| Trust accounting rules vary, but one aspect remains | | | | order to make appropriate corrections without having |
| constant for attorneys or any person working in a | | | | to wade through stacks of paper. |
| fiduciary power. It is the dominant fear of not falling in | | | | Another aspect is that as and when a client matter |
| line with the strict requirements. Adhere to the following | | | | gets completed, the balance on the client's ledger turns |
| steps and you will not have to worry about your need | | | | zero. Once all the relevant transactions have been |
| and responsibility to comply with some of the | | | | reconciled with the corresponding bank statements, |
| complicated trust account regulations anywhere in the | | | | one should ‘close’ or archive the client ledger. If |
| world. It would be wise to migrate from manual record | | | | not, over a period of time, you will have to ‘deal’ |
| keeping to automated record keeping. | | | | with thousands of ‘open’ client ledgers. Make it |
| Review your private firm's trust bookkeeping | | | | a point to protect the trust software data file. It is a |
| procedures thoroughly and identify which all | | | | fact that a computer system or software can be |
| procedures are evaluated and managed manually. | | | | replaced, but the data lost is not at all easy to |
| Time and again, law firms enter each of their client's | | | | re-create. So, for trust accounts, one must always |
| transactions separately and issue trust cheques | | | | maintain hard copies of client ledgers; and that too on |
| manually. Manual bookkeeping is the main cause of | | | | a monthly basis. Make it a point to have regular backup |
| several problems. In addition to the fact that manual | | | | copies of the trust database files and one has to store |
| processes is a time-consuming one, the mistakes | | | | them at some far off locations. |
| made are difficult to detect and the various reports | | | | One should avoid having commingled bank trust |
| needed to be produced are almost impossible to be | | | | accounts. A client trust bank account can be called a |
| prepared. | | | | special kind of account. In the present day, many |
| Good trust accounting soft wares can very easily | | | | banks promise a particular type of trust account that |
| replace all your manual bookkeeping tasks. They can | | | | has separate sub accounts for each and every client. |
| provide you with a greater control over all your trust | | | | A bank account which allows a person to manage |
| accounting activities. With that you will be able to | | | | individual client funds, that too separately, provides a |
| simplify the various tasks of transaction entries, trust | | | | sort of double layer protection for your firm. This is |
| cheque printing, bank reconciliations and generation of | | | | because a bank can always alert you to a possible |
| reports. One will also be able to readily detect any | | | | client ledger overdraft situation. In addition to that, you |
| possible errors and can maintain an audit trail if any | | | | will also get to receive monthly client ledger trial |
| changes are made in the trust books. It will also make | | | | balances from the respective bank which you can, at |
| it easy for bookkeepers to review the trust data in | | | | a later stage, match with your office ledger records. |