Reconcile your IOLTA account three ways on one screen
Start each month with your bank statement, or start your first month with opening balances from Clio or MyCase.
Plainmatter sets the adjusted bank balance next to your trust journal and the sum of every client ledger, and shows the arithmetic behind each figure.
Print a reconciliation report you can hand to your bar's auditor.
Try every feature for 30 days without a card. Add staff for free.
- Adjusted bank balance
- $15,795.00
- Trust account journal
- $15,795.00
- Sum of 4 client ledgers
- $15,795.00
Check all three figures and the math behind them
Take the bank statement balance of $14,730.00, add $1,500.00 in deposits in transit, and subtract $435.00 in outstanding checks. The adjusted bank balance is $15,795.00.
Plainmatter compares that with the trust journal and with the 4 client ledgers that hold money. All three equal $15,795.00, so the account balances.
1. Bank
- Statement balance
- $14,730.00
- Plus Check 403, Lena Kowalski
- $1,500.00
- Less Check 1015, filing fee, Henderson
- ($435.00)
- Adjusted bank balance
- $15,795.00
2. Journal
- Deposits to date
- $27,500.00
- Disbursements and fee transfers
- ($11,705.00)
- Trust account journal
- $15,795.00
3. Client ledgers
- Northgate Supply Co.
- $9,815.00
- Whitaker, Daniel
- $2,500.00
- Henderson, Marisol
- $1,980.00
- Kowalski, Lena
- $1,500.00
- Sum of client ledgers
- $15,795.00
Plainmatter lists every uncleared deposit and check with its client and matter. Tick the ones that cleared on the statement, and Plainmatter works out deposits in transit and outstanding checks from the rest.
Stop a client ledger from going below zero
Plainmatter checks each disbursement, fee transfer and refund against that client's balance on that matter before it posts.
If the payment would overdraw the ledger, Plainmatter blocks it and tells you by how much. You never spend one client's money on another client.
- Client ledger balance
- $1,980.00
- Disbursement requested
- ($2,400.00)
- Balance after
- ($420.00)
This would take Marisol Henderson's ledger below zero. Deposit funds first or reduce the amount.
Pay fees from trust only against a sent invoice
Plainmatter moves earned fees from trust to operating only to pay an invoice the client has received.
Each transfer names its invoice, so your records show what the client was billed before the money moved.
- INV-1004 Sent11.5h at $375 · Northgate Supply v. Delmar Logistics$4,312.50
- INV-1007 DraftSend this invoice to the client before you apply trust funds.$1,290.00
- Available in trust for this client
- $9,815.00
Keep records an auditor can follow
- Correct mistakes with a reversal
- You never edit or delete a trust transaction. Post a reversing entry, and both entries stay on the ledger with their dates.
- Write a memo on every transaction
- Plainmatter asks for a memo on every transaction and a payee on every disbursement.
- Print each month's report
- Print the reconciliation with every client balance as of the statement date, and file it with your bank statement.
- Freeze balances at the statement date
- Plainmatter saves each client's balance with the reconciliation, so later entries never change a report you already filed.
Your state bar sets the trust rules you follow, including how often you reconcile and how long you keep records. Check your state's rules and reconcile on the schedule they require.
Close each month with a trust account that balances
Open the sample firm to run a reconciliation on sample data. Pay $59 per lawyer per month after the 30-day trial, with trust accounting included.
Try every feature for 30 days without a card. Add staff for free.