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By Tammy Hoang, Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor Opening a new law firm is exciting, but the financial setup is where many new attorneys feel lost. Law school teaches you how to practice law, not how to structure a firm's bank accounts, set up an IOLTA trust account, or build a chart of accounts that keeps you compliant. The good news is that getting the money side right from day one is mostly a matter of working through a clear checklist. This guide walks a new law firm throu

By Tammy Hoang, Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor Getting a State Bar trust account notice in the mail can make any attorney's stomach drop. Before you panic, the first thing to understand is that not every notice means you are in trouble — and the right next step depends entirely on which kind of notice you received. Some are routine, some are time-sensitive, and some are serious. What they all have in common is that they turn on your records: clean law firm bookkeeping and a

By Tammy Hoang, Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor When a law firm first reaches out about law firm bookkeeping, the conversation almost always sounds the same. The attorney is not sure whether they need a full cleanup, they are uneasy about their IOLTA account, and someone has probably told them their books are 'fine.' Over years of working with law firms, we have heard the same honest questions again and again — about start dates, IOLTA reconciliation, how long catch-up takes,

IOLTA accounting is where most personal injury firms quietly go wrong, because the rules are not intuitive: client money in an IOLTA account is not income, advanced client costs are not expenses, and a single miscategorized entry can put your books out of compliance with Rule 1.15. This complete guide explains IOLTA accounting the way a bookkeeper does it — which account type each dollar belongs in, why trust funds sit as a liability, why advanced costs sit as an asset, and h

Every California personal injury firm that touches client money must follow strict IOLTA account rules, and getting them wrong can cost an attorney their license. An IOLTA account is the special trust account where lawyers hold client funds, and California enforces some of the most rigorous IOLTA account rules in the country. For personal injury firms, where settlement funds flow through the IOLTA account on every case, these rules are not background paperwork — they are dail

Find out if your law firm is eligible for an IOLTA account and how it can benefit your practice. Learn the requirements and criteria in this

Bookkeeping is essential for every law firm, even if it brings back unpleasant memories of "math classes" in school. You can make...

All of these account types (IOLTA, IOLA, and Attorney Trust) have the same purpose. They are all used to separate the client’s money from...