IOLTA · CTAPP · TRUST ACCOUNT RECONCILIATION — CALIFORNIA
800 California Attorneys Face a Trust Account Review Every Year. Let’s Get Your Records Ready.
If your IOLTA reconciliation is behind, you are not the only one. A CTAPP compliance review takes three to four months and costs $5,000 to $10,000, and poor recordkeeping increases both. We have sat on the other side of that process. We will show you what the reviewer asks for, rebuild what is missing, and keep it current every month so the notice is not a crisis.
Our founder has been through a California State Bar trust account review firsthand · Serving California law firms since 2010 · QuickBooks Certified
Law Firm Bookkeeping Specializes in Your Community
Seamless Integration With Top Accounting Software
Irvine Bookkeeping integrates with the software you already use—quickbooks for lawyers, Clio, LawPay, MyCase, and more—to streamline your workflows, ensure accuracy, and keep your law firm audit-ready.
We Have Already Sat Through One of These
Control your costs and expenses.
Keeps your client trust accounts in compliance.
Create accurate estimates for your clients.
Preparedness for tax seasons and audits.
Law Firm Business Owner
"We hit 7 figures in 2021"
Most bookkeepers have read about the Client Trust Account Protection Program. Our founder has been through a California State Bar trust account review firsthand — the document requests, the follow-up questions, the order the reviewer works in, and the things that quietly make a review run long.
That is the difference between a bookkeeper who can reconcile an account and a consultant who knows what the reviewer is actually looking for. We will not tell you a review is nothing to worry about, and we will not tell you we can make it disappear.
What we can do is walk you through what is coming, get the records into the condition the reviewer expects, and stay with you through it.
You should not have to learn trust accounting regulation on top of practicing law.
What the Reviewer Finds First
Most trust accounting findings do not start with anything dishonest. They start with a busy quarter. These are the four the State Bar sees most often.
Written by Tammy Hoang, CFMA | Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor | Law Firm Bookkeeping Specialist | Irvine Bookkeeping
A client ledger has gone negative
The IOLTA balance still looks fine because other clients' funds are covering the gap. That is commingling, and it is the violation the State Bar looks for first.
You are months behind on reconciliation
California has required monthly three-way reconciliation since 1993. Missing a single month can support a violation finding.
The notice arrived and the records are not ready
A compliance review takes three to four months and costs $5,000 to $10,000. Poor recordkeeping increases both.
Nobody is sure who owns this
Since January 2025 every California firm must appoint a Designated Licensee who carries the regulatory responsibility for trust accounting.
How We Guide You Through It.
Rebuild the Records
We reconstruct client ledgers and reconciliations from bank and disbursement records, keeping the work accurate, chronological, and clearly documented.
Individual Client Ledgers
We maintain a separate running balance for each client, helping identify shortages or improper use of another client’s trust funds.
Rebuild the Records
We reconstruct client ledgers and reconciliations from bank and disbursement records, keeping the work accurate, chronological, and clearly documented.
QuickBooks IOLTA Accounting, Structured Correctly
We reconstruct client ledgers and reconciliations from bank and disbursement records, keeping the work accurate, chronological, and clearly documented.
What we do and what we do not
Irvine Bookkeeping is a bookkeeping firm, not a CPA firm. The State Bar compliance review itself is performed by a State Bar approved CPA, and no one can promise you an outcome. What we can do is get your records into the condition that reviewer expects to find them, explain what is being asked and why, and stay available while it is happening — which is the part that determines how long the review takes and what it costs.
What a Compliance Review Costs When the Records Are Not Ready
The review fee is not fixed. It is driven by how much work the reviewer has to do. A firm with twelve months of completed reconciliations and clean client ledgers sits at the low end. A firm handing over a box of statements sits at the high end — and every gap becomes billable hours of reconstruction.
Trust accounting failures are the most common cause of California attorney discipline. Over 1,600 attorneys have faced suspension in connection with non-compliance.
How We Start Working Together!
We are only a phone call away, so you can get:
Let’s Get Your Trust Records Ready
Whether the notice has already arrived or you simply want it to be a non-event when it does, start with a conversation. Law firm bookkeeping that keeps current client ledgers, monthly IOLTA reconciliation, and records that hold up — guided by someone who has already been through the process.
