The California

Trust Accounting Guide

Gain a complete understanding of the State Bar of California trust rules. Insight into the rules and best practices to keep you compliant.

TrustBooks is proud to be recommended as an affinity partner with CalBar Connect and California Lawyers Association.

Want to find out more about our member benefit program, contact TrustBooks.

7 Key Concepts Every California Attorney Needs to Know for Trust Accounting

To know your trust accounting responsibilities, you will want a full understanding of the 7 key concepts for trust accounting as described in the Handbook on Client Trust Accounting for California Attorneys published by the State Bar of California.

The 5 Trust Records Every California Attorney Must Maintain for Their Trust Account

Know the specific minimum reports that the State Bar of California requires you to maintain for your trust account.

3-Way Trust Reconciliations

Every month, the State Bar of California requires you to complete a 3-way reconciliation. This report reconciles your bank balance to your trust ledger to the sum of your client ledgers.

Common Trust
Accounting Pitfalls

Want to know the common mistakes attorneys make with their trust account? Learn from your peers to avoid these common trust accounting issues.

What Attorneys say

about using TrustBooks:

It Just Works!

Michael Watkins

With TrustBooks, it just works! The steps are simple and less involved. I can see an individuals’ client account up front. It shows if I took a fee, gave a refund, everything. It’s perfectly transparent and everything we need.

Michael Watkins
Watkins Law Firm

Our monthly reconciliations take less than a minute

Our monthly reconciliations take less than a minute to do. The 3-Way Reconciliations are as easy as pushing a button. Writing checks and ledger management are a breeze and we can find any errors very quickly.

Mitzi Kincaid
Kincaid and Associates

I have zero anxiety about a Bar audit!

If you are managing a law firm, you can’t mess this up. The consequences can be career-ending. With TrustBooks, my stress level is non-existent. I don’t dread the reconciliations, and I have control of the Trust Account. I used to be anxious about a Bar audit, and now I have zero anxiety about that.

Mary Snow Hill
WFH Law

Setting up my account into TrustBooks was a breeze

Bill Cameron

After being disappointed by other accounting programs such as Quickbooks and iBank, I was relieved to learn about a new online program designed specifically for trust accounts. Setting up my account into TrustBooks was a breeze.

Bill Cameron
Sherrill & Cameron, PLLC

Reconciliations are much easier

TrustBooks is an affordable, intuitive trust account management solution. Monthly and quarterly trust account reconciliations are much easier with TrustBooks. We also love that they listen to our suggestions and are constantly improving their program to meet their clients’ needs, including recently adding several report features.

Jenny Bradley
Triangle Smart Divorce

Edward Reyes

Edward Reyes

Ever since I started with Trust books my experience has been amazing. The customer service is above par. When there is an issue or “user” error (me), they are there to walk you through it. My trust accounting is now on point. I trust TrustBooks!

Edward Reyes

So thankful for this program!

So thankful for this program! Just wish I had discovered TrustBooks sooner.

Stephanie Henry

A brilliantly executed piece of software

P. Tyler Summers

TrustBooks has simplified the intricacies of trust accounting such that I can focus more on my client’s needs and less on law firm administration. The software is extremely user-friendly and accessible, and support is just an email or phone call away. As a litigator and manager of a busy divorce practice, I cannot imagine practicing law without such a brilliantly executed piece of software.

P. Tyler Summers
Summers Family Law

Quickly get up to speed

TrustBooks is an intuitive accounting program that you access online but stands above other accounting programs because it is calibrated to the North Carolina State Bar rules for attorney trust accounts. Folks with no background in accounting can quickly get up to speed on how to use it. Small and solo law practices should absolutely try it out, but it would certainly handle large practices as well.

Raymond Tarlton
Tarlton Law, PLLC

Incredibly intuitive and user-friendly

Bill Cameron

My staff and I found the program to be incredibly intuitive and user-friendly. I have not found any other system that comes close to combining practicality, accessibility, and dedication to trust accounts.

Bill Cameron
Sherrill & Cameron, PLLC

Other options were too complex

Making the move to TrustBooks was a great leap forward. The other options were too complex and expensive for our needs. I wanted something that was easy to use and would keep us out of trouble – TrustBooks works!

Joe Knott
Knott & Boyle, PLLC

I understand the new requirements

Trust accounting is usually a source of anxiety for most attorneys. We want to be in compliance and serve our clients well. After participating in Trustbooks webinar on the new trust accounting amendments, I felt confident that I understand the new requirements and can rely on the highly knowledgeable TrustBooks staff for any questions I have.

Mavis Gragg
Gragg Law Firm

Intuitive Product

TrustBooks has been wildly successful in designing an intuitive product. This is so much better than trying to balance my trust account in Quickbooks!

Andy Cowan
Law Office of Andrew Cowan

TrustBooks keeps me reconciled and on track

I love that TrustBooks keeps me reconciled and on track – and I don’t have to worry about the state bar coming after me for trust accounting errors!

Abigail Peoples
Law Firm of Abigail E. Peoples, PLLC

My trust account is 100% accurate

The main benefit I have experienced with using TrustBooks is knowing that my trust account is 100% accurate – no more handwritten ledgers and trying to figure out which money belongs to which client each month.

Abigail Peoples
Law Firm of Abigail E. Peoples, PLLC

Jillanna S. McGrew

TrustBooks has helped ease the pain of trust accounting for our firm. I love the Dashboard feature enabling me to see the latest transactions up front.  Editing transactions is super easy as well. The reconciliations are fabulous! Three-way reconciliations make my accounting so much easier on a monthly basis.  TrustBooks really took the worries away and made our trust accounting simpler and more efficient. The team at TrustBooks is always super friendly and helpful. I always feel like I am talking to a trusted friend. Thank you TrustBooks!

Jillanna S. McGrew

I’m so glad TrustBooks exists!

I love TrustBooks! No more handwritten letters. No more fear of overdrawing a client account. TrustBooks makes it simple to keep track of each client’s money, allows me to print checks directly from the program, makes reconciling the account easy (about 5 minutes tops!), and best of all, I know my trust account is in order and state bar compliant. I’m so glad TrustBooks exists!

Abigail Peoples
Law Firm of Abigail E. Peoples, PLLC

Complete Peace of Mind for My Trust Accounts

The entire process is streamlined. If I have any questions about requirements or processes, TrustBooks support is extremely responsive. I now have complete peace of mind for my trust accounts.

Brett Wentz
Wentz Law Firm

Sleek, Efficient, and Reasonably Priced

TrustBooks meets the needs of my growing solo practice. Where everyone else offers bulky, bloated, and overpriced products, Trustbooks is sleek, efficient, and reasonably priced.

Robert Herron III
Robert Heron Law, P. C.

Molly Lewis Sasso

Molly Lewis Sasso

Trustbooks seamlessly systematizes required trust accounting processes to exacting Florida Bar standards, thus removing the need for an imperfect cobbling together of methodologies that, let’s be honest, many among us had failed to ever truly master. You don’t have to have a finance background or be an accountant to use Trustbooks. Bravo, Trustbooks, for modernizing trust accounting with a functional product that does exactly what it’s supposed to do. Meet the three-way reconciliation, and change your life!

Molly Lewis Sasso

TrustBooks is Life Altering!

TrustBooks is life altering! I have no questions about what I’m doing or how I’m doing it. The entire process is clear, streamlined, and balanced.

Brett Wentz
Wentz Law Firm

Matthew S. Waring

Matthew Waring

When I started my own law firm my biggest concern was trust accounting. I studied the rules, watched CLEs, etc. but still didn’t want to go it alone. Then I found Trustbooks. It took me less than 15 minutes to learn how to use it and now I don’t sweat trust accounting. I highly recommend Trustbooks to any lawyer who is responsible for overseeing a trust account.

Matthew S. Waring

I no longer dread doing reconciliations

Trustbooks has completely changed my view on trust accounting for my firm. It takes into account all of the trust accounting requirements of the State Bar and helps make sure you comply with them. Trustbooks has simplified the trust accounting for my firm and I no longer dread doing reconciliations or an audit from the State Bar.

Brett Wentz
Wentz Law, PLLC

4 Hours to 4 Minutes with TrustBooks

Jeremy Danilson

I went from spending 4 hours every month combing through and balancing spreadsheets, trust ledgers, checks, and bank statements to just 4 minutes a month using TrustBooks.

Jeremy Danilson

Simplified what was an incredibly complicated, frustrating, and time-consuming part of my practice

Trustbooks has helped simplify what was an incredibly complicated, frustrating, and time-consuming part of my practice. I was trying to keep track of so many different binders, sheets of paper, excel spreadsheets, and bank receipts; it was a nightmare.

Hallie Bezner
Bezner Law

Damjan DeNoble

I never thought we’d get audited when I opened Bull City Lawyer in 2016, but on the advice of a veteran lawyer, I got Trustbooks anyway. In 2019 the audit notice came, and though I was nervous I was also ready. We’d had our Trustbooks subscription for three years, and the ease of use is hard to oversell. With just a few clicks every couple of months we kept our accounts perfectly balanced and all of our money accounted for. The short story is that we scored a perfect on our audit in August, and were told we were one of a few North Carolina firms each round of audits to do that. We felt accomplished, but the reality is that we just logged into Trustbooks.com before our audit, printed off all the reports, labeled them, put them in a folder along with our bank account statements, and boom, perfect score. It’s also the easiest subscription cost I pay every month as a result. We may ultimately ditch our IOLTA account (oh how I wish!) but until then, Trustbooks is a no brainer for any size firm in North Carolina.

Damjan DeNoble

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