Law Firm Bookkeeping Services
Law firm bookkeeping you don't have to manage.
Outsourced bookkeeping for law firms that want the books current, someone they can go to when they have a question, and confidence that the work is being handled correctly.
Accounting Atelier works in QuickBooks Online alongside legal systems including Clio, MyCase, and CosmoLex, with IOLTA trust accounting and three-way reconciliation when applicable.
Partnering with:
25+ Years of Accounting and Financial Management Experience · Former Financial Controller · Attorney at Work Contributor · Quoted in Forbes · Serving Law Firms Nationwide
You’re outsourcing the bookkeeping for a reason.You want the books up to date without having to think about them, someone you can go to when you have a question, and confidence that the work is actually being done correctly.
What does law firm bookkeeping include?
Law firm bookkeeping is the ongoing accounting work that keeps a legal practice's financial records current from month to month.
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Categorizing income and expenses; reviewing deposits, payments, and transfers; and recording retainers, earned-fee activity, advanced client costs, and other law-firm-specific transactions when applicable.
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Reconciling bank and credit-card accounts in QuickBooks Online each month and investigating differences that need correction.
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Recording settlement-related activity and distributions when applicable to your practice area and engagement scope.
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IOLTA trust accounting and three-way reconciliation when applicable, comparing the trust bank balance, trust liabilities in QuickBooks, and individual client or matter ledgers.
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Preparing monthly financial reports, including a profit and loss statement, balance sheet, and summary of the firm’s financial activity.
For more on what to track, see our guides to law firm financial reports and law firm financial metrics.
Financial statements are generally delivered between the 10th and 15th of the following month when required information and access are received on time.
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Completing a defined month-end close process so transactions are reviewed, accounts are reconciled, and the books are current for the reporting period.
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Coordinating with your firm’s CPA or tax preparer and providing the bookkeeping records and financial reports needed for tax preparation and year-end work.
Law firm bookkeeping is different from general bookkeeping.
Specialized Focus
Law firm bookkeeping has to account for activity ordinary businesses don’t have.
Retainers, trust transfers, advanced client costs, settlement activity, and client funds can appear across your legal software, bank accounts, payment processors, and QuickBooks Online. We understand how that activity should be recorded - and how to investigate discrepancies when the records do not agree.
System Integration
QuickBooks and your legal software have different jobs.
Clio, MyCase, CosmoLex, and other legal platforms hold billing, trust activity, client balances, and matter-level information. QuickBooks Online holds the firm’s accounting records. We work across both so payments, retainers, trust transactions, and related activity are recorded correctly and discrepancies are identified when the systems do not agree.
TRUST COMPLIANCE
If your firm uses a trust account, the trust records and the books need to agree.
A bank reconciliation is only one part of the process. When three-way reconciliation is included in the engagement, we compare the trust bank balance, the trust liability or control-account balance in QuickBooks, and the total of the individual client or matter ledgers. We also review trust-to-operating transfers and discrepancies across the bank, QuickBooks, and your legal software, with supporting reconciliation records retained for follow-up or trust-account review.
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Trust Accounting & Three-Way Reconciliation
Ongoing IOLTA and trust accounting for firms that need their trust bank account, accounting records, and individual client or matter ledgers compared each month.
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Law Firm Bookkeeping Cleanup & Catch-Up
For books that are behind, incomplete, or no longer reliable enough to begin ongoing monthly service.
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Trust Account Cleanup & Reconstruction
For historical trust discrepancies, unidentified balances, old checks, missing client records, or accounts that no longer reconcile.
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Law Firm Accounting Setup & Integration
For QuickBooks Online setup, software migrations, and accounting workflows involving Clio, MyCase, or other legal platforms.
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Law Firm Billing & Accounts Receivable
For firms that want billing, trust replenishment, and receivables follow-up handled through a defined process.
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Who is Accounting Atelier a good fit for?
Accounting Atelier works with established law firms that want specialized bookkeeping without building and managing an internal accounting department.
Internal Resource DrainYou or your legal staff are carrying the accounting workload, taking time away from clients, and your books still aren't staying current.
TRUST ACCOUNT COMPLEXITYYour trust accounting must align with your general books, requiring a team fluent in both QuickBooks and your practice management software.
Outgrown CapabilitiesYour firm has outgrown its previous bookkeeping process, or you lack confidence that your current provider truly understands legal accounting.
Proactive PartnershipYou want ongoing, fully managed bookkeeping rather than tax-time catch-up, and a bookkeeping team that can work with your CPA or tax preparer.
Related resources
Our processHow to get started
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Before ongoing bookkeeping begins, we review your current QuickBooks file, financial accounts, legal software, and trust accounts when applicable.
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If the books or trust records need cleanup or correction first, we identify that before moving into the recurring monthly work.
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Once the starting point is established, we take over the bookkeeping included in your engagement and you have a clear point of contact when questions come up.
Ready to stop managing the bookkeeping?Tell us about your firm, the systems you use, and what is not working today.
We'll determine whether ongoing bookkeeping is the right starting point or whether cleanup, trust-account work, or system corrections need to happen first.
FAQ
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Yes.
Accounting Atelier specializes in bookkeeping and accounting support for law firms, including ongoing monthly bookkeeping, legal-software coordination, trust accounting, and three-way reconciliation when applicable.
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A law firm bookkeeper handles the recurring accounting work behind a legal practice.
That generally includes transaction categorization, bank and credit-card reconciliations, month-end close, financial reporting, and law-firm-specific activity such as retainers, advanced client costs, earned-fee transfers, and settlement-related transactions when applicable.
For firms with active trust accounts, the work may also include IOLTA trust accounting and three-way reconciliation.
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Law firms have accounting workflows that ordinary businesses often do not, including trust accounts, individual client or matter ledgers, retainers, advanced client costs, settlement activity, and legal practice-management software.
A law-firm bookkeeper should understand how those activities affect the accounting records and how systems such as QuickBooks Online, Clio, and MyCase relate to one another.
Related resource:
Legal Bookkeeper vs. General Bookkeeper -
Accounting Atelier is a good fit for established law firms that want ongoing outsourced bookkeeping and prefer to work with a provider that already understands legal accounting.
We work primarily in QuickBooks Online alongside systems including Clio, MyCase, and CosmoLex.
We work with established solo attorneys, growing firms, multi-attorney practices, and selected larger or more complex legal engagements. Firm size alone does not determine fit.
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It can.
For firms with active trust accounts, an Accounting Atelier engagement may include IOLTA or other trust accounting and monthly three-way reconciliation.
The reconciliation process compares the trust bank balance, the related accounting records, and the individual client or matter ledger balances.
Internal link:
Trust Accounting & Three-Way Reconciliation -
No.
A bank reconciliation compares the bank statement with the account records.
A three-way trust reconciliation also compares the related accounting records with the individual client or matter ledger balances so the required trust records can be evaluated together.
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Yes.
Accounting Atelier works with law firms using Clio and MyCase alongside QuickBooks Online and understands how billing, payments, client costs, trust activity, and other financial information can affect the accounting records.
Accounting Atelier is a Clio Certified Partner and MyCase Partner.
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In most firms, the roles are different.
Accounting Atelier handles the ongoing bookkeeping, reconciliations, financial reporting, and trust-accounting work included in the engagement.
Your CPA or tax preparer typically handles tax preparation and tax planning.
We can coordinate directly with your existing CPA when they need financial information from the books.
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Yes.
If the books are behind, incomplete, or unreliable, Accounting Atelier can complete a separately scoped bookkeeping cleanup before the monthly engagement begins.
Internal link:
Law Firm Bookkeeping Cleanup & Catch-Up -
Historical trust-account problems may require a separate cleanup and reconstruction rather than ordinary monthly bookkeeping.
That may include situations where individual client or matter balances are missing, old transactions cannot be identified, historical checks remain outstanding, or QuickBooks, the legal software, and the bank do not agree.
Internal link:
Trust Account Cleanup & Reconstruction -
Yes.
Not every law firm maintains an active trust account. Accounting Atelier can provide ongoing law-firm bookkeeping without trust-accounting services when they are not applicable.
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Financial statements are generally delivered between the 10th and 15th of the following month, provided Accounting Atelier has received the necessary information and appropriate access on time.
Timing may vary when cleanup, unresolved transactions, or other separately scoped work affects the month-end process.
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Accounting Atelier uses custom fixed-fee pricing based on the scope and complexity of the engagement.
Factors can include transaction volume, number of accounts, trust activity, software, billing or accounts-receivable support, and the condition of the existing books.
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No.
After onboarding, ongoing Accounting Atelier engagements are month-to-month.
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Yes.
Accounting Atelier provides virtual bookkeeping and accounting support to law firms throughout the United States.