Hold client money separately from firm money: open a matter per engagement, record every movement against a trust bank account, and confirm the statutory three-way reconciliation agrees.
Before you start
- Pick the company you are working in and the Scope level for each record.
- Every movement amount is positive; the action you choose (receipt, transfer to firm, or refund) sets the direction.
- Per-matter balance and over-draw guards run against the live matter balance, so you cannot draw a matter below zero.
[screenshot: Trust workspace with the Matters, Transactions and Reconciliation tabs]
Steps
Open a trust matter
- Open Accounting → Trust and add a matter.
- Enter the Matter name (required, up to 200 characters).
- Optionally link a Matter client (an existing customer) and add a Matter description.
- Save the matter.
[screenshot: Trust matter form with name and client]
Record a trust movement
- Choose Record a trust movement and pick the action — Receipt into trust, Transfer to firm or Refund.
- Select the Matter (required) and the Trust bank account (required).
- Set the movement date (required) and the Movement amount (required, greater than zero); currency is optional.
- Add a Movement reference (optional). On a Transfer to firm you may link the invoice the transfer settles.
- Save the movement. A movement can later be voided.
[screenshot: Record a trust movement form with matter and trust bank account]
Check the reconciliation
- Open the Reconciliation tab to view the statutory three-way check: the Trust bank balance, the matter balance total and the trust control balance must all agree for the reconciliation to be marked reconciled.
- Review the per-matter breakdown showing each matter’s status and trust balance.
Result
Client money is tracked matter by matter, every movement is audited, and the three-way reconciliation confirms the trust bank, matter balances and trust control account all agree.