Texas · Law Firm Accounting
Operating books for Texas law firms and solo practices: QuickBooks setup, catch-up and the monthly close, client costs tracked by matter, the operating account reconciled and statements your CPA can use, kept by your TechBrot team, with every close reviewed by a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Client money runs on its own Texas rules, starting with IOLTA accounts whose interest goes to the Texas Access to Justice Foundation.
Texas rule: Rule 1.15 (1.14 before October 2024) requires client funds in a separate trust or escrow account and complete records kept five years after the representation ends; in QuickBooks, every trust deposit and payment posts to a client ledger. Source: State Bar of Texas; Supreme Court of Texas.
Bookkeeping & advisory · Fixed-fee · written scope in 3 days
They took something that felt overwhelming to me as a first-year business owner and made it simple.
What stood out the most was TechBrot Inc’s attention to detail.
Intuit QuickBooks Certification Level 2 and QuickBooks Workforce Certification, held by TechBrot’s senior reviewer (verification on request) · TechBrot, Inc. · Delaware corporation · est. 2023
Texas law firm accounting from TechBrot keeps the operating books in your own QuickBooks file: setup, catch-up, the monthly close and client costs by matter. TechBrot’s signed trust-accounting specialist practice prepares the IOLTA trust ledger and monthly three-way reconciliation; Rule 1.15 records are kept five years after the representation ends, and the attorney controls the account.
Trust problems rarely start with bad intent. They start with a retainer moved a week early, a reconciliation that skipped the client ledgers, or case costs nobody tied to a matter.
A fee paid in advance stays client money until the work is done. The State Bar of Texas gives two trust-account tips: reconcile monthly, and understand the difference between a true non-refundable retainer and an advance fee. On the books, every transfer from trust to operating should carry the bill it pays, so the two ledgers move together.
A trust account can agree with its bank statement and still be wrong, with one client’s balance negative and another’s overstated. The State Bar’s guide says the client ledgers, added together, should equal the reconciled monthly bank balance. A three-way reconciliation checks the bank, the trust journal and the client ledgers against each other every month.
Filing fees, expert invoices and deposition costs the firm advances get booked as ordinary expenses, then the reimbursement lands as income, and no one can say what a matter cost or what is still owed back. Costs recorded against the matter, and cleared when the client pays, keep both visible.
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.
A chart of accounts that keeps operating and trust bank accounts apart, matters tracked as customers or projects, practice areas as classes, and your billing system’s sync mapped before the first close.
Texas QuickBooks setup →Missing months rebuilt oldest first: bank and card accounts reconciled, earned fees matched to deposits, and case costs sorted by matter, so the monthly close starts from a balance that ties.
Texas cleanup & catch-up →Operating bank and card accounts reconciled every month, receivables aged by client, payroll and rent posted, and a close note that says what changed and what needs your answer.
Texas monthly bookkeeping →Costs the firm advances, from filing fees to expert invoices, recorded against the matter and cleared when the client reimburses them, so unbilled costs never hide in expenses.
Texas bookkeeping services →Profit and loss by practice area and attorney, a balance sheet that ties to the bank, and owner or partner draws kept out of expenses, ready for your CPA at year end.
Financial statements →If the firm is a taxable entity, the annual Texas franchise tax report is due May 15. Revenue and cost lines kept clean all year make it a short job for your CPA. TechBrot does not prepare or file tax returns; we work with your CPA or EA, or introduce you to one.
Texas franchise tax help →On TechBrot’s engagements, the trust side of a Texas firm’s books is prepared by TechBrot’s signed trust-accounting specialist practice, in your own QuickBooks file or alongside your practice-management system. 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 trust account: the attorney controls the account, approves every disbursement and stays responsible to the State Bar of Texas, and 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 Texas law-firm engagement runs in the same order: the accounts separated first, the history caught up second, then a close every month.
A 30-minute call about your practice areas, your billing system, how the operating and trust accounts are set up today 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, and the billing-system sync tested before any history is touched.
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 reconciliation delivered on the same schedule, for your review and approval.
Once both ledgers tie every month, the useful questions start: which practice areas earn after the hours they take, how long contingency matters tie up case costs before they pay, what realization and collection look like by attorney, and when cash flow can carry another associate.
That is where advisory comes in, built 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 Texas guide to client trust accounts.
The state page: services, industries, cities and the Texas tax terms in one place.
The national engagement this page is the Texas version of — same scope, same written fixed fee.
Also in Texas: Bookkeeping services · Monthly bookkeeping.
Texas cities: Dallas · Houston · Fort Worth — served remotely, in your own QuickBooks file.
Not sure where your file stands? Start with the free QuickBooks file review · how Texas compares: state-by-state tax quirks.
Texas 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.