Moving Money from Trust to Operating in QuickBooks

The biggest mistake I see attorneys make while using QuickBooks for Trust Accounting is trying to get money from the Client Trust Account to the Law Firm Operating Account. If not done correctly, this can cause a major issue for your Client Trust Account Reports.

Don't make the mistake of just writing a check out of your trust account and code it to the operating account. Almost all of the trust account transactions should hit the client trust liability account and individual client's subaccount. By transferring or coding, you are skipping this step , and then you have no record of where that money is or who's money it came from.

Here is a quick breakdown of the proper steps for moving money for fees from your Client Trust Account to your Law Firm Operating Account.

1. Create a charge for your fees using statement charges or invoices.
2. Write a check out of the trust account and then choose the client's subaccount under the Client Trust Liability account.
3. Receive the payment against the charge just like you would if they walked in and paid you.
4. Make a deposit into your Operating account.

These steps will make sure that all of the transactions in the client trust liability account are balanced and will help you get the reports you need to stay in compliance with trust accounting rules and regulations.

If you are new to QuickBooks or would like more help with using QuickBooks in your Law Practice please take a look at my books; Law Practice Accounting Using QuickBooks and Maintaining a Trust Account Using QuickBooks  you can also call me at 904-284-4480 and we can setup a consulting appointment to go over your needs.  I specialize in this area of QuickBooks and offer training. 

You can visit me at www.attorneystechnology.com

QuickBooks for Mac

How did I live without it? I recently purchased a Mac for the sole purpose of writing my book for attorneys and property owners who use QuickBooks on their Mac. I was surprised to see that it had a different look and feel than the PC version of QuickBooks. I was having so much fun with my Mac that I got rid of Verizon and purchased the IPhone.

Some of the differences that I noticed right off was how much faster QuickBooks runs on the Mac. The help files load fast and reports load faster. I love the fact that I can link my contacts to my address book and my IPhone!

I recommend attorneys use statement charges and not invoices. It is so hard or impossible to get notes out of the invoice for any reporting purposes. When using statement charges I entered a note with 250 characters and they all exported to excel. This is great! When I used the time sheet to enter information I noticed it will only let me put in 99 characters.

QuickBooks for Mac does not currently have a multi-user version. You can save your QuickBooks data file on your network, and different individuals in your organization can access the file, but not at the same time. Also, Windows and Mac versions of QuickBooks cannot work together on a multi-user license.

Well the book should be back from review this week. If you would like to be one of the first to get the book at a special price in August, please feel free to email me at lynette@attorneystechnology.com