught up second, then a close and a trust balancing every month.
A 30-minute call about your practice areas, your billing system, how the operating and client trust accounts are set up and how many months are open. No pitch.
QuickBooks mapped for a law firm: operating and trust accounts separated, matters and practice areas in place, flat-fee handling documented, and the billing sync tested.
Open months rebuilt oldest first, every account reconciled, so the first full close starts from a known-good balance.
The operating books closed every month with a close note, and the trust balancing delivered on the same schedule, for your review and approval.
When the trust account balances every month and the operating books close on time, the questions change: which practice areas earn after the hours they take, how long contingency matters carry case costs before they pay, and what realization and collection look like by attorney.
That is where advisory comes in, on the same reconciled numbers: practice-area profitability, cash-flow forecasting and partner-compensation analysis, coordinated with your CPA. Trust compliance stays the attorney’s professional responsibility. Explore fractional CFO & advisory →
Checked against the State Bar of California’s rule 1.15 and its record standards.
The state page: services, industries, cities and the California tax terms in one place.
The national engagement this page is the California version of — same scope, same written fixed fee.
Also in California: Bookkeeping services · Monthly bookkeeping.
California cities: San Jose · Bakersfield · Sacramento — served remotely, in your own QuickBooks file.
Not sure where your file stands? Start with the free QuickBooks file review · how California compares: state-by-state tax quirks.
California attorneys start here
Call us, or book a call time, and tell us where the books stand; we recommend the engagement that fits.
If we miss you, we return your call within one business day. Written fixed-fee scope within 3 business days. No hourly billing.